There is a number of people who want to start their own small businesses. There are internet sites where they can find important information about how to pay taxes, insurance and how to calculate employer's wages and insurance. Do you know any sites that provide this kind of information as far as small business in uk is concerned?
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.
did you download them from the links that I gave you (IASB / ASB).
Ensure that you only read the FRS's and SSAP's that are still in force as the internet is still littlered with old standards that are no longer applicable.
A handy list (taken from ACCA paper P2 syllabus) is :
SSAPs (Statements of Standard Accounting Practice)
SSAP 4 Accounting for government grants
SSAP 5 Accounting for value added tax - No link available from FRC
SSAP 9 Stocks and long-term contracts
SSAP 13 Accounting for research and development
SSAP 19 Accounting for investment properties
SSAP 20 Foreign currency translation
SSAP 21 Accounting for leases and hire purchase contracts
SSAP 25 Segmental reporting
FRS's (Financial Reporting Standards)
FRS 1 Cash flow statements
FRS 2 Accounting for subsidiary undertakings
FRS 3 Reporting financial performance
FRS 4 Capital instruments
FRS 5 Reporting the substance of transactions
FRS 6 Acquisitions and mergers
FRS 7 Fair values in acquisition accounting
FRS 8 Related party disclosures
FRS 9 Associates and joint ventures
FRS 10 Goodwill and intangible assets
FRS 11 Impairment of fixed assets and goodwill
FRS 12 Provisions, contingent liabilities and contingent assets
FRS 13 Derivatives and other financial instruments: disclosures
FRS 15 Tangible fixed assets
FRS 16 Current tax
FRS 17 Retirement benefits
FRS 18 Accounting policies
FRS 19 Deferred tax
FRS 20 Share-based payment (IFRS 2)
FRS 21 Events after the balance sheet date (IAS 10)
FRS 22 Earnings per share (IAS 33)
FRS 23 The effects of changes in foreign exchange rates (IAS 21)
FRS 24 Financial reporting in hyperinflationery economies (IAS 29)
p.s. nice to see someone taking a keen interest in the standards. Only a matter of time I think before you start training to become an accountant.
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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.
You wrote in different thread that I am asking about complex stuff. Well I think that the most important knowledge as far as accounting is concerned is how to calculate taxes. Therefore you need to study from the very early stage tax laws and accounting laws and study differences between those two. If you want to calculate deferred tax for instance you have to know that there is temporary difference between tax value and accounting value of lets say fixed asset. You have to know that cost is ' acknlowledged' by accounting law when it is incurred whereas for tax law it is ' acknowledged' when it is paid.I know very little about accounting but I know that comparing tax laws and accounting laws is essential. I recently bought a book that deals with comparison between those two. When I ask experienced accountants for advice they tell me : Read tax laws and accounting laws! If you know any interesting materials in the field I described , please let me know. I bet there are similiarities when you compare uk laws to laws that exist in my country.
I assume that frs's and ssap's are accounting laws. What about taxation laws that are sometimes in contradiction with accounting laws? It is kind of fun to calculate accounting income for instance but it has to be corrected so that one can calculate tax base. Without knowing taxation laws it is impossible to calculate taxation base. If it is not a big problem for you can you provide a similiar list that presents taxation laws? Well, I know you are busy person but I promise it is going to be last ' asking ' for sth big. I assume it takes time to prepair list I am asking for.
the list above are regulations rather than laws. The Law is the companies act and there is one line in that which gives power to the regulations kept within accounting standards.
UK tax law is kept within the Finace Act which is renewed annually by the budget then HMRC apply the finance act but the way that they apply it is not always in the spirit that the law was intended and at higher levels some accountants make a good living out of argueing law against interpretation.
The knowledge that you are looking to acquire is the knowledge base of accountants which takes years of study.
Lets take an example of an accountant who studied with the ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants). You need to pass 14 exams which will incorporate Accounting regulation, tax law and corporate law.
Normally the ACCA qualification takes 5 to 10 years to complete.
One approach that you could adopt to your studies would be to study these ACCA papers which would give you a clear view of the UK tax and regulatory environments :
F1 Accountant in business F2 Management accounting F3 Financial accounting (UK variant) F4 Corporate and business law (UK Variant) F6 Taxation (UK Variant) F7 Financial reporting (UK Variant) P1 Governance, risk and ethics P2 Corporate reporting (UK Variant) P6 Advanced taxation (UK Variant)
I've left the Audit and management accounting papers out of the list.
Publishers Kaplan, BPP and GTG all produce ACCA syudy materials for the above but I would advise Kaplan which are invariably larger texts with more examples.
Buying the complete study texts for all of the above from Amazon would set you back in the region of £280. Each book would take between three and six months of study and as they go out of date quickly I would advise that if you went down this path not buying the next book until you had finished the current volume.
kind regards,
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.
Hi Rafael, reading FRS's and understanding them can be a bit of a minefield!
I don't think you necessarily need to know all of this if you are looking to start a general business. The basics on the other websites mentioned are good starting points. You should then consider appointing an accountant to do this stuff for you. It may sound bias; however, in the long the run the time you spend learning everything accounting could be better spent running your business. For example, you probably don't know how to market the business - you aren't going to spend all the time taken to learn a marketing degree as well!
However, if you are looking to get into the field of accountancy then yes do so. I would suggest perhaps looking at what study options are out there if you do want to go down that route. AAT followed by ACCA is a common path and as Shaun says can take a number of years to do.
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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?
If so a mentor may be the way forward - feel free to get in touch and see how I can assist you.
I find accounting interesting . I buy books ( I bought a book I was recommended on this forum) , study on my own and I like it. However, I would never consider career as a chief accountant because I am not smart enough. There is a lot of responsibility and stress involved, many things to remember and you have to have extremely good eye for detail. I wish I was able to embrace all responsibilities that chief accountants assume but unfortunately I am not that ' good'. In accounting today, let's consider medium sized company with 8 people working in accounting departament, 2 people are experienced accountants who are in charge of all and the rest insert data into computer system. We all know what job market is like today. I bet that many of those who passed most of acca exams insert data into computers because there are no jobs for them available. Since there is no way I can be chief accountant I wonder if it makes sense to study for long years and insert data later. Anyway, I have a lot of appreciation for those who do accounting jobs. They are really really brainy people.
Rafapak you can become an accountant too! With a good training course, training provider, qualification and gradually build up confidence and experience and you'll surprise yourself what potential you have hidden inside. :D
