- My Bookkeeping Online

Budget update and how you can save tax

08/04/11 (12:40 p.m.)

The budget was well received in the small business community, and there are changes that you can make FROM TODAY that will mean that you pay less tax...

Contactless Cards – Good for retailers and consumers

07/01/11 (1:51 p.m.)

Contactless cards are here to stay. Recent reports suggest that 12m were in issue by the end of last year, primarily marketed by Barclaycard.

So what are contactless cards? If the scheme...

No Purchase Ledger Required

08/11/10 (11:09 a.m.)

The degree of complexity required of a purchase ledger depends on the size of the business. For example, a shop that receives 30 supplier invoices a month will have very different requirements to a national chain of shops that might receive 2,000 supplier invoices a month...

Recording sales if you are in the retail or hospitality industries

01/11/10 (12:02 p.m.)

Occasionally, I pick up on bits of functionality in My Bookkeeping Online that are really valued by users.

On this particular occasion, an accountant brought it to my attention that some rivals do not offer the ability to record a cash sale in the sales ledger without raising an invoice – so I thought it would be worth passing on in a blog how My Bookkeeping Online...

Bookkeeping Solutions: Online vs Offline - The battle rages

02/09/10 (12:17 p.m.)

The last few years has seen a number of online bookkeeping solutions launch solely in the online arena. These include Xero, Kashflow, Free Agent Central and, of course, My Bookkeeping Online.

These new products are challenging the traditional software houses –Sage and QuickBooks -both of whom are yet to launch an online solution.

So, which is the better for micro businesses? Particularly those that are one man bands, or have no in-house bookkeeping skills?

5 Tips for simple bookkeeping

17/08/10 (11:57 a.m.)

Running your own business is challenging enough, without the bookkeeping getting in the way. Believe it or not, bookkeeping does not need to be the stressful; challenging nightmare that it is often perceived to be. Here are my 5 top tips:

Get your VAT registration online now!

04/07/10 (9:12 a.m.)

If you have a VAT registered businesses with an annual sales of more than £100,000 (net of VAT), or you registered your business for VAT after 1 April 2010, new legislation now requires that the business files its VAT returns online, and pays its VAT electronically.

Such VAT registered businesses must now file their VAT returns online by 7^th day of the second month after the end of the period, or face fines

Managing tills in a retail outlet

15/06/10 (7:35 a.m.)

It is important to have good control over your tills. Here are a few ideas:

Always have enough change, particularly at your busiest times. Running out of change is a nightmare – it wastes time while you fix it, annoys your customers and ultimately costs money. When I owned a pub, we were always busiest at weekends, so we organised the week’s change order each Friday (always ordering 25% more than we thought we needed) and then we topped up after the weekend if we needed to.

Identity thieves turning to corporate fraud

29/05/10 (11:51 a.m.)

There is a slightly worrying article in today’s Weekend FT about identity thieves turning their attentions to companies, and cloning the identities of entire businesses.

The way they are doing this is by submitting paper documents to Companies House changing the name of the registered office and company director details. Companies House does not verify the validity of every paper item it receives.

There is a very simple way of dealing with this risk.

Registering for VAT with sales under the £70,000 threshold

05/05/10 (7 a.m.)

There is a lot of talk online about the rate of VAT being raised to 20% after the General Election.

If the VAT rate does rise, businesses with turnover of below £70,000 may be more minded to register for VAT, and here, broadly, is why:

Choosing the best bookkeeping software for your businesses

26/04/10 (8 a.m.)

It is important that you have the right level of bookkeeping software for your business. The wrong software will leave you frustrated because it will either be too simple and not provide the information you need, or be too complicated and cost a fortune to run.

In my mind, there are 4 levels.

PAYE Changes

20/04/10 (4:25 p.m.)

We have seen many new taxes come in under the radar over the last few years, but for me, this is probably the most badly thought out, badly communicated of the lot. And once again, it is being left well intentioned individuals (such as me) to communicate the bad news.

If you employ staff, you will be familiar with the need to pay PAYE and NI contributions over to HM Revenue & Customs on a monthly or quarterly basis, by the 19^th of the month following.

Categories:Financial, Industry News, Small Business Help
Tags:PAYE, industry

Budget 2010 – Nothing if you run your business from home

26/03/10 (7 a.m.)

