[Archived] Are You A Bookkeeper In Blackburn

[AndyNeil]

If this thread isn't allowed then please remove:

Are you a bookkeeper in or near Blackburn and looking for a bit of extra work on a self employed / sub-contract basis, then please e-mail me at: andrew@fernhurstsolutions.co.uk with a CV.

Cheers

[ABBEY]

do you do training?

[AndyNeil]

Hiya Abbey

Do you mean in terms of NVQ/OC or more advanced, AAT/ACCA/CIMA? ... is the question or you or somebody you know?

[ABBEY]

dont know anyone .was meaning do you arrange training?

[AndyNeil]

ah right, do you mean for your accounting software? people do offer it, but you should really use a qualified/authorised trainer ... so a short answer is no - sorry.

[cletus]

Can i ask "how easy is it to do your own books/finances/tax return etc....??

I`m in my first year of being self employed & have an accountant (recommended to me through work)

I keep a very strict record of all my incomings & outgoings.

Is there a basic college course or anything that can help me know what i can & can`t claim for?

[Al]

Can i ask "how easy is it to do your own books/finances/tax return etc....??

I`m in my first year of being self employed & have an accountant (recommended to me through work)

I keep a very strict record of all my incomings & outgoings.

Is there a basic college course or anything that can help me know what i can & can`t claim for?

Once you realise the difference between balance sheet items (assets & liabilities) and P&L items (income and expenditure) it's pretty easy for a small business to set up a chart of accounts on Excel and do your own accounts. I just needs a short course to grasp the basics.

[cletus]

Once you realise the difference between balance sheet items (assets & liabilities) and P&L items (income and expenditure) it's pretty easy for a small business to set up a chart of accounts on Excel and do your own accounts. I just needs a short course to grasp the basics.

Thanks Al

I`ll look into it after my hoddylays

[JC4LAB]

Better to Listen to your own accountant since you have got one...Dangerous to rely on pub chitchat cos the taxman is a nasty creature nowadays

[Paul]

Better to Listen to your own accountant since you have got one...Dangerous to rely on pub chitchat cos the taxman is a nasty creature nowadays

Very true. Having said that there is much you can do yourself, especially if you have a decent software package. Any small business needs to be able to understand its financial position at all times, if you do all the day to day bookkeeping yourself you'll have firsthand knowledge of your real position, proper control and minimise the costs. We run Sage Professional (there are cheaper Sage packages), it will do everything you need and provided you have some initial training on which items should be posted where, is very simple. There's no reason why you shouldn't eventually be in a position to bring your accounts to the point of being ready to audit yourself and then hand them to a professional for the final check. You should always have an accountant to check these things for you.

We run Sage for day to day accounting, alongside we integrate it with Excel to have spreadsheet forecasts and budgets which quickly tells us the "what if" answers, and then have the professional audit at the year end. Last year our accountant's invoice was only £1780.

[dave birch]

I use a software package called MYOB (short for Mind Your Own Business).

Absolutely brilliant once you've set it up. Invoicing, purchases, payroll, Banking, inventory and customer cardfile, and a huge reporting system. You can do annual budgets on it and see how you're going on a month to month basis.

It calculates GST (VAT) on each invoice and purchase order and puts the relevant transaction into the nominated general ledger account, and when I have to report to the tax office, I just press a button, and there's the detail ready to transcribe.

All I do at the end of each financial year is give my accountant a disc.