Terri

Many cash businesses just use a diary (page a day type) to record the work they have done and how much they have taken. They could easily note if they paid cash into the bank or not.

With the motoring expenses, the way Peasie does it sounds good, although I would make the payment weekly so you would just DR Motor exp and CR Petty Cash.

The main thing is really getting it all organised and entered onto VT in a timely and proper manner - its all so easy to miss a week and then not remember what you have done, and as its mainly cash, there is no record other than if you make one.

I would record the set up costs as per the date on invoices etc, they are not going to be that old and they would be capital introduced.

P

Peasie

Any money she takes from the business as a self employed persono is Drawings, you are quite right. In this case, a journal from CR Drawings to DR motor expenses for the mileage claimed would be sufficient.

P

Hi Rob

FYI -  You can set any financial year date you like in VT, which is quite useful for the 05 April starts. It just warns you that it is not the beginning of the month.

Bill

That's what I did Rob and to be honest didn't like it at first.

But as I got more clients I needed a cost effective package and as I was in a chicken and egg situation (not enough clients to warrant the Sage outlay but too many to continue with my own Excel concoction) I opted to risk the VT Final Accounts version, with the intention of moving back to Sage when I could justify it.

As it happens, now I have found my way round VT, I love it and I wont use Sage unless the client wants it.

RobH wrote:

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Hi Terri,

Will you be doing her tax return or another accountant? Either way I would advise your client to have her books prepared to 31st March/5th April so as to avoid potential overlap profits/complications with opening years. I'm not sure how VT works, but I assume you have to set up the start date and it works as a 12 month period. In which case start the business as 1st April 2009 rather than November 2009. This will have the added benefit of being able to easily put the pre-trading receipts in at the correct date.

I'm sorry to hear that you ae having a crisis of confidence, I always thought you made very sensible suggestions to queries. Is it because business has been hard to find or anything more technical? It sounds liek this job may help get you back on your game and don't forget your extended family here is always ready to help!

Rob

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Thanks for the vote of confidence Rob.  I just feel very out of my depths at times.  I feel that there is still so much for me to learn and from my experience so far, I have found that studying bookkeeping is nothing like providing a bookkeeping service in real life.  I would have loved the opportunity to work for a company and gain bookkeeping experience before setting out on my own, the only problem with that is that by the time that I had paid out for childcare for my children, it wouldn't have been worth working for and with a baby on the way in February, I am going to have children fulltime at home for the next four years so taking a four year break doesn't really appeal to me.  I read most of the threads on here and I learn so much from others experience and sharing, it just worries me that I might make mistakes without knowing that I am making them because of my inexperience.  I guess that as time goes by - things will get easier and my confidence will grow.  I just need to keep reading this forum and adding to my knowledge.  I haven't had great joy finding clients but in honesty, I think that I haven't tried hard enough, turning down clients that sounded a bit too much or telling myself it was too much to handle.  I guess that its time to decide that I'm really going to go for this and put in 110%

 

I agree wholeheartedly with Rob in the more you learn the more you realise you don't know. Sometimes I sit down and wonder if I ever did the right thing with this bookkeeping lark. I have got loads from this forum, and just knowing that other folk are going through the same as I am makes me feel so much better.

I think it's also harder when you work for yourself and don't have colleagues to bounce ideas off, or just to confirm you're right in your thinking. The other thing about bookkeeping is that you can easily get yourself bogged down and so confused at the simplest thing, I think that's were this forum is great.

I hope your back for keeps now though.

Kris

That's the spirit! There are some very knowledgeable and experienced people on here and nobody is precious about what they know. Something that has been said on a number occasions is that there is no such thing as a stupid question, so there is no need to lack confidence in posting a question or suggesting an answer.

Terri,

I know how easy it is to have your confidence knocked, so good for you that you are bouncing back! I am 53 and have had all my children (hopefully!..lol) and I am still learning. You definitely learn by experience as well as study, but to get the experience you have to take the plunge! And there are so many nice people on here, that help is never far away! Good luck with the baby!

Rob,

If there is no such thing as a stupid question, does that mean there is such a thing as a stupid answer? )

Pauline

I'm the same Terri - read the forum all the time but don't answer much! and then every now and again I get brave  

Being part of this forum does make you feel less alone in the big, bad bookkeeping  world! - keep it up everyone xx

Another suggestion I would make is to know what your limitations are and to not be afraid to have limitations. When I first started out I thought I needed to be able to answer every single question a client or potential client chucked my way, regardless of the subject matter. I remember making my husband (who is ICAEW) go through a really complex tax computation with me because I thought I was stupid not to understand. It soon became apparant that the question should have actually been directed to their accountant and not to me and I was getting worked up over nothing!

And remember you are a better bookkeeper for recognising you don't know everything and checking your facts. Nobody can possibly know everything but the key is to know where to look for the answer.

And congratulations on the baby!

if a soletrader takes out say £20 once a week for lunch/food would that be classified as drawings or general/misc expense?

In fact, take a look at this thread:-

http://www.book-keepers.org.uk/forum.spark?aBID=106474&p=3&topicID=37319678