Best Accounting Software For A New Businesses.

So, you have recently launched your dream business and are very excited about the prospect of being your own boss and running the show. It feels exciting and you could not be happier. You have done most of the hard work thinking of a name, the logo , product/ service design and marketing and hopefully you have started to generate some sales by meeting some unmet needs and delighting customers with your services / products

Now that some money is coming in, and it is not all going out, you are beginning to think about your finances, after all part of the reason for setting up is to make some money. At this early stage of the business getting an accountant / bookkeeper is another expense you could perhaps save on. So, what are your options for setting up an accounting system?

You have 2 options really: either do it manually on a spreadsheet or go for a computerised system and use an accounting software that will make your life easy. An you guessed it; I am going to recommend getting an accounting software for many reasons;

1. Links to your business accounts

2. You can attach documents (invoices, receipts ) to any transaction.

3. You can access your finance from anywhere as long as you have internet access.

4. When your business is big enough and you are at the stage you want to delegate, you can easily give your bookkeeper/ accountant access to the software.

5. You can see how well your business is performing in real time, giving you fantastic insights and helping to plan so your business is a huge success.

6. Plan for tax and any other statutory obligations like VAT because of easy integration with other systems such as HMRC e-filing.

There are very good options out there but my top 3 in the UK are:

1. Intuit Quickbooks

2. Xero and

3. Clearbooks

This is because all of these are very user-friendly, greatly affordable and are all online/ cloud based. They are also very easy to set up and come preset to a large extent with things the chart of accounts. Each one of these also have the ability to link with your business bank account so that all your bank transactions automatically feed into the software. This means you can easily match invoices with payments and capture other costs likes bank charges and payroll if you have employees.

It will save you a significant amount of time because you can easily and quickly raise invoices. This means you ill get paid on time as well, which will improve your cashflow. You will also gain valuable insights into your business.

Digital record keeping – essential for compliance with Making Tax Digital for VAT and Income Tax for Self-Assessment for sole traders and Landlords

So what are some of the disadvantages: Costs but they are so affordable now and really going forward that is the expectation from the government so this will no longer be factor because you will not have a choice.

The second challenge is knowing how to set it up and use it and this is where we can help. As experts we can show you how to set it up so it works for you and you business. We also offer free sessions that will give you the basics to get you up and running in no time.

If you are interested, then add your details below and we will share the details of the next free training sessions.