Hi Karen
Belated welcome.

Think about the individual transactions and the chart of accounts and where in the P&L each entry will go.

Is it just the purchase entry you are querying?

The Quickbooks software invoice is a purchase invoice for use in your own business - an indirect cost, but the zero smeero (my name for that ridiculous software) so, whilst still a purchase invoice it is attributable to your sales (hint - opposite of the word used in the midst of this sentence! We will make you work for it, sometimes  )

Hi Karen
I was just looking at the purchase invoice side as the re-charge can get a bit more complex. The word I missed out above was Direct cost.

So zero send you an invoice for your client, key the purchase invoice as you would any of your other purchase invoices BUT I would suggest that the expense goes in the DIRECT cost category rather than Indirect, so it appears in your GP rather than just NP calculations. Does that make sense? I assume that if you have no clients = no bill form zero?. If there is an element of the zero smerro cost that would come your way even if you had no clients then that portion would be an indirect expense. You can split such things.

Sales - as I say a different matter potentially. Zero invoices will contain VAT, at standard rate. Are you VAT registered? If so then you must add VAT to the re-charges. Send your clients a Sales invoice, itemising the 'labour' element of your work for want of another phrase and the re-charged item. That is your total 'sales' figure for that client, although I would split out the sales income in your own bookkeeping.

Yes that sales invoice you issued becomes a purchase invoice for your clients - in THEIR books - bookkeeping charge goes to professional fees indirect and the 'licence' fee re-charge to another indirect cost account (one specifically set up for software subscriptions).

Hi Karen 

Will you be doing the client's bookkeeping or just their year ends?  

If the latter then fair enough, but if the former, then why use xero (or even qb subscriptions)  

I don't use the cloud (happy to cater for it, but non of my clients (micro businesses) have asked me for it)

I pay roughly £350 a year, which allows me to do the bookkeeping and tax returns for all my clients, and is a fraction of the cost xero or qb would charge me, thus saving my clients money they don't need to pay out.

Hi Karen
Im sure you are aware, but for the benefit of others on here, just a word of caution re the financials - with AATBQ you can only go up to Trial Balance, so you cannot in fact produce the full/final year end P&L and Balance Sheet. Which Im sure is what you mean Karen.

There will be a fair few clients who use their own software which they will wish to continue to use or you should try to accomodate rather than transferring (just for the sake of it). There are some who will not want software, some who dont really want management accounts but are expecting you to just do their tax returns, which of course you cannot do without producing the Accounts first so they will expect you to use your own (or indeed in your case, cannot do per the current restrictions of your AAT membership). There are some who like the fluffy look of the cloud based products with their promise of having the numbers at their finger tips, whilst we all know that you can only have the numbers at your finger tips if you enter the data in a imely fashion - true of any software, with reports available that are just as meaningful (with or without the pretty graphs!) from any kind of good software. Many will not know the problems with cloudy stuff - that your data may be/is held abroad where the UK data protection laws do not cover it, or that once you stop paying for the service you lose the data history (unless you have been smart enought to grab the necessary reports before you stop paying). Just thought I would through a few things in there! There have been a ton of debates on here in the past if you have time to do a look around.

I will leave John to advise on the software he uses. On the one he will mention, if you decide to look at it then dont be put off by its old fashioned look - its a great bit of kit and is used by many Accountants due to its versatility. You wont need the tax return software yet so reckon your annual bill will be less than John's.

Yep, I'm definitely another advocate of VT Transaction+ and VT Accounts (you only need the first one but if you buy the second the first comes bundled with it).

Takes a bit of getting used to as its VERY different to Sage. i.e. no more nominal codes, no more closing off periods, if you make a mistake just delete the row and do it again... And best of all, one charge (#1) no matter how many clients you have so no Sage client tax or cloudy pay forever per client extortion racket.

Plenty of forum posts about VT plus as John says, a few long term users of the software, so you shouldn't be stuck for help.

One downside is that it's reporting rather than ERP software so you wouldn't use it for stock management. If your client is a box stacker and shifter you are better with something like Sage. I see no reason to ever use Sage for service industries (i.e. teachers, therapists and IT consultantants).

kindest regards,

Shaun.


#1 as John states VT+ can be a one off payment but if you get VT Accounts it's an annual charge. Many accountants use VT Accounts but not VT Transaction+ (even though they will own it) opting instead to use Sage / QB / etc. and then input the trial balance into the accounts software. If they used VT+ they could actually integrate the software but hey ho, each to their own.

KChally wrote:

---

I've had a very very quick look at the VT thingy and it seemed similar to excel, would that be correct? I really need something that is simple and quick to use, perhaps I will look at it again.

---

Yes, VT is very Excel 2003ish but it's not something that you could build yourself using Excel (well, unless you had a couple of years to spare and a great love of VBA... Got the latter myself but not the former).

It's software that surprises you with it's hidden complexity yet simplicity of use. It also learns as you enter data making data entry very easy.... I'm a slow two fingers and a thumb type typist and can still manage around 140 invoices an hour without breaking sweat... Well, I can when I start doing them... by around five hundred I'm generally finding excuses to have coffee breaks thinking about just quickly re-wallpapering the house before entering any more.

This threads a good starting point where you are using contra entries for opening balances : http://forum.bookkeepers.network/t56120086/start-up-business-in-indoneisa-quickbooks-or-vt-or-something/

Also, I did start marking VT threads to find them easily so if you enter the following in a Google search :

site:forum.bookkeepers.network VT-STM

You will get back a load of info on using VT Transaction+.

Note thats not all relevant threads as I've not been keeping up with tagging them but it's a good start.

Kind regards,

Shaun.

p.s. There iis no link between myself and VT besides being a user of the software.

Depends what Sage version you used as to whether I agree with you or not . Sage cloudy, or to give it its official title Sage One Accounting is pants, so slow, no shortcuts (other than a Bank feed and most can do that these days!) unless its for micro sized clients with small amounts of paperwork. Although one of my clients turns over £1m+ and has thousands of invoices and insists on using it (no idea why!). But Im a Sage 50 professional fan (helped by me getting a cheapo deal - gift of the gab perhaps.....probably just to shut me up so that I go away!!) .  I do though also use VT Transaction + (the one you will be looking at) and VT Accounts, but I use Sage Pro as I do have customers with stock requirements although just to be awkward two of mine use the VAT margin scheme and so some 'jiggery pokery' still has to go on with Sage. I also have ones with multiple companies and currency requirements and its what I trained on (self taught) so I prefer it.  

Hope you are ready for your newbie tomorrow - I did comment on your other post and will add more if you go back to it. Failing that - good luck. Just be yourself - people buy in to people! If you have a gut feeling you think there is something wrong or you dont like them - go by your gut and walk. 

 

Hi Karen, good luck tomorrow, and hope you get the job and can get her books into shape (see what I did there) 

 

Yep, I too started out using Sage Instant Accounts then Sage 50.  Didn't dislike the software but yes, correcting mistakes was a right pain.  You'll find that with VT + its dead easy to correct a mistake or change an amount. Shaun has already mentioned some of the things it can do and is much more savvy than me. Despite using it for 7 years I'm sure there's far more that can be done on it than I know.