The Happy Accountant

As soon as you list your business in directories and telephone books, register a limited company or otherwise publicise your business, it can generate an overwhelming amount of unsolicited mail and cold-calling.
It has been possible for some time, to register a residential address and telephone number for the mail preference service and telephone preference service.  Companies must check that the addresses/telephone [...]

For anyone frustrated by automated call-centres and endless “touch-tone” menu options, this great site, GetHuman.com, shows you how to get through to a proper human being.

… and other non-geographic numbers.
In recent years, more and more companies have been moving to “non-geographic” numbers (generally with a dialing code starting with 05 and 08, or worse still, a premium number which begins with 09).
If you have an inclusive tarif which means that all calls to geographical landlines are “free” (well, included in [...]

Online banking is now normal for many individuals and businesses.  It is great for keeping right up to date with your bank transactions.  It’s also a great way to save money:  many banks will charge business customers for processing cheques (either drawn by the business or paid in), however some banks will not charge for [...]

For anyone who has a self-assessment tax return due.  Remember that the final deadline for both on-line filing of your return and payment of your 2006-07 tax liability is 31 January 2008.  You may also have a payment on account to make by the same date.
There is an automatic fixed penalty of £100 for late [...]

Happy Christmas 2007!

Advantages
Encourages customers to pay early, thus helping cashflow.
Can be used as a marketing device.
Disadvantages
Some customers take the discount without actually paying within the timescale required.

Sage uses the following codes for 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 are not registered for VAT, road fund licences ie. car [...]

I know it’s a cliche but  time management is even more important when working from home  to avoid an unproductive merging of work/home/family.  Here are just a few blogs on work/time management sites:
Time Management at Home
A Matter of Time
Mark Forster
 Pick the Business

I’ve recently been in the position of choosing accounting software, so this has been forefront of my mind.  This is a (by no means exhaustive) list of things to consider (in no particular order). 

price
functionality
ease of use/user friendliness
accounting knowledge
upgradeability
upgrade cost
ongoing support costs
flexibility
does it meet your legal obligations