I'm new to this forum but I must say it is great. However I have a quastion to ask and would really appreciate the answer. My partner has a building company. I am trying to help him when it comes the accounts. I've worked with Sage for the last few years however it was a big company and my resposabilities included only invoicing and custommer payments.
Now I dealing with the suppliers purchase invoices. I'm not sure how and where to enter receipts like from B&Q, Wickes which were paid with company cars, not cash. I've got quite a lot of them. Should I set up supplier account in supplier ledger and post them as any other supplier invoice?
Welcome to the forum! They are all a very friendly helpful bunch here, so don't be afraid of asking any questions
I would open a Supplier account for each Supplier..i.e. one for B & Q, one for Wickes etc and post all the receipts/invoices to them. When you say company cards, do you mean credit cards or debit cards? If credit cards then I would set up each one as a bank account in Sage and pay the invoices from there. Then when you pay the credit card from the bank, just do a transfer from the bank current account to the credit card account. If they are debit cards linked to the bank then just pay them from the bank as normal.
That is actually very nice of you to answer so quickly. Thank you..:). That helps a lot...:) I will do it as you suggest. Could I ask you something else. Thic company was opened 2 years ago and only last November, the 15th we had to register for vat. Now from that day we want to use sage. I've started putting all suppliers invoices and sales invoices into sage dated from 15 Nov 2010. We never used it before. We had an accountant who would deal with all the taxes and accounts. I'm sure she didn't use sage. My question is do I need to enter some kind of opening balance. I'm not sure what to do and our accountant hasn't been very helphul.
I'm sorry if it is not very clear what i'm asking for but this it exsactly as I feel now...;)
Good news is from next week I'm starting Bookkeeping and Accounts Course...:)
If you are now maintaining your records on SAGE you would need to enter your opening balances so that your bank, debtors, creditors, VAT, etc is correct.
The easiest way to do this would be to requeste the closing TB from your last year end from the accountant together with their working papers and then enter everything since then. Depending on when your year end is this may involve entering a lot of info to catch up (in which case it might be better to do it manually until you reach the end of your current year then transfer onto SAGE then. Whatever you decide to do you need opening balances when you move onto SAGE.
You may want to ask the accountant to enter the opening balances so they are correctly done. If they cant or are not willing to do this then time to think about changing accountant.
As Mark said you would need to enter a Trial Balance from the previous year end so that all your opening balances are correct. If you are not sure what you are doing then best to leave it to the accountant to do. They should be willing to help, after all it is in their best interests that the books are in decent order, makes their job easier come year end. If they're not willing to help, then, as Mark said, time to think about changing. The accountant is there to advise and help in my opinion and should work closely with you.
Are you employed by the company, or are you working on a self-employed basis? Good luck with the bookkeeping course, are you doing it via distance learning or at a college?
The problem is I've already requested all the documents from our accountant and she is not answering our calls any more (we still haven't received the documents). We want to change the accountant because we are not happy with her and I don't think we could trust her in this manner.
Anyway we need to submit vat return by the end of April so i thought doing it on sage will be the easiest way. Can I enter the opening balances at a later stage? Also my partner has been using mainly his business debit card to pay for all the expences. But sometimes he used his private credit card or debit card. I'm not sure how to adjust that on sage. I'm sorry if I'm giving you to much headache...;)
Pauline, I'm doing my course in a lerning centre in London. I've heard it is good one. We will see. I'm not working at the moment. Once I do the course I will look for job related to the subject. I must say I really like it and can't wait when the course starts.
Yes you can enter opening balances at a later date, but I wouldn't leave it too long. I would definitely change your accountant then if she's not answering your calls.
With regard to the business expenses on the private card, I assume he will want to be re-imbursed for these. You can set him up as a supplier and enter the expenses as purchase invoices to the relevant nominal codes and then pay them back from the bank as normal.
Good luck with the course! I'm sure you will get on fine
If your VAT return is due end April, is it for Feb/Mar/April? If so, as long as you have all the relevant documents for that period on Sage you should be able to run an accurate VAT return.
Re the debit/cr card - Is the Company Ltd or a sole trader?
If Ltd dr card transactions should be posted to a directors loan account. If sole trader they can be posted to the relevant nominal codes (if non business to a drawings account). For cr card transactions I would create a cr card bank account (in the 1200 range) and post the expenses directly to this account as bank payments then do a transfer from the bank account to the cr card account when you pay the cr card.
Thank you for your answer. It is not a limited company. The vat is for the period January, February, March. So I have to submit the vat return by end of April, I was told by the accountant. Is this correct?
Yes VAT return is due end of April. As you will be aware you need to submit your VAT return online now. If you pay online then you get until 7th May to pay.
I am amazed at how many people post on here who have difficulty dealing with their accountant.
Your accountant should be viewed as one of your team. You shouldnt be afraid to approach them at any time in the year (not just the year end when you need the accounts done) and it is curtesy that they should get back to you withing a reasonable timeframe. If not the same day they get your message then certainly the next working day.
At the end of the day your accountant is working for you and in these economic circumstances they should be doing everything they can to keep you happy. If not there are plenty other equally competent ones who would be happy to pick up your business and met all your requests in a timely and efficient manner.
I know our firm would as we are always actively promoting our business to potential clients and existing clients as what additional services we can offer.
