DIY Accounting produces tax accounting software for company accounts and self employed business that incorporate tax software to automate the self employed tax returns for sole traders and the CT600 corporation tax return for a limited company. Small business accounting software designed to produce tax accounting solutions for non accountant business clients to complete their tax affairs
How to Pay Zero Taxes, 2008
Posted by: admin under Tax Preparation
Product Description
Make 2008 the year you pay zero taxes!. . Fully updated to include all the latest tax law changes, How to Pay Zero Taxes outlines the easiest, most practical strategies you can use to lower your taxes this year, next year, and beyond. From converting personal expenses into business expenses to avoiding or surviving an IRS audit, Jeff Schnepper’s guide comprehensively covers more deductions than any other tax book, all conveniently organized in six fast-acce… More >>
Quicken Home & Business 2010
Posted by: admin under Quickbooks Answers
- Quicken Home & Business 2010 easily organizes your personal and business finances
- Organizes your finances and makes portfolio management easier by bringing your accounts together in one place
- Shows you where your money is going by automatically categorizing your personal and home business expenses
- Lets you view your profit and loss at a glance, so you always know how your home based business is doing
- Helps you choose the right investments to reach your goals and identifies ways to minimize taxes on your investments
Product Description
Quicken Home & Business is software for easily managing and organizing your personal and home-based business finances, all in one place.Amazon.com Product Description
Quicken Home & Business 2010 gives you the personal finance features found in Quicken Premier plus tools that make it easy to see how your home business is doing. Manages both your personal and business finances together in one place. Click to enlarge. … More >>
Bookkeeping Software or Services?
Posted by: admin under Bookkeeping
Every business is required to keep bookkeeping records to produce at the end of the year (Calendar or Financial) a set of accounts to show the business expenses, sales income and the net profit for tax purposes.
Business Accounting Home Software and Finance Accounts
Posted by: admin under Accounting
Setting up in small home business should mean that you learn how to keep accounting and finance accounts and financial information should you plan to be successful in your chosen business. Regardless of the quality and professionalism employed relating to work skills paying attention to the calculation of the profit earned is what counts. Knowledge of accounting home software and finance packages can be gained by taking up courses related to bookkeeping by either going back to college or taking financial courses online that supports your type of business or is industry specific.
Knowledge of accounting home software will also help progressing and expanding a home or small business when evaluating the gross calculation of profit and the consequent net income tax liability to enable the entrepreneur to keep on top of business financial performance. The best places to study accounting and finance accounts and related software are local colleges for which your council can provide details, while quite a lot can be learned from business finance forums. Some leading accounting software providers also have their own accounting forums where questions can be asked.
Accounting home software knowledge assists intelligent discussions and can show that you understand the complicated financial processes that your small business needs to complete and record, especially when communicating your finance accounts with your bank manager, your colleagues and of course your accountant. Managing your finances and accounting packages properly allows you to stay on top of the gross calculations of profit margins. The gross profit margin is the sales income less cost of sales after adjusting for opening and closing stock and a critical element of every business.
Calculation of the net income tax liability can be quite involved especially if the finance accounts are not managed properly. From the gross profit calculation are deducted the business expenses, capital tax allowances and overheads to calculate the net taxable profit. The net income tax payable is then calculated according to the tax authority rules applicable for that financial year. Most accounting home software products do not calculate the net income tax as it involves including current tax rules in the finance and accounts software but it is feasible.
Three main aspects of accounting and finance for a small business are the balance sheet, profit and loss and cash flow statements. Financial accounting is conducted differently in small business compared to larger corporations as small business often adopt a simple accounts solution while large companies adopt database accounting software often customised with varying finance and accounting functions. In fact producing a balance sheet is optional for self employed accounting who may produce a simple income and expenditure statement and compulsory for limited company accounts who invariably use an accounting system known as double entry bookkeeping.
Business success is judged by the three finance accounts measures of financial security, profitability and cash flow liquidity which outline the financial details of your small business to those that need to know them. Understanding the three measures will place you well within your own business and help you feel comfortable when judgements are made – if you are able to answer questions relating to your business and accounting structure then you will most likely gain the appetite to learn more about accounting home software and financial procedures necessary to take your small business one step further.
Aside from learning how to financially manage a business properly, other benefits of learning more about small business accounting home software include evaluating credit, loans or grants for your business and completing financial accounting tasks quickly. Predicting bills, tax, and outgoing costs, scoring your competitors and acting accordingly while ensuring adequate finance accounts management and maintaining financial records are essential.
The gross calculation of the net taxable profit and subsequent net income tax liability is absolutely essential for every business no matter how large or small. Accounting home software performs the accounting and finance calculations as an alternative to outsourcing the work to an accountant or bookkeeper. Effectively the gross income calculation and net income tax are similar in principle to the payroll gross pay and net income tax calculation in a wages system but more complex which is where accounting and finance knowledge or accounting home software can be advantageous.
