Ive been trying to advise a friend on how to get her books in order for a small convenience store, her bookkeeper is filing everything late and there is no starting point for her to do it herself. She has shown me a bag full of receipts and all sorts of paperwork.
The VAT return is due, the yroll for two staff members is always late and she is being fined.
I've said the best thing to do is get some folders and file it all in month/date order as a starting point then put it all onto a spreadsheet.
Then get herself an accountant to do the year end which is also due.
Yes, it looks like she's going to have constant problems here and by filing everything late you also leave yourself open to HMRC investigations as they look at filing history as it's deemed a better risk for them as implies the client's house isn't in order!
Banks also look to see how up to date their customers accounts, VAT, tax returns are too as it all gives an indication of how someone runs their business
Also, the main worry is, if accounts are late they're old news! You should be advising your clients based on current figures as that's the only way to make an accurate appraisal of a business. I think your friend needs a change!
If you need any help or advice feel free to email me more confidentially on brightfutureaccountancy@yahoo.co.uk
My first thought (other than run) is VAT + shop = VAT retail scheme. You need to decide how you are going to do the VAT return and get systems in place for this.
This does sound like a nightmare but if she is paying fines, it makes a decent arguement for changing a good rate for the bookkeeping. "Value pricing" anyone????
There will be far more to sort out aswell, this is just a start.
All the best
Nick
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Nick
Nick Craggs FMAAT ACA AAT Distance Learning Manager
Thank you for your replies. I like a challenge but to be honest I don't where to start. We have got as much paper work sorted as we can. She started in Oct 12 so the end of year would be Sept 13 how long after that date this do we have to file the paper work?
Just to give me an idea of whether or not we can get it done in time........I thought it was 10 months but now not sure.
Would it be a good idea to use the spread sheet or to just put it all on to Sage starting at the beginning?
thr VAT retail scheme is where you sell lots of little items which have different VAT rates, e.g. food and alcohol. (My favourite combination) These are zero rated and standard rated. So you dont have to keep a record of every little item you sell, you apportion the standard and zero sales based on the ratio of standard to zero rated purchases. This is far easier as someone has done all the adding up for you on your supplier invoices.
I implemeted this in a shop and the amount of time it saved was huge. It is definitely worth looking at.
Nick
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Nick
Nick Craggs FMAAT ACA AAT Distance Learning Manager
