My client had no business bank account set up at the time that I took over her accounts. I advised that she really should set up business bank account and she is in the process of doing that now.
She has been using her personal account and I have all her bank statements and credit card statements from January 2009.
I have read through past posts on here about using personal bank accounts and how to do a bank rec but there are literally pages and pages of transactions and only a very small amount are business related. My client has just started trading from January this year and has made very little money so I want to keep my costs down and it is going to take hours to put in every bank transaction.
As the client is setting up a business bank account at the moment, do you think that I would be better taking the bank and credit card statements and just entering the business transactions and leave the bank reconciliations for when the new business bank account is set up.
I am setting her accounts up from scratch on VT Cashbook using a 6 April 2009 start date to make doing her self assessments easier. Please bear in mind that this looks like it is going to be a one off, get her up to date job and she is taking over the bookkeeping once the accounts are up to date and she has attended a bookkeeping course, so I do want to keep things nice and simple for her so that she isn't struggling when she comes to do it herself.
I would do exactly as you suggest Terri. there is no requirement for a business bank account but of course it makes life an awful lot easier to have one and hmrc prefer to see. Otherwise an inspector could ask awkward questions of what was that £6 credit in your account in 2007!
Just pick out the business related items but don'r reconcile it. Tell your client that she will need to reconcile the business bank in future. I would bet she will not know how to do it even after her bookkeeping course so let her know that if she wants help once a month with doing it that you will be available (it might get you an extra hour a month and you will be the first person she recommends when she comes across others who need your services)
Thanks for that Rob. I am trying to turn this one off into a regular thing. That's why I want to do the job quickly so that I can keep the costs down and hopefully she will realise that she can afford to pay me instead of doing it herself as I know that she is finding it very daunting.
I have a client through a similar situation, luckily the client did not have too many bank transactions and it hasnt been too dificult to identify them, so far.
I am only undertaking the VAT return and bank rec for the client and hopefully when their business starts to get busy i will be given the bookkeeping to do.
