Saving Money » 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]

Use of Home 26/07/2010 Use of Home Posted by Happy Accountant at 9:00 am No Responses Corporation Tax, Limited Company, Personal Tax, Saving Money, Sole Traders, Tax * Many self-employed people/sole traders and company directors work from home some of the time and many, if not most of these people can claim a tax-deduction for some of the expenses incurred in working from home ,having a home office or “use of home“. The law says that an expense is only tax-deductible if it [read more] Full Article	Say no to 0870 07/03/2008 Say no to 0870 Posted by Happy Accountant at 9:00 am No Responses Random Friday Blog, Saving Money *… 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, [read more] Full Article
Online Banking 08/02/2008 Online Banking Posted by Happy Accountant at 9:00 am No Responses Accounting, Saving Money *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 [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
Choosing Accounts Software 21/09/2007 Choosing Accounts Software Posted by Happy Accountant at 9:20 am 2 Responses Accounting, Bookkeeping, Planning, Saving Money *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 [read more] Full Article	Why use Accounting Software 14/09/2007 Why use Accounting Software Posted by Happy Accountant at 9:40 am 4 Responses Accounting, Bookkeeping, Planning, Saving Money *The whole point of using accounting software is to make your life easier by saving you time and money. Therefore, if it doesn’t and you can meet your legal requirements without it, you should question whether it’s worth the effort. It should save you time because: the whole process of bookkeeping should be faster (although setting [read more] Full Article