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Bekezela


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I need your advice
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Hi there, I am new to the forum. I recently started ICB and I need advice from you guys, not on my studies, but on my work.

There is a small scale business who wants me to do their books. The thing is there is nothing in order, they do not have any source documents, the only thing they have is the bank statements from 2009 to date. So they want me to start recording everything backdating to 2009. They do not have any accounting package, so i have to do everything manually, on excel.
Please advice me as to where I should start. One other thing is that the company has 2bank accounts, a bussiness account and a trust account, the trust account is mainly for the rentals and deposits, since the company is a property agency.

I would love to do this for them , just to gain experience in bookkeeping, but where do I start?

Regards
Beke

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Beke
HendyPhilhendy


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Inform them in advance of your hourly rate and tell them it is a big job!

Take it one step at a time in order to record and reconcile each account. The big difficulty is no source documents. Ensure that you inform the client if they have no backup paperwork and a transaction cannot be identified it will be assumed private for an expense and a sale for income.

Also I would remind them of their obligations to keep paperwork and give some advice on how best to file things in the future.

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Bekezela


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@Phil i had already offered to do it for free, jus to gain experience.
I went there 2 or 3 times now, and I created 2 journals, cashbook receiptsand cashbook payments. There is no petty cash journal, because they buy everything nomatter how small, using the bank card. There is no record of any value of their assets, or any capital, so i decided to do the general ledger, but in the general ledger, the only account i can think of for now is the business account.

The other thing I wanted to ask is does this situation require me to have to sets of accounts, that is one pertaining to the trust account and the other pertaining to the business account. Please advise.

Kind Regards

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Beke
HendyPhilhendy


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Bekezela wrote:

@Phil i had already offered to do it for free, jus to gain experience.
I went there 2 or 3 times now, and I created 2 journals, cashbook receiptsand cashbook payments. There is no petty cash journal, because they buy everything nomatter how small, using the bank card. There is no record of any value of their assets, or any capital, so i decided to do the general ledger, but in the general ledger, the only account i can think of for now is the business account.

The other thing I wanted to ask is does this situation require me to have to sets of accounts, that is one pertaining to the trust account and the other pertaining to the business account. Please advise.

Kind Regards


You only need one set of 'accounts', the two accounts will be shown separately on the trial balance/ general ledger.

Is it a new business. If they have transactions dating back to 2009 are they obliged to complete a tax return for the 2009/10 year. May be worth looking at this.

Incidentally I would always be wary of offering services such as this for free. It sounds like a good idea but invariably the client will be constantly looking for something for nothing. Discounted pricing is at least something and you will have earned it!



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Are you thinking of setting up your own practice or have you set up and need some help?

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Bekezela


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Thanks Phil, am beginning to get a clear picture now
from the looks of the bank statement, 2009 was bad for them, they did not make any profit that requires them to return tax. thay will probably have to return tax for 2010/2011.


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Beke
HendyPhilhendy


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Bekezela wrote:

Thanks Phil, am beginning to get a clear picture now
from the looks of the bank statement, 2009 was bad for them, they did not make any profit that requires them to return tax. thay will probably have to return tax for 2010/2011.


Had a quick look at your profile and see you are based in South Africa. Not sure about rules over there, but here in the UK, whether you have made a profit or loss you still need to register a business and do a  tax return.

 



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Phil Hendy, The Accountancy Mentor

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HendyPhilhendy


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And any losses made in previous years can be carried forward and used against profits for future years.

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Phil Hendy, The Accountancy Mentor

Are you thinking of setting up your own practice or have you set up and need some help?

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Bekezela


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If ever they are returning anything for now, it willbe on a personal capacity, they are in the process of registering their company as a CC, that is why partly they need their books to be in order.

I want to advice them to buy an accounting package, which one would you recemmend for a rental agency, which is still small??

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Beke
HendyPhilhendy


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There's tons of packages out there, I'm personally not sure of any specific to rental property agencies.

The package I  resell is KashFlow and this would be more than capable of doing what you require. 

Other packages include Sage and Quickbooks.

At the end of the day use the package you feel most comfortable with.


__________________

Phil Hendy, The Accountancy Mentor

Are you thinking of setting up your own practice or have you set up and need some help?

If so a mentor may be the way forward - feel free to get in touch and see how I can assist you. 

 
Bekezela


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Thanks Phil, let me see what I am going to achieve today, hopefully will get it right.

Regards

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Beke
Shamus


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Hi Patience,

sorry, just read this thread and I'm a bit worried that no-one has picked up on your line about just started ICB.

Does the ICB in South Africa allow you to practice immediately? In the UK we need to have a practice licence and be covered for Money Laundering Regulations (Which S.A. will also have their own version of it's part of a FATF directive) before we are allowed to offer our services on a freelance basis.

You might want to check on the services that you are currently allowed to offer before agreeing to anything with any client.

I don't know whether ICB South Africa and ICB UK are the same organisation but if they are I'm sure that James will clear that up next time that he logs in.

All the best for the future.

Shaun.





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Shaun

Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
Bekezela


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@Shaun, if there were such regulations in SA, am sure I would have been told when I registered. i know of many people who work as bookkeepers, not that they formally trained,or registered with any board but just on experience basis.
Thanks for raising this anyway, I have to find out from ICB what their policy is.

Regards

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Beke
ICBUK


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Hi,

South Africa have similar MLR requirements to UK, but I don't think they are as far along as the UK.

The ICB in South Africa is not linked to ICB Global. We do have a branch there but only around 100 odd members. No point re creating the wheel as such :)

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Anna

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Sabrina


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Hi Bekezela

 

Hope you well.

I am looking for support in starting my own bookkeeping business.

Will you be able to help me learn?

Please email me budhram.sabrina@gmail.com

 

Regards

Sabrina



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