Bookkeeping Software or Services?

Every business is required to keep bookkeeping records to produce at the end of the year (Calendar or Financial) a set of accounts to show the business expenses, sales income and the net profit for tax purposes. New businesses in particular, self employed businesses have a choice in how the financial accounts are prepared and produced. Many of these businesses for financial reasons tend to either keep a manual record of financial transactions or purchase an off the shelf software program from their local retailer and then on their own develop a charter of accounts and complete the data entry.

There are several advantages and disadvantages to whichever course of action a small business may take to produce the financial. But, at the end of the day, the condition of financial accounts and the financial control that are put in place will dictate how well or badly the business is performing compared to the success in the business environment. The underlying necessity is that if the business does not take a decision on its financial accounting then at the very least it must accumulate documents of prime significance such as sales invoices, purchase invoices and possibly bank records during the financial year and assemble these into some sort of order after the end of the financial year for tax purposes. Failing to keep financial records often results in a succession of administrative burdens and often also leads to financial penalties if taxation deadlines are not met.

If the small business owner chooses not to go down the route of using bookkeeping software or outsourcing the financial function to a bookkeeper or accountant then manual financial records must be kept. Producing an income and expenditure account for the business using the prime financial documents of business is not rocket science and most businessmen capable of running and managing a business have the skills required to producing the bookkeeping records. The major disadvantage of a small business keeping manual records is that documents get lost which may result in profits and taxes being over declared, fines and penalties through inaccuracies and often when accounting is produced in this way it is done at the end of the financial year purely for tax purposes rather than as an essential tool of the business and that reduces financial control within the business during the financial year to a minimum and often zero.

If a manual bookkeeping system is adopted then disciplined recording of the financial information on a regular basis should be enforced and regarded as an essential function and not an administrative burden. The main purpose of regular accounts being to both see and understand the financial position of the business and take positive action as required at the earliest opportunity to achieve a satisfactory financial result.

Other alternatives include utilizing bookkeeping software which is effectively often a manual system in itself but within definite parameters to produce the essential information. Using bookkeeping software has many advantages. First of all any small business that has purchased bookkeeping software is more likely to keep regular up to date accounts than one that has not. And secondly the bookkeeping software is likely to provide a fixed set of disciplines and produce the type of records a small business requires for both the preparation of regular financial statements and the end of year tax returns. Another major advantage of bookkeeping software is that records tend to be less likely to be lost or mislaid; the packages can be backed up as required but essential financial performance can be improved by greater financial control. All businesses work towards producing a satisfactory bottom line and only by producing regular financial statements can the business obtain the earliest information to achieve that satisfactory performance.

Bookkeeping software comes in many different formats from simple spreadsheets to more complex data based accounting software. For a small business the bookkeeping software of choice is often a simple system requiring limited accounting knowledge but must also be a package that produces the desired end result. The worst bookkeeping software is a complex program requiring prior accounting knowledge that the small business either does not fully understand, cannot be bothered or does not have the time to learn and having tried the system then abandons it. Such a process just causes frustration and time to start again with a different solution. Bookkeeping software in effect automates the manual keeping of financial records. To get the most benefit from a bookkeeping software package each small business should prepare regular financial records to enhance and improve financial control, take financial decisions and achieve the desired bottom line result.

Bookkeeping can be outsourced to an accountant or bookkeeper and there advantages in doing so. The financial records are generally maintained in good order and regular financial reports produced. If the small business has a volume of paperwork that becomes a burden to process and keep on top of then a bookkeeper is the best solution. Employing a bookkeeper becomes essential when the paperwork burden reaches a stage when it distracts the small business owner from getting on with the main task of operating the business. A bookkeeper has to be paid and that cost should be viewed as the cost not of producing the financial records but as the amount to be paid to release the time of the small business owner and also to produce the financial statements on which action can be taken to improve profitability.

In conclusion each small business should evaluate their options and time commitment. A manual bookkeeping system may suffice but the business may be better served using bookkeeping software & services to increase financial control and performance.

15 years of Fortune 1000 Consulting in IT and Business Process Outsourcing.

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Need To Upgrade Your Bookkeeping Software

As your company grow in business, the existing bookkeeping system which you make use of- whether it is the simple spreadsheet or the boxes, is likely to become obsolete. Over time, various kinds of paperwork such as financial receipts and other financial documents might overwhelm you. The successful management and the thriving growth of every small business depend on making use of small business bookkeeping soft wares.

One would be able to cite a variety of reasons for upgrading to the efficient small accounting system. One reason can be the difficulty in computing, hiring and tracking the various aspects related to new employees.

