ok, I have taken a new client on, and I think it may be a bit of a mare...
They have one sole trader business, and another Ltd, as you can imagine things have been in/out of each account for various things that should have related to the other accounts.
The Ltd company has registered for VAT in July which means they can claim for purchase's that were made for the business back dated-thankfully I working from Oct-13 to Sept 14, so not going back years...
They have taken me on board to get all the figures together ready for the accountant to do year end works in October and to get the VAT r/turn sorted for end of Sept.
Moving forward Sage is going to be introduced so next year will be a lot better. The accountant they have used as taken payment upfront to deal with the year end works so I don't really want to charge them my time to carry out more works (which I would normally do) as they have paid the accountant already.
I am thinking just produce a spreadsheet that shows the figures from each account and what for (like a TB) and then let the accountant do his works from the figures?
I can only put the figures on the s/sheet that have come out of each particular account, even if they relate to the other business.....it is a bit of a mess...and only the VAT element on the LTD company transactions, as again, this only relates to that one
I already spent a day yesterday splitting a box of receipts into date order so now all I should be doing is entering the figures.
Hi Jaybag. am i reading that right, because they have already paid the accountant, you as bookkeeper should work for free?(that seems a bit silly). I would see if you are allowed to contact the accountant to find out exactly how they would like the information, spreadsheet or whatever, then depending on the work involved charge accordingly. If you work with the accountant then your client cant really mind paying you as well as as you say next year you will be on SAGE. Best of luck
Exactly my thoughts Lainy - I even cleaned my glasses to make sure I was reading it right. Do charge for your work Jay, otherwise they will expect you to do it for free all the time. Besides - if they say the accountant would do it for his all in fee then let him and just start on next years, oh wait - the Accountant wouldnt have agreed to that, so you are on safe ground! Last year I got more than an Accountant for my work for one client because I had such an almighty mess to sort out!! So go for it and get paid for all your hard work.
If you need clarification on which receipts belong to which business then absolutely seek it - dont let them say they are all for the Limited company if there is VAT involved if its clear they are for the other business. Yes speak to the Accountant but if you have access to Sage or other accounts software it might be better to get it set up now especially if there are a lot of transactions as you indicate (up to you of course).
Also re the claiming back 4 years on VAT - remember you can only do that if the goods are still held by you or they have been used to make other goods you still hold. Worth having a read of the HMRC link very carefully ....
Sorry, I think I may not have made it clear, of course I am charging for my time. Everything is all all over the place at the moment and if I had more time I would have insisted on doing the entire work in sage but the year end is end of sept so will just tidy up best I can on a spreadsheet up to TB then crack on with sage in new year. I appreciate the feed back. Thank you.
