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Blog posts tagged accounting software
Five things you need from an online accountant
November 16, 2015
When you're running a smaller business, you don't need to hire an expensive accountancy firm to keep your finances on track. Nor do you need to spend hours wading through complicated financial reports.
Many accountants provide software that makes it easier for your company to maintain your accounts and balance your books online. These cloud accounting services - where your data is stored and accessed online - can be an excellent option.
They make it easier to monitor revenue, generate invoices, track cash flow and manage payroll. Your business's financial information stays secure, but you can access it no matter where you are.
What's more, using an online accountant will often be cheaper than working with a High Street firm.
There are many online accountants available, offering a range of services for a range of costs. This means it is important to think about your needs in order to determine what specific features your business will need.
However, here are five features that are a must for any business considering online accountancy:
1. Fixed accounting prices
Look for an online accounting service that charges a fixed monthly fee. Ideally, this should include unlimited telephone and email support, plus access to your own dedicated accountant.
If you don't choose a fixed-fee service, you could be hit by a bill that's higher than you expect. If your accountant charges for their time, you might be charged every time you email or call them.
2. A mobile accounting app
One of the biggest things going for online accounting is that it's available 24/7. There are no office hours. This flexibility should be matched with a mobile app that lets you manage your money from anywhere.
A mobile app allows you to sign in and manage your money from any location. You can easily stay up-to-date with relevant projects and make sure you don't miss any deadlines.
3. One point of contact
You'll have to deal with a real accountant at some point, even if you have the very best online accountancy service. Many online accountants provide a generic telephone number or email address for queries or issues. This means you can end up talking to a whole variety of people.
It's better to find a firm that offers a dedicated personal accountant. This means you'll always get to speak to the same person. They'll get to know your business, so you won't have to tell them the full story every time.
4. Comprehensive online help
With access to the right information, you can handle more of your finances yourself. The benefit of doing this is that it keeps you closer to your figures, so you always know what's going on.
It's easier to work this way when your online accountancy service provides a substantial online knowledge centre or help website. Make sure this support is in place, perhaps via an FAQ section, support documentation or user forums.
5. A proven track record
Online accountancy is an increasingly popular way for smaller companies to meet their accounting needs. Make sure the supplier you choose has a solid reputation - both as a business accountant and as an online company.
Many online accountants will give you a quote via their website. Do not jump at the first one you get. Take out a few quotes to compare prices and service levels.
Sponsored post: copyright © 2015 Rachel Smith, Technical Writer at Nixon Williams's Vantage Online Accounting.
A new free tool to create your invoices
June 24, 2013
If you're a small company or freelancer looking for a really easy way to get invoices out to clients fast, you could do a lot worse than look to online accounting provider FreeAgent.
Although you have to pay for FreeAgent's main accounting software, the company now offers Invoice-o-Matic, a free online tool that creates decent-looking invoices for you.
Invoice-o-Matic is clearly designed as a hook to get you to start using the company's full-on accounting software. However, it's still very useful in its own right and certainly worth investigating if you currently do your invoices with Microsoft Word.
FreeAgent has posted this video showing Invoice-o-Matic in action:
Try Invoice-o-Matic for yourself >>
Will Real Time Information for Payroll help your business?
April 16, 2012
HMRC is planning to make the PAYE system more accurate. Its aims seem reasonable: it’s looking to drastically reduce the number of corrections it has to make for overpayment and underpayment. And it wants to slash the possibility of fraud. Sounds it should save us all a bit of money.
However, to achieve these aims, HMRC is making changes to how businesses supply them with payroll information. Currently, you only have to submit payroll returns once a year. Under the new system, you’ll have to do it every time you pay your employees.
The new system is called Real Time Information for Payroll (RTI) and it’ll be introduced from April next year**.
A PAYE admin nightmare?
It’s easy to see why this idea is attractive to HMRC. They receive up-to-date information each time you run payroll – they don’t have to wait a year between submissions. But at first glance this sounds like it could create lots more work for your average business.
If you pay employees weekly and monthly then you could end up submitting payroll information 52 times a year. Isn’t that going to be an admin nightmare?
Well, on reflection I think it might not be quite as bad as it sounds. Sure, the new system is going to take some adjusting too (it’ll become compulsory by October next year), but the benefits could be felt way beyond the world of payroll.
Reduce the stress of year-end
Payroll year-end can be really stressful. Wading back through a year’s worth of data, reconciling reports, tracking down needle-in-a-haystack errors, trying to figure out when on earth you did ten months earlier … it might only happen annually, but for many businesses it’s a disruptive and confusing time of the year.
On the other hand, if you got into the habit of submitting payroll information more often, it’s much easier to be sure that the information you’re submitting is accurate. And in fact, it’s not a stretch to imagine that if submitting a payroll return was just a standard part of your payroll procedure – and built in to your payroll software - it could be quick and easy every week.
Benefits for everyone?
Beyond payroll, imagine a world where you get the benefits you deserve and are entitled to. Imagine calling HMRC and them actually being able to resolve your queries faster because they have access to up-to-date information. RTI will help deliver this.
It’s for these reasons that I believe RTI is absolutely the right thing to do to drag us all - screaming and kicking, probably - into the 21st century.
You can become RTI ready and help shape how HMRC and Sage provide on-going help and support by getting involved in our pilot scheme. If you are interested simply register for the register for the RTI pilot online and we’ll be in touch.
** After this article was published, HMRC announced a "relaxation of reporting arrangements for small businesses". According to HMRC: "Until 5 October 2013, employers with fewer than 50 employees, who find it difficult to report every payment to employees at the time of payment, may send information to HMRC by the date of their regular payroll run but no later than the end of the tax month (5th)."
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