Accountancy Software

jockey#1

I have being doing my fathers bookkeeping for the last few years. Up until last year he still used the services of an accountant however due to the downturn he now wants me to do his annual accounts which isn't a problem as I am a qualified accountant.

Anyway I do all his bookkeeping on excel, my question is that he doesn't have the money to invest in software such as Sage or whatever but he still wants a full set of accounts for the bank etc. Does anyone have any suggestions (free) or templates for doing accounts on excel or something? I know TAS do free software but having tried it I have to say I don't like it first impressions.

Thanks

DoMyBooks

TAS free is the best of a bad bunch in my opinion. I've never been very happy with any of the other free options.

Sage isntant is quite cheap if your not looking to spend very much and is easy to use.

Keeping your book keeping in excel can get messy your much better off even using TAS free.

Hope this helps

jockey#1

Thanks for the advice. My fear of using excel would be as you pointed out a bit messy plus the chances of things being missed are alot greater.

Can I ask do you have any experience of Sage instant accounts production. Just thinking if I were to buy this and if I got some bookkeeping clients down the line can you do the basics like bank rec, aged debtors etc? I used Sage instant accounts in my last job and that done all the above aswell as producing accounts.

J.Ryan

Assuming that you are happy with Excel, why not use it to recreate the old "Expanded Trial Balance" to come up with the accounts and use Word to print them in an acceptable format. Don't forget that your father will still have a responsibility to file a tax return.

DoMyBooks

jockey#1 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. My fear of using excel would be as you pointed out a bit messy plus the chances of things being missed are alot greater.

Can I ask do you have any experience of Sage instant accounts production. Just thinking if I were to buy this and if I got some bookkeeping clients down the line can you do the basics like bank rec, aged debtors etc? I used Sage instant accounts in my last job and that done all the above aswell as producing accounts.

Your absolutely correct i've seen many many messed up spreadsheets. For the relatively low cost of accountancy software its just not worth it.

Instant will do what you need but it's only single company. If you want multiple companies I believe you would have to buy Sage Line 50. You could start with sage instant and if you got busier upgrade to line 50. Line 50 will restore an instant back up.

J.Ryan

jockey#1 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. My fear of using excel would be as you pointed out a bit messy plus the chances of things being missed are alot greater.

Can I ask do you have any experience of Sage instant accounts production. Just thinking if I were to buy this and if I got some bookkeeping clients down the line can you do the basics like bank rec, aged debtors etc? I used Sage instant accounts in my last job and that done all the above aswell as producing accounts.

You mentioned in your first post that you were a qualified accountant, if you are going down that route, take a long look at your institutes rules regarding public practice requirements. As long as you were perform bookkeeping for companies that were being audited or had an external accountant preparing audit exempt accounts, you might be ok, but doing that service for sole traders or partnerships could leave you exposed.

jockey#1

J.Ryan wrote: »

You mentioned in your first post that you were a qualified accountant, if you are going down that route, take a long look at your institutes rules regarding public practice requirements. As long as you were perform bookkeeping for companies that were being audited or had an external accountant preparing audit exempt accounts, you might be ok, but doing that service for sole traders or partnerships could leave you exposed.

Thanks for the heads up. My plan was to apply for a practicing cert this year, i was 8 months short of the requirements for one when my employer made me redundant!

I know I cannot "sign off" accounts for anybody until i have a practicing cert however where my dad is concerned the accounts will just state his name and nothing else. Presumably this will suffice for the bank.

J.Ryan

You are aware that there is a difference between a practicing cert and an auditing cert?

I don't mean that question to sound offensive, in the CPA (for example) you can get a practicing cert that does not allow you to audit but will allow you to practice.

killiank

Id check that with the bank. Depends on what they need the accounts for really I guess. I thought the rules for acquiring a practising cert changed last year so you didnt need the same levels of post qualification experience.

dbran

jockey#1 wrote: »

Thanks for the heads up. My plan was to apply for a practicing cert this year, i was 8 months short of the requirements for one when my employer made me redundant!

I know I cannot "sign off" accounts for anybody until i have a practicing cert however where my dad is concerned the accounts will just state his name and nothing else. Presumably this will suffice for the bank.

You can prepare them as an "employee" of your farther as then you are not actually in public practice. If you are doing any other work for clients you are only able to do the bookkeeping and to trial balance. Any further and you need a practicing certificate.

If it is for a loan or overdraft the bank will almost certainly want them done by an external qualified accountant and not one connected with the director. They may not need them audited but certainly would want an accountants cert attached.

dbran