Tax Going Digital

Cloud Accounting and Bookkeeping

Overview

There is now the opportunity to have you cloud accounting software which means you no longer need to have this installed on your desktop you can access this via an internet connection from anywhere. This will avoid the upgrades like with Sage as you will always have the latest version of the software.

Moving to the cloud has greater interaction between Accountant and business owners as you only have one version unlike desktop software when the accountant has the back up to work on the business cannot enter any transactions putting more pressure on you for getting your VAT return completed and submitted.

When you use desktop software you will have to pay extra for more than one user and if you have a standalone computer that the software is installed on you will find the work production slowing down as it is only accessible on that computer.

If you use cloud technology, you will be able to have your team work on multiple clients at the same time making this more productive and efficient.

I would also recommend if you are going down the cloud route that you review your internet/broadband as this may need to be upgraded to a business package.

There are also a lot of application that can be added to your cloud package to enhance it use and everything is in one place then such applications could be TSheets (Online Time sheets), Expenses App, Mileage Tracker.

For the data entry this can be long and very time consuming so your can get data caption software where you use a smartphone to take photos and upload this direct into your cloud package. This is partially good if you have a lot of small invoices e.g. Garages, Builders, IT Businesses.

There will be no need to keep back-ups as these will be performed by the provider (see the list of providers below)

Some of these providers also have payroll software so once you have run the wages for the own company this can then be sent directly into your bookkeeping package no need to enter this manually.

No More Capital Expenditure

There is a monthly fee of between £5.00 to £30.00 per month depending on which package and software you choose to use. This will avoid having to pay for the software upfront and have this as asset on the balance sheet within the Financial Statements, most of these give you a free trial period on signing up.

Year End Procedure

Your year procedure will change as it will be much easier as you will both have the software so your accountant can access this to prepare the financial statements as well as you keeping your records up to date. This means that you will not get behind on preparing your VAT returns and there are other functions you can add on to this like bank receipt, spotlight etc making this more efficient to your business and keeping your records up to date.

Products

You will need to look into each software and what it can do and decide which one suits your business the best, here are a few to consider:

Xero

Kashflow

QuickBooks Online

Clearbooks

Free Agent

Zoho books

Freshbooks

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