Should I Use Computerised Accountancy Packages Or Manual Bookkeeping?

Should I Use Computerised Accountancy Packages Or Manual Bookkeeping?
By Alan Butler

This looks like a simple question that you are asking, and it is - but let us look deeper. How much do you know about manual bookkeeping? Many business people spend hours trying to decide where each invoice or payment should be listed.

Is this a repair and renewal or is it a capital item? Do I need to put this item in sundries or should it have its own heading?

How do I calculate the percent Gross Profit, I know the accountant told me about it, but I did not understand what he was talking about.

It looks so easy when you have a qualified person doing it, but it really is not that easy for the business person who has no training in bookkeeping or accountancy.

Now consider what it will be like when you use accountancy software. You put in your receipts and payments, and the software balances the bank for you. No more manual double entry bookkeeping where the columns do not agree - just allow the accounts program to do the hard work for you.

With accountancy software, you will become the accountant you never thought possible. You will be producing reports for your business. You will remove the sleepless nights, where you had been trying to work through your accounts, because your accounts software is taking the strain for you.

For most business people there is no choice, the computerised accountancy package is the way forward, and you really do not want to be left behind.

Alan Butler is a director of A Butler and Company, chartered certified accountants, based in Derby, providing a personalised service to local business owners and individuals.

Four Software Limited, 5A Darley Abbey Mills, Darley Abbey, Derby, DE22 1DZ, Tel 01332 200 604, Fax 01332 344329, www.foursoftware.co.uk

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Keeping VAT records

In general, you must keep the following VAT records:

• Records of all the standard-rated, reduced-rated, zero-rated and exempt goods and services that you buy or sell.
• Copies of all sales invoices you issue. Except: if you are a retailer you do not have to keep copies of any less detailed VAT invoices for items under £250 including VAT - unless your customer has asked for a VAT invoice.
• All purchase invoices for items you buy.
• All credit notes and debit notes you receive.
• Copies of all credit notes and debit notes you issue.
• Any self-billing agreements you make as a supplier.
• Copies of self-billing agreements you make as a customer and name, address and VAT registration number of the supplier.
• Records of any goods you give away or take from stock for your private use including rate and amount of VAT.
• Records of any goods or services bought for which you cannot reclaim the VAT, such as business entertainment.
• Any documents dealing with special VAT treatment, such as reliefs or zero-rating by certificate.
• Records of any goods you export.
• Records of any taxable self-supplies you make - for example if you sell cars and you use one of your cars in stock for business purposes.
• Any adjustments such as corrections to your accounts or amended VAT invoices.
• A VAT account, as outlined in the following section of this guide.

Get information about the different rates of VAT

Find out what it means to be exempt or partly exempt from VAT

Get information about sales and invoicing for VAT

Find out about purchases and VAT receipts

Find out about issuing credit notes and reclaiming VAT when customers return goods

Read about self-billing

Get information about reclaiming VAT

More about taxable self-supplies

Save time and money using accountancy software

Author: Alan Butler

Time is something most business people do not have enough of. There is always something in a business which will take your time. What about trying to save time by using accountancy software? Have you realized how easy that is to do?

We all know that time is money - so by saving your accountant time you save yourself money.

Take a look at the payments you made last year to your accountant, how high are they? You do know that most accountant work on an hourly rate, and if you telephone them for five minutes you are charged for 15 minutes. Those quick telephone calls soon mount up.

And if they are charging by the hour, how much work is involved in producing your accounts, when you have manual books or no books to give them?

This is about to change. You have bought accounts software, and the reports and records are now perfect. Your accountant has very little work to do, and immediately you have reduced your accountants' costs.

But you will also save a lot of time when you use the software yourself. Instead of spending hours trying to work out what you need to do; you can quickly and easily input your data. The software then generates the reports you need, saving you lots of time.

If you want to save time and money, then you should get your accountancy software today. Start to use it immediately and see how much time and money you can save.

About the Author:

Alan Butler is a director of A Butler and Company, chartered certified accountants, based in Derby, providing a personalised service to local business owners and individuals.