This years budget is incredibly frustrating. All the politicians go on about helping small businesses, and then in the next breath, talk about tax breaks for businesses with 10 staff!

Politicians and, unfortunately, most commentators have little concept of what a small business is.

In the real world, small businesses are one or two man bands that run their businesses from home, the little shops, restaurants, the IT contractors, freelancers & consultants, chiropractors, doctors, and so on, some of whommight employ 1-5 people.

Sian Williams tells HMRC she'd read News Naked

23/03/10 (7 a.m.)

Last week, Sian Williams said she would read the breakfast news naked because HMRC would not allow her to claim her clothing costs as a business expense.

As there seems to be much misunderstanding about what constitutes a business expense, I have set out below the general rules that apply to the vast majority of circumstances. Hopefully this will help Sian, and other frustrated tax payers /naturalists, avoid future accountancy and legal costs!

Purchase Invoice Management – The Four Step System

19/03/10 (6 a.m.)

Trying to manage the amount you owe suppliers using any bookkeeping software, including Excel, is tricky. What commonly happens is that mistakes are made and then, more time is spent correcting errors than on the bookkeeping itself! I have come to the conclusion that the most efficient solution for small business owners remains a simple paper filing system.

Organise the papers as described in this “The 4-step system” and you will always...

VAT Rate Change - The Essential Guide

01/12/09 (5:56 p.m.)

The essential guide covers everything you need to know about the VAT rate change this December.

VAT Rate Change

17/11/09 (1:23 p.m.)

It has been announced, our thoughtful Government are changing the VAT rates again. An impulsive decision made a year ago with little thought for the administration burden on small businesses.

Now, of course, they are going to change it back again and have finally settled on the 1 January as the date to do it.

Categories:Bookkeeping, Financial, Small Business Help
Tags:VAT, rate

Accountant Relationships

09/11/09 (12:47 p.m.)

It is sad to say, but many small businesses have a stressful relationship with their accountants. Looking at the bald facts, it is perhaps not hard to see why...

Steps to Setting up a Business at Home: Regulatory

02/11/09 (6 a.m.)

My first blog post on setting up a business at home proved popular - I thought I would follow it up with some tips on the regulatory side to working from home. Firstly, decide whether to trade as a sole trader or to set up a Limited Company...

Steps to Setting up a Business at Home: Commercial

26/10/09 (1:40 p.m.)

1. Think of a business name. If you need them, make sure that a suitable domain name is available (for emails and website). If you are struggling to find a name, think about using your own name – credibility is essential and your willingness to use your name will reassure potential customers. Alternatively, stick with the simplest explanation of your business that you can find. “My Bookkeeping Online” is a good example of this.

2. ...

Retirement Age

12/10/09 (6 a.m.)

Last week, the high court stood by the current law regarding employee rights when an employee reaches retirement age. As we know it, the law states that an employee retires at the age of 65 without further financial burden on the employer. This was challenged – the suggestion being, I think, that some sort of redundancy payment be made.

Small business owners will view the ruling with a sigh of relief.

Rewarding Key Staff with Share Options

07/10/09 (8 a.m.)

As a business owner you’ll know how important keeping and rewarded key employees is. I have found share options a great route to incentivising mine. Here’s how...

Share options are such a good, well intentioned idea. They reward and incentivise key staff by passing on shares or share options in the business. On the face of it, as a small business owner, it can be the perfect solution.

Unfortunately, the Government has made it a problematic from a legal and a tax perspective.

Tax breaks if your Business Fails

02/10/09 (8 a.m.)

Not a cheery topic I am afraid to say - but one worth of attention.

This is mainly because it limits the downside risk for the investors in your business. In addition, as owner manager, you are eligible for the tax break too.

It is not widely known about and my guess is that 1,000s of small business fail without full advantage being taken.

Categories:Financial, Small Business Help
Tags:tax, breaks, business, fail

Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS)

24/09/09 (10:35 a.m.)

Start-ups are you looking into angel investment as a finance option? You need to ensure you’re EIS compliant...

If you are raising capital for a start-up business and you plan to use angel investment, the investors will probably want to know whether the business will be EIS compliant. The EIS is a government backed scheme that gives tax breaks to investors. The benefits of investing in an EIS compliant business are principally two-fold...

