New accounts department systems

Is there a book you could recommend that would set out all the considering for setting for a new accounts department for a SME?

Everything from setting up the filing system to choosing an accounts package and setting up a chart of accounts to VAT and invoicing, ect ect.

mr_edge_to_you

I'd suggest starting with a QuickBooks or Sage50 subscription. Use the standard chart of accounts they have which will generate your various reports and help with your returns. Sage is particularly popular with bookkeepers and practices if you use those services too. Stick with it for a year or two and see what resources your company actually need before investing too much.

As regards filing, after 20 years of working in accounts I can say the best way to file invoices is by a simple system generated reference number.

In my more recent roles, I have worked with Sage50 having never used it before. I bought Sage50 for Dummies and found it to be very helpful. In my experience Sage themselves have excellent support (by phone and online), far better than than 3rs party providers.

Could you go into a bit more detail on your filing system?

Also if you could give a bit of an insight into receivables and payables and how you organise these it would be great. Thanks.

mr_edge_to_you

So, I had to complete revamp the processes in my most recent role and this was one item which caused a huge mess historically.

When you post an invoice (purchases or sales) Sage will generate a journal number. This journal number is unique to that system entry. So we just file the invoices in that order using the Sage journal as a reference. It's simple and effective.