Hi all, Ive been happily running my own bookkeeping business for 7 years (worked in practice for many years before that). I pick up my clients paperwork and process manually on to my own Sage...I have access to all of their bank accounts and manually enter the bank transactions on to Sage...Im proper old school I guess!! My questions is....does everyone else still operate like this, or am I the only one?!! Im thinking about setting up the bank feeds directly to Sage, but I cant see any of my clients wanting to upload their own invoices through something like receipt bank. I keep reading that bookkeepers will lose business unless they keep up with technology, namely doing everything through the cloud, which I have no problem with as I would like my business to be future proof, but I think Im just concerned that Im not giving my current clients the best service that I could offer?! It would be comforting to know Im not alone with my current working methods! I know Im waffling but Im hoping someone gets the jist of what Im asking!! Liz
-- Edited by Shamus on Sunday 30th of June 2019 02:53:12 PM
Although you might like to check your website credentials, they show on my PC as having a problem.
Please add a first name to the sig bar , saves people looking up your name, or saying oi you when they address you.
Who is your MLR with? Your profile indicates trained to AAT level, which level? Also, you do know you cannot refer to that on any marketing if you do not have a licence with them dont you?
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Joanne
Winner of Bookkeeper of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017
Thoughts are my own/not to be regarded as official advice,which should be sought from a suitably qualified Accountant.
You should check out answers with reference to the legal position
Thank you for your comments.....I will look at my website but appears ok when I use my phone. My husband is the IT department so Ill get him on the case! Profile will be updated when I get on a proper computer - trying to get used to a new phone and not doing very well with it!
Fully qualified AAT (although havent paid subs for a while so dont advertise myself as AAT qualified - only mentioned on my website that Im qualified to that level which I believed was ok to do as long as Im not actively promoting myself as a member of AAT? Happy for guidance on this one though! Although to be honest none of my clients have asked for my experience or qualifications!). Registered with HMRC for MLR.
Dorset is beautiful....been here all my life! Live in a lovely little town and recently moved into my own office in the town centre. I outgrew the home office!
Hoping to get lots of friendly advice on here - business is growing rapidly so what started as a few clients to put food on the table when my kiddies were little is now growing into something much bigger now theyre at school. Loving every second of it, but boy is it exhausting!!
The URL (Web Address) you have in your profile starts with http:// (which stands for hyper text transfer protocol).
That is the insecure version. When people click on the link it redirects to the secure version which is https://
That may be the issue. Additionally you are using bluewave... rather than www.bluewave.. as the address. That should not be an issue, however.
I once noticed a security issue on the Telegraph website that existed because of the way they redirected from http to https. That is because anyone running a packet sniffer on your communications can pick up details of anything transmitted such as cookies whilst the redirection is going on. With The Telegraph they revealed the email address of people using their site.
Hi Liz
What John said. My antivirus is picky! Sorry I couldnt even remember the word 'antirvirus' earlier, my brain is that mashed.
What sage do you use?
A lot of folk bang on about how great receipt bank is, but what you need to consider is the cost to use/can you pass it on, whether your client would use it properly, how much time it will actually save you (if you use Sage pro and are a speedy inputter you can often input quicker, but it depends on the type of inputting and repetitiveness of the entries on eg purchase invoices). Its absolutely useless if you need any kind of coding done. So again down to complexities/size of the businesses you look after.
What is your customer base like ie what sectors? Are they mostly self employed/limited companies/do you provide management accounts? etc
Lots of things to consider.
Cloud accounting isnt necessary whatsoever. Mostly is slow and cumbersome compared to the desktop kit. Again, depends what you want it for I guess and more so, sometimes, what the client wants with it. I find they like looking at their phone for the figures lasts about 3 weeks before teh novelty wears off. Then its ongoing costs v perpetual one off, aint broke so dont fix it type. Or the like of VT which can do both bookkeeping and final accounts (but doesnt have the stock abilities of some others).
__________________
Joanne
Winner of Bookkeeper of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017
Thoughts are my own/not to be regarded as official advice,which should be sought from a suitably qualified Accountant.
You should check out answers with reference to the legal position
I'm like you, other than one client, it is all entered manually into VT, including the bank statements. (although I have experimented with importing bank statements after converting them to excel, with some success) I do cheat slightly though by having someone input the data, as 1, I hate it and 2, she's a darn sight quicker than I am.
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John
Any advice given is for general guidance and professional advice should be sought applicable to your circumstances.
I'm like you, other than one client, it is all entered manually into VT, including the bank statements. (although I have experimented with importing bank statements after converting them to excel, with some success) I do cheat slightly though by having someone input the data, as 1, I hate it and 2, she's a darn sight quicker than I am.
Phew! Glad its not just me! I hate to think Im doing something differently to everyone else and not giving my clients the best service. I also have taken someone on to help with the simpler stuff - its working well so far!
Hi Liz What John said. My antivirus is picky! Sorry I couldnt even remember the word 'antirvirus' earlier, my brain is that mashed.
What sage do you use?
A lot of folk bang on about how great receipt bank is, but what you need to consider is the cost to use/can you pass it on, whether your client would use it properly, how much time it will actually save you (if you use Sage pro and are a speedy inputter you can often input quicker, but it depends on the type of inputting and repetitiveness of the entries on eg purchase invoices). Its absolutely useless if you need any kind of coding done. So again down to complexities/size of the businesses you look after.
What is your customer base like ie what sectors? Are they mostly self employed/limited companies/do you provide management accounts? etc
Lots of things to consider.
Cloud accounting isnt necessary whatsoever. Mostly is slow and cumbersome compared to the desktop kit. Again, depends what you want it for I guess and more so, sometimes, what the client wants with it. I find they like looking at their phone for the figures lasts about 3 weeks before teh novelty wears off. Then its ongoing costs v perpetual one off, aint broke so dont fix it type. Or the like of VT which can do both bookkeeping and final accounts (but doesnt have the stock abilities of some others).
Hi Joanna,
I currently use Sage 50c which I love - I have one client on Xero which is ok, but I definitely prefer Sage! I honestly dont think any current clients want to know how their business is doing on a daily / weekly basis, and I think most are technophobes so that wouldnt bode well for them getting involved with the bookkeeping! I have a real variety of clients from hairdressers and builders through to large limited companies with large turnovers and many, many transactions! Cloud bookkeeping is something I may look into in the future as something my part time member of staff can get involved in, but for now i think Ill keep ticking along as I am!