Another reason which has an impact on companies engaged in the manufacturing and resale business is the difficulty in keeping track of raw material's usage which eventually leads to stock shortages of high turn over products or items. A third reason enumerated to upgrade, is the difficulty faced when estimating the duration or the number of hours to bill each of your customers. Regardless of the various symptoms, the result is that your bookkeeping system remains inefficient and is in urgent need of being upgraded to a reliable business bookkeeping software system. The choice of system would be always between the invaluable time and hard earned money of the business owner. Some may choose to spend their resources on both the aspects of time and money; but this method can prove quite costly. For instance, if you intend to save money and go on to purchase a low value business software, you could end up spending an excess amount of time every week trying to make it adapt to your needs.

A leading financial audit firm conducted a study about the most decisive factors small business owners consider when they are shopping for bookkeeping soft wares. The study indicated a huge discrepancy in the way start-up businesses and experienced business owners decided to buy business bookkeeping software systems. Yet another finding was that most of the business owners learn about the important criteria that need to be used for choosing small bookkeeping software systems through their own industry experiences. According to the research papers three reasons influence a small business owner's decision to buy small business book keeping soft wares. They are ease of use, ease of operation, and price.

Keeping pace with all the back-up document generation for producing bills, tax and income papers can be a real headache, and can waste your valuable time. Too often, small scale business owners and their staff spend countless hours searching for some critical documents. As a business person, you worry about being audited during the year end, or if you have missed a sales tax payment. The huge paperwork can turn down your life, and in the process will decrease the productivity in other areas of business. Efficiency and productivity form the two key aspects of a successful business. So, you need to get ready to ease the stress in your life, and to manage and streamline your business in a better manner.

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Bookkeepers and Bookkeeping visit lbks.co.uk/

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Outsourcing and Bookkeeping Software

It is known that new as well as start-up business owners and experienced business owners approach the purchases in a very different manner; they were seeking different functions with this purchase. This surely indicates that business owners with less years of experience knew more about the bookkeeping software; what they really need while deciding on small business bookkeeping tasks. The following aspects were the top elements that small scale businesses used in order to determine their bookkeeping software purchase. They were on the look out for small scale business bookkeeping soft wares that were found to be easy to use ones. They wanted a soft ware that was easy to implement and deploy in their bookkeeping operations. And finally, the factor they looked for in a small business bookkeeping software was cost efficiency.

Instead by hiring an accountant from some accounting firms, their businesses get some of the accurate accounting details. That will also help them to relax and have an eased out bookkeeping or accounting session. These accountants or bookkeepers are bound to act as guides in running a highly successful business. Professional bookkeepers working at these popular accounting are generally thorough with all the nuances and aspects related to accounting and bookkeeping principles and concepts. This way, they will be able to prepare the various books of accounts in a desired and efficient manner. A highly experienced and expert accountant can give the small scale business a push in the right direction. Coming back to bookkeeping soft wares, find how many have been sold by them; get a peek into the sales numbers. The reason you desire to have a bookkeeping package that has already sold a bunch of copies might be based on the fact that you are required to have accurate updates in the future. In addition to that, you also want an accounting package that offers great after sales support. These are some of the things you should be looking for in order to find the right kind of accounting package for your small scale business.

Now, start getting in touch with your local accountants and inform them that you are just a starter in this line, but have got the capability to deal with any type of bookkeeping or accounting assignments. Some of them would be more than happy to refer your company to their clients because bookkeeping is not their core business. This process is usually termed by people as bookkeeping subcontracting. There are a lot of benefits by sticking to this kind of arrangement. You get to broaden and develop your horizons. You will also get the opportunity to expose yourself to different type of business bookkeeping tasks and challenges. For another, the probable risk of not being paid by your clients gets decreased. This is because you will be paid by your local bookkeeping personnel who had referred you. This also saves you from dealing with problems such as collecting the debts. You will be left with more time that can be spent on other productive activities.

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Accounting bookkeeping and bookkeeping accounts visit lbks.co.uk/

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Small Business Accounting Software is Simple Bookkeeping Spreadsheets

Accounting software is used by accountants to enter many complex financial transactions into the financial books of account and is almost invariably based upon double entry bookkeeping principles. A major advantage to those companies and the finance staff is the extent to which financial information contained in the database can be queried for financial control purposes.

An accountant needs to not only ensure the financial records are accurate but also retrieve any part of the accounting records to answer accounting questions on the accounts, provide a legal basis for the transactions and report the financial statements at regular periodic intervals.

The small business has different accounting needs which are better described as bookkeeping than accounting. For non limited companies that do not need to produce a balance sheet then a simple income and expenditure account can be produced much simpler using single entry bookkeeping principles.

