How Can I Make My Year-End Accounts More Efficient?

Is your financial year end coming up soon? Are you dreading the hard job of totalling up your income and expenses? For many businesses this can be a daunting task, especially if you’re relying on Excel or another spreadsheet-based application…

The problem with running your company on Excel

According to UK200Group, 16% of SMEs do nothing to record business transactions, leaving it to their accountant to fill in details prior to their tax return each year. A further 27% use disparate systems, including Microsoft Excel or another spreadsheet-based application.

Whilst this is a good place to begin, it doesn’t take long for spreadsheets to create more problems than they solve. When you are not consistent with tracking your income and expenses, store your paperwork into a shoebox (yes, some people still do this!), and decide to tackle it the week before your accounts are due, running year end can be extremely time consuming. Expect to get a few extra grey hairs or pay an accountant to complete a year end on time. Is it all worth it?

How to make your year-end accounts easier?

Recording your expenses, raising invoices and filing payroll on time can make your end-of-year accounts as simple as clicking a button – especially if you’re using modern software that plugs into HMRC…

Work on real-time data

Take control of your financial destiny with a cloud accounting system allowing you to track your cash flow, bank balance, top customer invoices and a Profit & Loss figure at a glance, so you can easily estimate how much tax you’re likely to owe.

Make bookkeeping fun

Instead of keeping all your receipts in a shoebox you can quickly snap your paper receipts with your mobile phone and store them together with your invoices, sales and purchase orders, saving you hours of admin time.

Spend less time on admin

Securely connect to your online bank account so you always have an accurate overview of your business finances. Automatically reconcile all your accounts and bank balances to ensure there are no discrepancies.

Keep HMRC happy

HMRC is planning for a digital revolution of the tax system. Known as Making Tax Digital, the initiative will hit all VAT-registered businesses with turnover over the VAT threshold in 2019. With an online accounting system, your accounting data is already in the digital realm – making you compliant.

Ensure your employee data is up to date

Your business is liable for incorrect tax and National Insurance deductions. With the right software, you can keep track of all expense claims and be compliant with the latest legislation.