Every business has a legal obligation to keep records of their transactions. There is no set format that must be adhered to but at the very least records of all sales, expenses and purchases should be kept.
Unfortunately if a business fails to keep adequate records then they can be fined up to £3,000 by HMRC along with an additional tax bill if the inadequate records resulted in an incorrect tax return being filed.
Aside from the obligations, keeping good records is an essential part of running a successful business. When good records are kept the business owner knows at any given time, how much is owed from customers, how much is owed to suppliers, how profitable the business is and how much cash is available. This means better decision making can be made and improvements in cash flow and profitability can be made if necessary.
Outsourcing your bookkeeping to professionals such as The Accountancy Partnership not only removes one of the biggest headaches involved with managing a companies financial affairs, but also offers a multitude of benefits such as:
We have gone to great lengths to make the process as easy as possible for our clients. Paper records can be sent to us using the Post offices Special Delivery service.
For electronic records (such as invoices sent as PDFs) you simply forward them on to your assigned bookkeeping clerk via email.
Once you have decided to appoint us to complete your bookkeeping we will ask you to send us your records at a suitable frequency. So for example, if we complete monthly management accounts for you then we would ask for your records monthly. If we take care of your quarterly VAT returns, then we would ask for your records quarterly. If you are not VAT registered then we may only need to ask for records annually.
Once your records have been received we will input the transactions into bookkeeping software. We will then use the finalised bookkeeping to complete your VAT returns (if applicable), accounts and tax returns.
Whilst outsourcing your bookkeeping does have its clear advantages there can also be advantages to completing your own bookkeeping: