Setting Up For Success
Setting up a business is an intriguing mixture of great personal risk, potential rewards, early mornings, late nights and hopefully, the thrill of making progress.
Starting up a business is becoming easier than ever, aided by the progress of technology. In fact, over 580,000 UK businesses were registered with Companies House in 2014. That’s a staggering figure by any calculation.
The truth is, any entrepreneur and their start up business are more likely to succeed with online accounting software. We’re not just saying it either.
With access from anywhere at any time and unlimited transactions, cloud accounting software is making running a business so much easier than ever before that it should definitely be in your starter kit for setting up a business.
So, let’s go through five steps to getting started with your accounts.
1. Improving Your Relationship With Your Accountant
Online accounting software offers free access to your records for your accountant or bookkeeper. This is something that as a business owner you should definitely take advantage of. In fact it should be one of the first things you do with your accounts software. Instant access to your records for those who need it is a lot easier than sending USB sticks back and forth.
We really believe that cloud accounting software can improve the relationship between accountants and business owners. The cloud platform rids all of the tedious administration from your accountant’s work load.
This means that the business owner gets more return on the fees they pay as accountants can spend more time giving invaluable business advice, rather than making sure they have the right version of your records.
If you’re the type of business person who prefers to use a bookkeeper to prepare your accounts then why not give them real time access and allow them to update your books whenever they need to.
It’s a major benefit of cloud accounting software – take advantage of it and make your life easier.
2. Invoicing Your Way To Better Cash Flow
Accounting software is right at home improving your invoicing process and as a result, making sure your business has better cash flow. Get to grips with sending out invoices directly from your online accounting software to your clients’ inboxes. A sale isn’t a sale until it is invoiced. Remember that.
The quicker you send, the quicker you’ll get your hands on your revenue. Your accounting software will easily file the invoice for you by date, invoice number and which client you’re billing. Simple.
You’ll be able to see what invoices have been paid and those still outstanding as well, which is handy when you’re trying to keep track of what you’re still owed.
Once you do get paid all you have to remember to do is allocate the payment to its corresponding invoice.
3. Reporting On Your Business Performance
Perhaps one of the biggest advantages that accounting software holds over spreadsheets such as Excel is the suite of reporting functions that it provides. Try to think of your accounts as a goldmine of critical information about your business rather than something that needs to be done just for the sake of it.
Invaluable information such as how long it takes on average for your invoices to be paid can be accessed via a couple of clicks. How much better informed will your decision making be with these reports at your fingertips?
There will be certain reports that may bear more relevance to your business than others, depending on the nature of your operation. Customised reports are always possible to set up too – if you really want the right data on your business.
If you don’t feel comfortable piecing this information together for a full picture of your business, or you’re just too busy, there’s no reason why your accountant can’t do this for you.
4. Recording Your VAT
Getting yourself set up to record VAT and putting aside what you owe is really half the battle of doing your VAT returns. The first question to consider is, ‘do I need to register for VAT?’
The registration threshold for VAT in the UK is £81,000. Ireland is €75,000 for provision of goods / €37,500 for provision of services
If you’re required to register for VAT you’ll need to charge it at the rate assigned to the goods or services you provide. Accounting software can make this easy for you with the ability to set up multiple VAT rates. When it comes to raising an invoice or entering transactions, you’ll be able to easily select whichever VAT rate you need.
Your accounting software reports will keep track of your VAT totals, which comes in handy when it’s time to do those pesky returns.
Here at Big Red Cloud, we always recommend keeping a separate bank account for setting aside the VAT you owe. That way you know you’ll always have your obligations covered and the peace of mind is nice too.
5. Clients, Customers & Suppliers
Keeping track of those you do business with is important. The last thing you want to do is compromise a strong relationship because of a record keeping issue.
One of accounting software’s calling cards is that it automatically completes double entries for your clients or customers and your suppliers.
If you raise an invoice and select what client it relates to, their account will be updated automatically. It saves time, and reduces error. Not only that, all of your transaction history with that particular business will be ready whenever you need it.
It couldn’t be simpler to set up customers or suppliers. Entering an email and physical address will mean you can take advantage of instantly emailing those invoices as well.
Good Business Sense
From what we’ve outlined, online accounting software just makes good business sense. It doesn’t harm that the subscription model is a lot kinder than traditional on premise software on the pockets of your business.
What’s more, using cloud accounting software means all of your data will be backed up automatically for you, saving you from catastrophe. More peace of mind.
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Big Red Cloud
For business owners that want to reduce the time spent managing their accounts, Big Red Cloud provides online accounting software that is simple to setup and easy to use so you can spend more time running your business.
See for yourself, why not take a Free Trial