Employees Verses Contractors

21/09/09 (9 a.m.)

Fortunately there are some very good employers out there – people who thrive on building teams and getting the most out of their staff.

For me – I know I am not the best employer. It is not that I am rude or offensive – very much the opposite I would hope. It is that I, like many entrepreneurs, am very absorbed in what I am doing – thus for me the business comes first, and that means everything else second.

Taking a Holiday

17/09/09 (9 a.m.)

In a recent FT article, there was a discussion about how some business owners have taken a holiday this summer for the first time in years.

Are they mad?

Business Idea to Reality

11/09/09 (9 a.m.)

Believe it or not, and all entrepreneurs will agree with me on this, having the good idea is the easy bit.

Think of the number of pub conversations where you have had the ‘wouldn’t it be great if...’ and you think you have conquered the world with a great new idea? Everyone’s done it.

Sadly, the journey is only just beginning, and even more painful to admit is it is highly possible that the idea isn’t that good anyway.

Categories:Small Business Help, Start ups

Stock Taking

07/09/09 (9 a.m.)

The bane of a bar or shop owner’s life I realise! But I’ve been there and it needs to be done...properly. Undertake full stock takes as infrequently as possible - once a year is often quite sufficient and it works best at the year end. How – I here you say – do I keep control month in month out?

Here are my five steps...

Categories:Small Business Help
Tags:stock, taking

Changing and Adapting to Market Conditions

21/08/09 (3:46 p.m.)

As I’ve mentioned before – my first break into entrepreneurial freedom was back in the 90s, via the purchase of a pub with my brother. For the first five years, the pub was packed full.

During that time, the local area was swarming with single 20-30 year-olds looking for a good time on Friday and Saturday nights and we gave it to them. The cash was piling in and we thought we had made it. That was until we got broadsided by a fundamental change in the market conditions. Property prices were rising rapidly, resulting in our target market being forced to look to other, cheaper areas of London to live in. As a result the size of the market we were competing for reduced dramatically and competition became fierce.

To Incorporate or Not to Incorporate

20/08/09 (3:27 p.m.)

Five years ago, it was a no brainer at almost any level. But as the current climate has changed so has the answer... The tax system was such that incorporating simply put cash in your pocket because you paid less tax. However over the last three years Gordon and his merry men have tweaked the system. These days - savings can still be made but by the time you have paid extra costs to your accountant and dealt with the excess administration, there’s no financial gain in choosing this option. Read more to find out my pros and cons.

Categories:Financial, Small Business Help
Tags:incorporating

Bookkeeper Tim's Blog

13/08/09 (10:06 a.m.)

Hello I'd like to introduce myself as Bookkeeper Tim! This is my first blog post of many in the run up to launch of My Bookkeeping Online.

The blogs main focus is on small business. No doubt my focus will head off in many tangents in the coming weeks and months, but the primary purpose is to talk about small businesses that are starting up, help with some broad advice and talk about the issues small business owners face in specific industries. Please forgive the occasional rant too...

Top Rated Articles

My Bookkeeping Online Blog

By Tim Haggard

Posts in category Small Business Help:

Budget update and how you can save tax

Contactless Cards – Good for retailers and consumers

No Purchase Ledger Required

Recording sales if you are in the retail or hospitality industries

Bookkeeping Solutions: Online vs Offline - The battle rages

5 Tips for simple bookkeeping

Get your VAT registration online now!

Managing tills in a retail outlet

Identity thieves turning to corporate fraud

Registering for VAT with sales under the £70,000 threshold

Choosing the best bookkeeping software for your businesses

PAYE Changes

Budget 2010 – Nothing if you run your business from home

Sian Williams tells HMRC she'd read News Naked

Purchase Invoice Management – The Four Step System

VAT Rate Change - The Essential Guide

VAT Rate Change

Accountant Relationships

Steps to Setting up a Business at Home: Regulatory

Steps to Setting up a Business at Home: Commercial

Retirement Age

Rewarding Key Staff with Share Options

Tax breaks if your Business Fails

Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS)

Employees Verses Contractors

Taking a Holiday

Business Idea to Reality

Stock Taking

Changing and Adapting to Market Conditions

To Incorporate or Not to Incorporate

Bookkeeper Tim's Blog