Accounting software or lack of...

[cheeky_chops]

Ive just sent 1st vat (excel) period for our accountant - ive done it before as a IT contractor but was pretty easy (1 invoice per month, a few purchases, lunches, mileage). Now it seems a royal PITA esp as partner isnt so savvy (gave me loads of statements, orders so took ages to find the actual vat invoices....)

Im thinking its time to get an accountancy package? Xero, freshbooks look popular

2 companies, 1 vat registered
2 directors, usual PAYE and divies (plus EV car)
B2B invoicing and online sales
Traditional bank and Stripe payments
USD stock purchases, duty, business travel in USD/EUR
self assessments
Prior years accounts plus year end sept 2022

I dont know if im doing the right thing ie keep giving the accountant wads of paperwork or take some ownership, strangely time to learn isnt the issue, just seems pretty daunting but is only going to get more complex. Whats do others do and how did you get there? Cheers

[StevieBee]

I use Quick Books - the cost of which is included within the fee that I pay my accountant. She has access to it and it links to the company bank account.

It recognises and assigns payments to invoices and purchase orders - easy to keep a tab on expenses, tax, etc.

My only gripes are that I'm quite anal on how documents look and I don't like the look of the invoices and POs I send out (and can't adjust them beyond the templates available) and I find that it's over-complex for what I need - there's lots of superfluous stuff that can take a while to navigate around. But I suspect that will apply to all and probably a 'me' thing in needing to learn it better.

[Countdown]

cheeky_chops said:

Ive just sent 1st vat (excel) period for our accountant - ive done it before as a IT contractor but was pretty easy (1 invoice per month, a few purchases, lunches, mileage). Now it seems a royal PITA esp as partner isnt so savvy (gave me loads of statements, orders so took ages to find the actual vat invoices....)

Im thinking its time to get an accountancy package? Xero, freshbooks look popular

2 companies, 1 vat registered
2 directors, usual PAYE and divies (plus EV car)
B2B invoicing and online sales
Traditional bank and Stripe payments
USD stock purchases, duty, business travel in USD/EUR
self assessments
Prior years accounts plus year end sept 2022

I dont know if im doing the right thing ie keep giving the accountant wads of paperwork or take some ownership, strangely time to learn isnt the issue, just seems pretty daunting but is only going to get more complex. Whats do others do and how did you get there? Cheers

That looks like quite a lot of work - how much are you paying your Accountant? (i.e. how much will you save by doing some or all of it yourself)?

[wheelerc]

I've been very happy with Xero. Similar requirements to yours but I only need GBP. Xero do offer multiple currencies for a bit extra I believe. Can use their Invoice templates or customise via Word.

[48k]

cheeky_chops said:

Ive just sent 1st vat (excel) period for our accountant - ive done it before as a IT contractor but was pretty easy (1 invoice per month, a few purchases, lunches, mileage). Now it seems a royal PITA esp as partner isnt so savvy (gave me loads of statements, orders so took ages to find the actual vat invoices....)

Im thinking its time to get an accountancy package? Xero, freshbooks look popular

2 companies, 1 vat registered
2 directors, usual PAYE and divies (plus EV car)
B2B invoicing and online sales
Traditional bank and Stripe payments
USD stock purchases, duty, business travel in USD/EUR
self assessments
Prior years accounts plus year end sept 2022

I dont know if im doing the right thing ie keep giving the accountant wads of paperwork or take some ownership, strangely time to learn isnt the issue, just seems pretty daunting but is only going to get more complex. Whats do others do and how did you get there? Cheers

I use Xero and am very happy with it. My accountant has a login to it so I never have to send them anything, they login themselves and do whatever they need to. I do the quarterly VAT returns myself direct from Xero which saves me circa £200 / quarter in accountancy fees.

[trickywoo]

My accountant dictates I use quickbooks.

I hate the platform. It’s clunky and unreliable. I’m debating switching accountant to one that doesn’t insist I use it.

[surveyor]

The only issue I ever had with Xero, and I think it is still an issue is that if someone uses the 'pay now' button on the invoice the system does not bother to tell you that it has been paid.

I have no idea why they can't fix this, but I would not ever invest in the system with this limitation.

[megaphone]

Check your bank account, many include 'free' software with business accounts. NatWest do. Barclays do.

[wheelerc]

surveyor said:

The only issue I ever had with Xero, and I think it is still an issue is that if someone uses the 'pay now' button on the invoice the system does not bother to tell you that it has been paid.

I have no idea why they can't fix this, but I would not ever invest in the system with this limitation.

Who is the actual payment provider? You can probably get them to send you notifications.

[surveyor]

wheelerc said:

surveyor said:

The only issue I ever had with Xero, and I think it is still an issue is that if someone uses the 'pay now' button on the invoice the system does not bother to tell you that it has been paid.

I have no idea why they can't fix this, but I would not ever invest in the system with this limitation.

Who is the actual payment provider? You can probably get them to send you notifications.

It's all a bit historic now (although the issue is still alive - I still get notifications from others ranting on the subject). The only solution was to sign up for another paid service that would trigger notifications. I can't remember the exact details.

I have a feeling I used Stripe...

[cheeky_chops]

cheers all - the accountant gets a bundle of stuff - before it was easy, couple invoices, few purchases. New company, vat, we are paying an hourly rate to sift unorganised paperwork, manually processing bank statements, reconcile. Want to get on top of it now and Xero sounds idea to link with accountant, bank and i can do bits myself.

Problem is current accountant is rather old fashioned, their software looks akin to Windows 3.1 so they wont be jumping for joy with a new fangled solution! She suggested we get a accounts package so we could export it out and she can import into hers......

[amateurdad]

cheeky_chops said:

cheers all - the accountant gets a bundle of stuff - before it was easy, couple invoices, few purchases. New company, vat, we are paying an hourly rate to sift unorganised paperwork, manually processing bank statements, reconcile. Want to get on top of it now and Xero sounds idea to link with accountant, bank and i can do bits myself.

Problem is current accountant is rather old fashioned, their software looks akin to Windows 3.1 so they wont be jumping for joy with a new fangled solution! She suggested we get a accounts package so we could export it out and she can import into hers......

Haha, definitely old school. Switch to an accountant that's familiar with Xero otherwise it'll cost more in time for your current accountant to convert into something they can understand.

[Spinner20]

Can recommend Xero with the multi currency option and stripe integration for pay now on invoices.

Watch out for setting it all up correctly with transition point and any history can be input if you wish. Pay someone to help if needed.

[cheeky_chops]

Found someone via the Xero certified search page - small, local to us and good linkedin page They used to be accounts manager for a large ftse but had kids so now runs a small bookkeeping co to fit work/life balance.

We had a chuckle about setting up an accountancy package to export accountancy data to import into another accountancy package!!!

[MaxFromage]

cheeky_chops said:

We had a chuckle about setting up an accountancy package to export accountancy data to import into another accountancy package!!!

Ironically what your old accountant said was right, but probably not in the way they meant it. Most accountants will take the data from your software and import/manipulate it into their software to create compliant accounts. I believe Xero can be used to create complaint accounts/tax returns, but currently very few accountants use it. There is software to keep your accounts on and software that accountants use to create your accounts/tax returns/practice management/company secretarial etc etc.