Errors » Happy Accountant: Accounting Blog & Online Accountant

Choosing Bookkeeping/Accounts Software
* Choosing bookkeeping or accounting software for your business or organisation is a big step. There is so much available on the market, with new vendors and products coming out all the time. So, how do you decide which is the best for you? How much you are prepared to pay? There is such range of [read more]
The Consequences of Being Inside IR35
*The financial consequences of being inside IR35 are mainly (there are other consequences) you lose the tax-avoidance facility of dividends. Essentially, if you are within IR35, you must calculate a “deemed payment” and pay NICs and PAYE (tax) on that deemed payment. The tax-deductible amounts that you can claim in travel and expenses will also [read more]
When to Register as an Employer
*As soon as you take anyone on where any of the following conditions apply, you need to register with HMRC as an employee. the employee already has another job the employee receives a pension (state or occupational) the employee will earn at or over the PAYE (tax) threshold the employee will earn at or over [read more]
SAGE VAT codes
*Sage uses the following codes for VAT: T0 – zero rate VAT T1 – standard rate VAT T2 – exempt (eg. stamps, insurance, aire fares, bank charges, financial services T4 – EC Sales T5 – lower rate VAT (eg. electricity, gas, women’s sanitary products) T9 – not involving VAT/outside scope of VAT (eg. suppliers that [read more]
Registering for VAT and Keeping VAT records
*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 [read more]
Using Excel for Accounts and Bookkeeping
*The great thing about MS Excel (and others say it’s greatest downfall) is that it is so adaptable and because it normally comes bundled with the PC you bought for your business, it’s cheaper than buying accounting software. For start ups and possibly for the sole trader or small limited company, it’s a very easy way of keeping track [read more]
Why have an Accountant?
*Because… Doing the accounts takes you away from your real business An accountant could do the job quicker and more accurately An accountant could save you money in the form of tax-savings as well as sometimes finding other areas for savings and efficiencies. Professionally produced year end accounts will be taken more seriously by banks and [read more]
What is the Difference between Bookkeeping and Accounting?
*The two really overlap: Bookkeeping is part of accounting. It is the recording of the day to day transactions of a business – either in “manual” books, or on computer software or spreadsheets. Therefore, bookkeeping can play an important role in the efficient running of a business: Purchase Ledger – A business needs to pay [read more]
Simple Bookkeeping
*You need three basic “books” (or ledgers): – a cashbook to record all cash/cheques/bank transfers going in and out of your business – a purchase ledger, to record details of all the purchases that you make – a sales ledger to record details of all the sales that you make (if you are a retail outlet, [read more]
Advantages of a limited company
*Obviously, the main attraction of forming a limited company is the “limited liability” of its owners, the shareholders, as it protects the personal assets of the owners. Should the company fail, the company is liable without limit for its own debts, but its shareholders’ liability is limited to the amount oustanding (if any) on their [read more]
What do you need to set up a company
*Essentially, before you begin, you need: a company name, which can be almost any name that has not previously been registered. a Director a Company Secretary (which cannot be the sole director) (or you could have two directors, one of whom could also act as Company Secretary) a shareholder (which can be either the director [read more]
Choosing Your Accountant
* Speak to your prospective accountant on the phone first and then, if you are still happy, set up an initial meeting – which should be free of charge. Ensure that they are professionally qualified and are current members of a professional body (Chartered Accountant (ICAEW/ICAS/ICAI), Chartered Management Accountant (CIMA), Chartered Certified Accountant (ACCA) for [read more]

PayPal Accounting 27/07/2011 PayPal Accounting Posted by Happy Accountant at 9:00 am No Responses Bank Rec, Errors, Saving Money *If you are doing any volume of PayPal transactions at all, it’s probably easiest to look for accounting software that will handle PayPal transactions by data import or full integration. PayPal accounts would normally be set up as an additional bank account in your accounting software, (this will also give you the option of paying suppliers [read more] Full Article	The Difference between Zero-Rated VAT, VAT Exempt & Out of Scope of VAT 26/08/2010 The Difference between Zero-Rated VAT, VAT Exempt & Out of Scope of VAT Posted by Happy Accountant at 9:30 am 5 Responses Errors, Sage, VAT *There is sometimes confusion over what the difference between Zero-Rate VAT, VAT Exempt & Out of Scope VAT. Zero-Rate VAT items, such as books, childrens clothes and some food, do have VAT on them, it’s just at zero percent, so the actual VAT is nil. (In Sage, the VAT code to use would be T0). [read more] Full Article
Completing a Standard VAT Return on Sage 25/08/2010 Completing a Standard VAT Return on Sage Posted by Happy Accountant at 9:15 am 1 Response Errors, Sage, VAT *Following the previous post, for those using Sage, the process is greatly automated, provided that you have used the correct Sage VAT Codes, of course. Go into Financials and select the VAT Return option. Enter the correct start and end dates for the VAT Quarter in question. Click the ”Calculate” button (at this point, provided you have marked [read more] Full Article	Why do a Bank Reconciliation 05/02/2008 Why do a Bank Reconciliation Posted by Happy Accountant at 9:00 am No Responses Accountant, Accounting, Bank Rec, Bookkeeping, Errors, Saving Money *The point of carrying out a bank reconciliation is to check that nothing has been missed from the business’s records and also to ensure that there have been no bank errors. A business’s cash book will rarely agree to the bank statement and it can be easy to miss transactions, such as direct debit payments if [read more] Full Article
Correction of Errors using a Journal. 12/09/2007 Correction of Errors using a Journal. Posted by Happy Accountant at 9:20 am No Responses Accountant, Accounting, Bookkeeping, Errors *A journal is usually used to correct errors that have been made. The errors must be able to be corrected by means of a double entry, to be able to put it right by journalling. So, if £500 of sales of square widgets had been incorrectly posted to sales of round widgets, the correcting journal [read more] Full Article	T Accounts 13/08/2007 T Accounts Posted by Happy Accountant at 9:40 am No Responses Accountant, Accounting, Bookkeeping, Errors * T accounts are what ledger accounts might look like if they were kept on paper (as opposed to using computer software). They are nothing mysterious, drawn on paper, a T account is quite literally a large T! The title of the ledger (for example, “motor expenses” is written across the top), debit entries against that account [read more] Full Article
Simple Sales Ledger in Excel IV 09/08/2007 Simple Sales Ledger in Excel IV Posted by Happy Accountant at 9:40 am 1 Response Bookkeeping, Errors, Excel *To use the sales ledger spreadsheet is easy. Just record all your sales invoices as you raise them. Allow one row per invoice. Enter the total amounts in columns D and E (if VAT registered) and check that the figure in column F is as you have put in your actual sales invoice. If you [read more] Full Article