Pros and Cons of Doing the Bookkeeping or Outsourcing to a Bookkeeping Service
Posted by: admin under Bookkeeping
Every small business is required to keep bookkeeping records to produce at the end of the financial year a set of accounts to show the sales income, business expenses and the net profit for tax purposes. Medium and larger businesses employ accounts clerks, bookkeepers and accountants to maintain the financial records and produce regular accounting information.
Small businesses and in particular self employed business have a choice in how the financial accounts are prepared and produced. A small business may employ the services of a bookkeeper to produce the accounts while another similar business may keep a manual record of financial transactions while a third option is to use a bookkeeping software system.
Small business has a choice as to how it produces its financial records. Some simply do nothing but the best option is to make a finite decision regarding the path to take. Financial accounts, financial control over the business activities and the knowledge of how well or badly the business is performing is crucial to success in the business environment.
The underlying necessity is that if the small business does not take a decision on its financial accounting then at the very least it must accumulate documents of prime significance such as sales invoices, purchase invoices and possibly bank records during the financial year and assemble these into some sort of order after the end of the financial year for tax purposes. Failing to keep financial records often results in a succession of administrative burdens and often also leads to financial penalties if taxation deadlines are not met.
If the small business owner chooses not to go down the route of using bookkeeping software or outsourcing the financial function to a bookkeeper or accountant then manual financial records must be kept. Producing an income and expenditure account for the business using the prime financial documents of business is not rocket science and most businessmen capable of running and managing a business have the skills required to producing the bookkeeping records.
The major disadvantage of a small business keeping manual records is that documents get lost which may result in profits and taxes being over declared, fines and penalties through inaccuracies and often when accounting is produced in this way it is done at the end of the financial year purely for tax purposes rather than as an essential tool of the business and that reduces financial control within the business during the financial year to a minimum and often zero.
If a manual bookkeeping system is adopted then disciplined recording of the financial information on a regular basis should be enforced and regarded as an essential function and not an administrative burden. An understanding of the detailed accounting records and the effect on the business allows effective management decisions to be taken earlier than if someone else performs the bookkeeping function.
Other alternatives include utilising bookkeeping software which is effectively often a manual system in itself but within definite parameters to produce the essential information. A bookkeeper might be employed whether a manual system is used or bookkeeping software adopted.
Using bookkeeping software has many advantages. First of all any small business that has purchased bookkeeping software is more likely to keep regular up to date accounts than one that has not. And secondly the bookkeeping software is likely to provide a fixed set of disciplines and produce the type of records a small business requires for both the preparation of regular financial statements and the end of year tax returns.
Another major advantage of bookkeeping software is that records tend to be less likely to be lost or mislaid; the packages can be backed up as required but essential financial performance can be improved by greater financial control. All businesses work towards producing a satisfactory bottom line and only by producing regular financial statements can the business obtain the earliest information to achieve that satisfactory performance.
Bookkeeping software comes in many different formats from simple spreadsheets to more complex data based accounting software. For a small business the bookkeeping software of choice is often a simple system requiring limited accounting knowledge but must also be a package that produces the desired end result.
The worst bookkeeping software is a complex program requiring prior accounting knowledge that the small business either does not fully understand, cannot be bothered or does not have the time to learn and having tried the system then abandons it. Better to avoid the wasted time and effort by choosing the appropriate accounting package at the outset.
Bookkeeping software in effect automates the manual keeping of financial records. The most important aspect of using a bookkeeping package be it a da6tabase accounting system or a simpler set of bookkeeping spreadsheets is the enhanced financial control and the effect that intimate accounting knowledge can have to influence the net profit.
Bookkeeping can be outsourced to an accountant or bookkeeper and there advantages in doing so. A quality outsourced finance function does produce accurate timely financial records. If the small business has a volume of paperwork that becomes a burden to process and keep on top of then a bookkeeper may be the best solution.
Employing a bookkeeper becomes essential when the paperwork burden reaches a stage when it distracts the small business owner from getting on with the main task of operating the business. A bookkeeper has to be paid and that cost should be viewed as the cost not of producing the financial records but as the amount to be paid to release the time of the small business owner and also to produce the financial statements on which action can be taken to improve profitability.
A major disadvantage in using a bookkeeper is that the small business owner may remove themselves from the detailed records. A small business manager who prepares the financial accounts tends to see every transaction several times both when the trnasaction is made, the paperwork received and also when entered in the financial accounts.
This second view of the accounts can be important, errors in management judgement can be noted, mistakes and bad practises become more apparent. Missed documents are much more likely to be noticed if the small business owner produces his own bookkeeping records than if the task is carried out by a third party such as an accountant or bookkeeper. Nobody knows the business as well as the small business owner knows his own business.
The conclusion and decision each small business should take is doing something. A manual bookkeeping system may suffice but the business may be better served using bookkeeping software to increase financial control and performance. If the administrative burden of maintaining the paperwork detracts the small business from its main operations then an accountant or outsourced bookkeeping services is a logical solution.
Terry Cartwright a qualified accountant at DIY Accounting designs UK Accounting Software on excel spreadsheets providing complete Small Business Accounting Software solutions with single and double entry Bookkeeping Software for both limited companies and self employed business