The Happy Accountant

Accounts which may be present in the general ledger include:

plant and machinery at cost (fixed asset)
motor vehicles at cost (fixed asset)
various provisions for depreciation (liability)
proprietor’s/shareholders’ capital (liability)
stocks (current asset)
total debtors (current asset)
total creditors (current liability)
wages and salaries (expense)
rent and rates (expense)
advertising (expense)
sales (income)

The type of business determines which accounts will be present.  For example, a [...]

The nominal ledger summarises the finances of a business.  It contains details of assets, liabilities and capital, income and expentiure and therefore profit and loss.
It is made up of a large number of different accounts (and are frequently subdivided for convenience, ease, confidentiality or security).
The nominal ledger is often referrered to as the general ledger.

Well, the VAT returns have been done and it’s back to the blog, which has been sorely neglected of late.
I have also been reminded of how handy Excel is as a fallback, even though it isn’t necessarily the best tool for the job, it’s relatively painless, reasonably straightforward and fairly easy to follow the “audit trail”.

This week and next week are proving to be extremely busy.  So busy that I wont even get time to read the latest Harry Potter book.  However, I am not complaining: there is a pleasing symmetry about a completed VAT return - is that a sad admission?
In a few days time, I will be back [...]

From 1 August 2007, HMRC are changing the fuel rate for company cars (which is the fuel element of the mileage rate).  Unfortunately, the mileage rates themselves are not changing.

Retail Schemes
These, as you can imagine, are for use in connection with retail supplies.  Most VAT registered businesses take their output VAT from their sales invoices, but for retailers this is not practical due to the large number of sales made directly to the public.  The retail schemes provide a way for businesses to determine their [...]

You must register for VAT with HMRC.  This can be done using a paper form or online.  Once registered, you generally have to keep reocrds of:

the VAT you charge on your sales (output VAT)
the VAT you have paid on your purchases (input VAT)
the total amount of sales excluding VAT
the total amount of purchases excluding VAT

However, [...]

If your turnover is above the VAT threshold, you must register.
If most of your customers are VAT registered, you may wish to consider registering, even if you are below the threshold, so that you can reclaim your input VAT (the VAT on your purchases).
It can give the impression of a bigger or more established business.

VAT is a tax on consumer spending.  Under the system, every VAT registered business is effectively a tax collector.
Most transactions are standard rated (currently at 17.5% in the UK at the time of writing).  However, transactions could also be zero-rated, exempt or outside the scope of VAT.
A VAT registered business has to pay (to HMRC) [...]

A while ago, I was contacted by a company claiming to be acting on behalf of a voluntary organisation, selling advertisements on a wall calendar.
In short, it turned out to be a scam, which works something like this:
The first person rings you up with a sales pitch, possibly opening by asking if you would like to  support [...]