I have a few different packages, and generally use the one which suits the business' needs. This is not always the same one the client thinks they need. More people who want a specific package (mainly Sage) can never tell me why, just that they think it's best. Sage is actually one package that I have because I need to for work I did for an accountant, but I wouldn't otherwise have bought.
Accountancy packages can be very useful but if you are starting out I would not advice spending any money on software unless you have too, there are some free software that you can get online and if you are any good at using excel you can also do the accounts using that as well. starting as a bookkeeper you need to keep your costs as low as possible and shelling out for something you might not need is not a good start. When you take on clients you might find that you are taking on new starter businesses that don't have anyone doing there books for them anyway so don't have any software, or that they have already purchased the software and don't know how to use it so need someone to come in and do the work for them. Either way keep your costs as low as possible as this business can be tough at times.
I have basic knowledge of Excel i would be able to set up business, however i do not know if you can produce any reports ie T/B. Would you also have to do the bank rec manually?
If it keeps the cost down, than it's a way to start
You can have a spreadsheet that has the company's income and expenses in different tabs, then just have columns in the expenses tab analysing the cost. For a bank rec what you need to remember is that this will involve what is on your bank statement plus any other payments or income that have not yet cleared in the bank. this can be shown very easily using a spreadsheet. If you want to get flashy you can add formulas macros etc to make it more automated. have a look at the sample spreadsheet on my site that will give you a rough idea as to what you can do in excel.
Just had quick look, seems straight forward to set up. I see that you total up the months expenditure and income do you not need to enter every single transaction?
Sorry to seem a bit vague i'm new to starting up of a business, it's ok studying and getting your qualification but it seems a different world starting up.
That's fine, yes you do need to enter every transaction that takes place in a business so if you look at the income sheet this is where you would enter all your sales that you have made daily, weekly, monthly etc. Then if you look at the purchases sheet this is where you would enter all your expenditure for the day, week, month etc also then if you click the spreadsheet update button this will update the spreadsheet with all the relevant data including doing the double entry for sales and purchases. try entering some data and see it update the trial balance with the figures. The monthly totaling just makes it easier to see your income and expenditure in a simple way. You can make something similar to this that's easy for you to use without having to purchase expensive software. remember you can only make a decent living if you have enough clients and keep your costs to the minimum.
@ NA AA, this is an excel program I created for small businesses and other bookkeepers, it does the same job as an accounting program but all in excel, sales,purchases,bank recs, journals,TB,P&L & BS. It's what i use with my clients. Try downloading it again as it should be fine. If you use a Mac then it wont work as I converted it into exe to get rid of the turn your macro on warning. I am going to be putting up the actual xls file as soon as i get some time, still learning HTML at the moment also.
@Kris thanks, it does what it does it's simple and I find it easy to use, but then I would say that as I made it wouldn't I lol
You can make something similar to this that's easy for you to use without having to purchase expensive software. remember you can only make a decent living if you have enough clients and keep your costs to the minimum.
Yes but software often speeds things up (not always, it depends on the client's business and needs). So buying it can be a very worthwhile investment if it means you can effectively charge more per hour. Not having software could price you out of the market for many potential clients as the number of hours it would take you to complete the work on a spreadsheet would make you very uncompetitive when compared against someone using a package.
I also think that key qualities that a successful bookkper needs are adapatability and flexibility and that you do have to spend a bit of money to get a business up and running. That doesn't mean you need to go out and buy sage, personally my preference is usually Quickbooks which is multi company. But I also use a few of the online accounting softwares and one of the benefits of those is that you only need to pay for a month at a time, which is generally in the region of £15-20.
If you are a already setup and have a certain number of clients thats perfectly fine, but when you are just starting out you need to be as cost effective as possible, I actually am one of the few on here that like sage as a software but hate the licensing, and would say to anyone that it's perfect to use. The thing with me also is that as a bookkeeper you would only really be dealing with small clients that are either a one man band, sole traders, or only a handful of staff that where they dont need the kind of processing power of a computerised package especially when your starting out. I use excel al lot and I find it amazing what it can do, if you can use excel well you will not need expensive software as you can automate things just like sage, quickbooks etc have a look at my excel accounting one on my site it does just that. t be honest my view is that if a client wants there accounts on a commercial software package it's best for them to pay the licence and own it while I visit and work on it in your office. That keeps my costs down and the client should not have a problem as they would own the software anyway.
. The thing with me also is that as a bookkeeper you would only really be dealing with small clients that are either a one man band, sole traders, or only a handful of staff that where they dont need the kind of processing power of a computerised package
It sounds like we have different views about our potential clients. I have several that are still small businesses but which have numerous transactions or slightly complicated systems - a small building company that wants to see reports of costs per job and uses CIS subcontractors, for instance.
I use excel a lot, for instance I've set up a spreadsheet for a client that receives the same amount of money by standing order each month from maybe 150 people and it compares her imported bank statement to her client list to show at a glance who has and hasn't paid. But I think that it is a false economy in almost any business to avoid any level of capital expenditure simply to keep costs down and that it's very unrealistic to expect to build up much of a business without some outlay.
