Free Online Accounting Software for Small Service Businesses in the UK.

You have recently launched your business and now are a point where you are wondering how to keep your accounting records and do your bookkeeping so you know how well your business is doing.

Entrepreneurs and Solopreneurs wear many hats and deciding how to keep your financial records is one of them. There are so many options in the market with some offering free versions such Zoho Accounting software and others offering discounts for up to Six month such as Xero and QuickBooks.

But what if you are just testing out an idea and are not ready to invest time or money in an accounting software but would still like to keep a record of all your expenses and income, then the perfect solution will be to use a spreadsheet excel or Google Sheet.

So what do you need to include if you decide a spreadsheet is the way to go?

That to a great extent depends on the kind of business you do. I will focus on service businesses in this article and focus on ecommerce businesses in another article.

If you provide services such as mentoring, consulting, coaching, or are a creative such as an artist, designer etc then you will need to send invoices to your clients. There are important information the Invoice you send to your client must have if your aim is to get paid as soon as possible and your can download a template here for free and re-use as many times as you like.

The 9 Important information you must have clearly shown on your invoices are:

• Your Business Name and address

• Your Customer Name and address

• The invoice number (this is crucial if you are doing to be invoicing the business regularly so you knoe which invoice has been paid and which is still outstanding)

• Invoice Date (the payment terms will usually start from the date of the invoice)

• Payment Terms (e.g. 14 days or 30 days from invoice date)

• The description of the service provided.

• Vat Registration number if you are VAT registered.

• A contact name in the organisation or a Purchase order number (important)

• Your business bank details (important if you would like to get paid on time)

• Your logo if you have one (helps you business look more professional)