Who does their own books?

Hey Glenn we love shoe boxes

We outsource the website, logo and branding,telephone and printing. The jobs I either hate or don't understand.

I would certainly recommend whilst you have the time and energy to do your own monthly bookkeeping exercises. But if its something you hate and can spend your time selling and increasing your profit, you should consider outsourcing.

End of year with the tax reliefs that are available and the many complications of compiling tax returns. an accountant should definitely be used.

Play to your strengths whatever they are. its not as expensive as you might think. Plus peace of mind to boot.

Nicola

Hi Nicola, 

How much do you charge?

Thanks, 

Gareth

Pm on the way Gareth
Thanks Nicola

I outsourced my bookkeeping last year to an extremely experienced legal cashier. I now do my own books, as it is much simpler - even with all the regulatory complexities. I will outsource again, but very carefully.

Thankfully, my accountant deals with year end and regulatory compliance nonsense - oops, reporting.

Ta, but not received...

 

Hi Gareth
Have sent again, my number is 02920 653995 if it's still not getting through.
Thanks Nicola

I'm definately a "do my own". I am a part trained accountant so I know the difference between debit and credit. I also know that an accountant could probable save me more tax but whether the amount they will save me is more than their fees is debatable.

Gary

We do our own bookkeeping :-)

To be fair I have found myself recommending more and more that businesses do their own bookkeeping in order to keep that knowledge of the business (odd considering bookkeeping is a service that we are growing)

However, what we do find works well is using cloud software and sharing responsibilities:

- you do the sales invoice side (its customer facing, its important)

- you do the purchase invoices (its fairly easy, but its also boring, so if you don't get round to doing or don't want to, we will still take that on)

- we do the bank reconciliation (it can be the trickier part, but it is the most important to keep everything tidy)

If someone is outsourcing bookkkeeping, try to find a bookkeeper that asks lots of questions - if you send a shoebox, and two weeks later they say its all done, then I would be amzed if they got it all right - they should be querying the transactions

I presonally really enjoy doing my books. It was one of the things that made me want to become a business owner in the first place knowing that I could do something I love and get to work out all the books and how best to make money, cut costs etc. This isn't to say I would never consider getting some else to do them but for now i'm enjoying it :)