Bookkeep like a Boss
Why do you need Cloud Accounting software?
Simply put, it saves TIME and MONEY.
Hands up anyone that hides the box file of receipts under their bed dreading the day the tax return is due? Maybe you think you know how much money comes in and out of your business, certainly most of the small business owners we work with do, that is until we have set up their accounts and run the reports! How much time do you spend balancing the books? Do you struggle to find the time? If time is something you don’t have then cloud accounting software is the answer.
Maybe you employ someone to do your bookkeeping for you. How much feedback do you receive from them and how often? Do they call you and say “hey, I noticed you have recurring late payments with certain customers”, or “have you noticed you have very small profit margins in x services or products?”. It is likely that they don’t, as, after all, you have asked them to record your transactions and record those transactions is what they have done. Not only will you need access to this information you will also need to be able to interpret it to get a full understanding of how your business is performing. How much are you paying in accountants fees at year end? If you put your hands up at the start and handed that box of receipts over then I am guessing the cost is significantly higher than it needs to be.
Still not sure if cloud accounting is for you? If you answer yes to any of the below statements then it is!
I currently use excel or similar to record my transactions.
I am Vat and MTD registered. (All businesses that are registered for VAT whose turnover is £85k or over must now join the making tax digital scheme).
I send my receipts in a box file to my accountant.
I struggle to compile financial reports for my accountant, bank, creditors etc.
I am unable to see the financial position of my company as it is today.
What is Cloud accounting software?
QuickBooks and Xero are both built with you, a NON-ACCOUNTANT, in mind, that is, they are very easy to use and, as we mentioned already, when used effectively saves time and money on Accounting Costs.
REAL TIME FEATURES
With bank feed integration you get real-time data on all your spend and receive money transactions as soon as they appear in your bank account.
TRACK PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
Inventory management allows you to track products and services and make decisions using all the reports available. Do you need to order more stock? What services are most popular? Where are you making the most profits?
AUTOMATE AUTOMATE AUTOMATE!
Simply Consults are all about saving time and money and we know the easiest way to save your precious time while still effectively managing your finances is automating your processes. Cloud accounting software such as QuickBooks and Xero both allow for recurring transactions, paying your bills and invoicing your clients automatically. You set the rules and they will do the rest.
COST
Cloud accounting software not only improves accuracy and efficiency, it will save you your costly TIME and with monthly subscriptions starting at around £8 it won't break the bank.
Honest, Straightforward Support &Training with you in mind. Save your time, pennies, and efforts for the fun stuff.
Do I need training?
This software has been built with you in mind (the non accountant), you don’t need to know all the formulas as they will do the work for you lowering the risk of any costly accounting errors.
However
The whole point is to save you time and money and this fails if you don’t understand the basics of what it is you are doing. If you lack basic bookkeeping knowledge or have a poor understanding of how the software works then YES you should opt for some training. Believe us, the full benefits are reached when you get the correct training. I know, I know, now you’re thinking “of course you are going to say that, you are selling training days!” You don’t have to be Simply trained, maybe you have a friend or colleague with accounting knowledge that's willing to talk you through this but whatever you do spend some time getting to grips with the process and it will serve you well in the future. Have a look at the case study. It might be obvious for you to see where they have gone wrong long before they sought the correct solution but as business owners, our energies are usually take up elsewhere; like gaining new customers. Simply put, it's simpler than you think and with the right tools and knowledge you will have a complete set of bulletproof books.
Case Study - Company owner X originally started out as a sole trader and kept his receipts in a bag to be dealt with at the time of his tax return. As time went on and the business grew owner X decided to take on an office assistant to help with the admin, including bookkeeping. As neither assistant nor owner X had any experience of this they ventured off on a steep learning curve and many mistakes were made, subsequently, the incorrect figures were sent to HMRC. Owner X had heard about QuickBooks decided to introduce this software to make life simpler and avoid future errors, this also allowed owner X to comply with MTD regulations. This was a good decision, however, neither knew how to use the software so it was all a bit of guesswork and more mistakes were made.
1 YEAR LATER….Owner X contacted Simply Consults for some training, this is how we helped. One day training owner X on the basics of bookkeeping and how to use QuickBooks Online Accounting Software. A second day was added and the decision was taken to start over and backdate the last year's transactions correctly. After a couple of days of work, owner X now had a full, clear and accurate picture of his finances and an understanding of how he could manage this going forward. We also spent time separating out all his services in order for him to track his profit margins and where he might need to focus his advertising efforts.
Simply Training Days - How it works?
A Simply training day or two will allow you to visualise how the money flows through your business and what the financial position is today and how it performs over time.
Bookkeeping is NOT just a Tax Return!
Our training days are for business owners or staff members that are responsible for the day to day accounting and payroll. They are mostly done online and for up to 2 people. On occasion these can be split into half days to suit your business needs, just get in touch to discuss. No training days are ever the same as these are tailor made to suit your business, your level of knowledge and your current setup, however see below for a brief overview of things you can expect. We remain committed to our clients and delivering an exceptional service that will leave you feeling glad of the day you called Simply Consults. We are also completely transparent about our prices, one day of training is £250. That’s it, no hidden extra’s. And it doesn’t end there! For every day of training you will receive 3 months of Simply Support at no extra cost.
Simply training days - What’s included?
One day training QuickBooks or Xero
An introduction to the basics of double entry bookkeeping. You will learn the difference between types of accounts, where you will find them in your financial statements and most importantly what they mean.
An overview of the dashboard, company settings and setting up templates to fit your brand.
Chart of Accounts - refresh to earlier discussion and structure this specifically to your business.
Adding products and services that you sell - not required for basic set up.
Entering Transactions - bills, purchases, invoices, purchase orders, deposits.
Bank feeds - set up, adding, matching, uploading, reconciling and creating rules related to recurring transactions.
Reports - The top 5 reports you should be running each month, what they tell you and how to read them.
Two days Training QuickBooks or Xero
Everything above with further time to delve into more advanced features.
Recurring Transactions for bills and invoices and creation of monthly reports
Integration with other software - automating processes even further for time tracking, projects or automating client onboarding and invoicing.
Payroll - set up, running weekly and monthly payruns, payslips, year end, pension contributions and reporting.
You may also want to have a second day to work on correcting errors in your accounts by having us there to do this with you and give you a clearer understanding of what went wrong.
If you are interested in some training and would like to know more please get in touch or drop us a comment below.