Less financial control is often required from small business accounting software as the bookkeeper is often the owner manager who already has an intimate knowledge of each transaction. Books are still required for tax purposes and a solid requirement of preparing a set of financial books for tax purposes is that each entry is supported by third party evidence.

Examples of third party evidence would be sales invoices, purchases invoices and bank statements. Financial transactions where no receipt exists can still be entered in the business books although all transactions not carrying third party evidence could subsequently be disallowed for tax purposes and certainly would be if the amounts entered indicated unusual income or expenditure.

Producing an income and expenditure statement using single entry bookkeeping is little more than making two lists of financial transactions. Those lists being one of sales income received from sales invoices or receipts issued to customers and the other of purchase expenditure being from purchase invoices received from suppliers.

To record sales income it would not normally be sufficient to simply add up the total of the invoices as such a summation does not leave an audit trail of the items which have been included. A written list of sales invoices does provide an audit trail.

Sales accounting for a small business accounting purposes can be either a manual list of the sales invoices or by using a spreadsheet package a list can be made on a bookkeeping spreadsheet. Using a spreadsheet for the bookkeeping has advantages as simple formula can be used to add up the column totals.

The essential information to enter for a sales invoice would be the date of the sale, name of the customer, sales invoice number if applicable and optional a brief description of the item sold. In the next column would be the total sales invoice amount. If items like value added tax are required to be accounted for then an additional column would be required to accommodate the vat or sales tax accounting.

A further small complication might be if at the discretion of the small business owner additional information was required from the bookkeeping records to indicate the totals of the different types of products and services then additional columns could be incorporated to enter the net sales figures in these columns.

There it is then, a simple list of sales invoices to satisfy the sales accounting requirements for a small business where a balance sheet is not required.

On the expenditure side of the business the bookkeeping can also be a simple list of the purchase invoices and receipts showing the amount spent. The list should also produce an audit trail by showing the date of the purchase invoice, name of the supplier, purchase invoice for identification purposes and the total amount spent.

Usually tax returns are the main purpose of producing small business accounts and invariably some analysis is required to show what the expenses have been spent on. That is not difficult to achieve and as with the sales accounting the owner manager can add additional standard columns to the bookkeeping spreadsheet.

The expenditure analysis columns do not need to be a different column for each type of expenditure. It is better to set up and group the analysis columns in general headings which can accommodate all the expenses.

Such columns may include stock, other direct costs, premises costs, general administrative costs, transport and delivery costs, repairs and maintenance, travelling and hotel costs, motor costs, bank and legal costs and other expenses. It is better not to enter too many items under a general heading of other expenses as this is more likely to be investigated as the type of expense has not been precisely identified.

One important column to also include is for asset purchases as fixed assets usually have different tax rules applying to the claim of the expense against tax and should be separated from other expenditure.

Having set up two bookkeeping spreadsheets the task is then to produce the income and expenditure account by collecting the totals of each of the analysis columns. The sales total is the sales turnover from which is deducted the totals of each of the expenditure classification totals with the result being the net profit and loss of the business.

Where stock is bought and sold a further adjustment may be required to account for the difference between opening and closing stock. This is done by taking a physical stock check and valuing the stock at the start and end of the financial period.

On the income and expenditure account adjust the stock purchases figure by adding the value of the opening stock and deducting the value of the closing stock. The result is not the stock purchases total as shown in the bookkeeping spreadsheets but the cost of the goods which have been sold to produce the sales turnover being reported.

Simple bookkeeping for a small business accounting purposes can be two lists of sales and purchases supported with sales invoices and purchases invoices.

Source:

Buzzle.com

Professional Bookkeeping Services with Ideal Bookkeeping Software

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Bookkeeping services India is an important resource for bookkeeping accounting services provider outsourcing company. We provides the exclusive bookkeeping software require to manage your small business as well as large business more successfully and precise. Our bookkeeping accounting software professional have knowledge and experience to handling most of the admired and generally used accounting and financial bookkeeping software, payroll software , general ledger software.

Our cost-effective bookkeeping accounting services includes:

• Account Payable
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Our company mission is providing accurately, timely and cost effective bookkeeping accounting services to our dedicated customers across the world. We provide flexibility and cost-effectiveness to customers through two-tired support options.

We provide professional bookkeeping services with ideal bookkeeping software such as:

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Take maximum advantage of Bookkeeping services India cost efficient and time saving service levels to meet all your bookkeeping and accounting business requirements. http://www.bookkeepingservicesindia.com/software_we_use.php and also drop mail at info@bookkeepingservicesindia.com.

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