Four Software Limited, 5A Darley Abbey Mills, Darley Abbey, Derby, DE22 1DZ, Tel 01332 200 604, Fax 01332 344329, Four Software
Email bookkeeping@siteweave.net

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Save time and money using accountancy software

Move your business forward using Accounts Software

Author: Alan Butler

Have you noticed that there is a lot of doom and gloom in the business world? Companies are losing money so fast it is unbelievable. All we hear about is the recession and peoples' houses being worth less than the mortgage on them. Jobs are being lost and people wonder where they will get the money to pay the bills. But as a business you want to move your business forward and you can by using accounts software.

Think about it for a moment, if you do not know where your business is financially, you will be moving backwards. Now, you might wonder how that can be if you have more sales, and you think there is more money in the bank.

You think, but you do not know. The problem is that a lot of businesses take their bank balance as a sign of how their business is doing. More money in the bank means a healthier business, but that is not true. What it means is you have not spent more money yet. People tend to spend the money they have, and then they realize that money should have been used to pay bills.

When you use an accounts program, you can see the true picture of your business. You will not be relying on your bank statement to tell you how much money you have.

You will be able to print reports which will allow you to move your business forward, which is crucial if you want to survive the recession.

About the Author:

Alan Butler is a director of A Butler and Company, chartered certified accountants, based in Derby, providing a personalised service to local business owners and individuals.

Four Software Limited, 5A Darley Abbey Mills, Darley Abbey, Derby, DE22 1DZ, Tel 01332 200 604, Fax 01332 344329, Four Software
Email bookkeeping@siteweave.net

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Move your business forward using Accounts Software

Keep Track of Your Money With Accountancy Software

By Alan Butler

You have money in petty cash, in your current account, your deposit account and in the building society. But, do you know how much money is in each account? How can you easily keep track of your money? By using accountancy software!

Are you missing out on interest because you forgot to transfer the money from your current account to your savings account?

You have been charged bank charges this month, because you forgot to transfer that small amount of money from your deposit account to your current account, which would have kept you above the limit for paying bank charges.

Using accounting software you will no longer have a problem knowing which account you need to make a transfer from or to. Account software will let you know to the penny how much money is in each account. You will wonder how you managed before you had an accountancy software package - no more scraps of paper! Referring to your accounts package, you will know before your staff asks for more petty cash, how much they have spent and how much they need.

Every penny counts in a recession and you need to know exactly how much money you are making each day. You need to know when to stop promoting a product because it is no longer making you any money and when to promote one that is doing well.

Now you can know exactly what is happening with your business. You can keep track of your money when you use accountancy software. Do not delay, get your accounting software today and see the difference it makes in knowing how much money you have.

Alan Butler is a director of A Butler and Company, chartered certified accountants, based in Derby, providing a personalised service to local business owners and individuals.

Four Software Limited
5A Darley Abbey Mills
Darley Abbey
Derby
DE22 1DZ

Tel 01332 200 604

Fax 01332 344329

Web Site: www.foursoft.co.uk

Article Source: Ezine Articles

Keep Control of Your Business Finance Using Accounting Software

By Alan Butler

In the past, people hated keeping accounts. It was time consuming, and boring. People would write something in a book, but most of the time it did not mean anything.

Bank accounts were not balanced, because it was not something a lot of people understood. What do you do when you spend money out of the business account and it was for your own use? It was too confusing, that is why you pay your accountant.

That is true, but it also meant that a business person had no idea what the true financial affairs were for their company. Even, if they did have some idea, often it did not make sense to them. They would check their bank balance, and too often the balance showing either told them how much they could spend or how much they owed the bank.

But that has changed now. No longer is accounting a hidden secret, not when you purchase and use accounting software. You see a product that will enhance your business but can you afford to buy it or not? Now you can know exactly what money is available to spend on that product.

You no longer have pieces of paper around your house and office with notes, pay this supplier by a certain date, or chase up that customer if they do not pay by a certain date.

You now have it all automated, as you check your debtors and creditors on a daily basis. Nothing is left to chance. Having accounting software makes you wonder how you ever managed without it before.

Alan Butler is a director of A Butler and Company, chartered certified accountants, based in Derby, providing a personalised service to local business owners and individuals.

Four Software Limited
5A Darley Abbey Mills
Darley Abbey
Derby
DE22 1DZ

Tel 01332 200 604
Fax 01332 344329
www.foursoftware.co.uk
Article Source: Ezine Articles