It’s up to you to work out what bookkeeping and accounting processes you put in place to keep on top of your finances, but it’s incredibly important to get it right – the last thing you need is an HMRC audit when you’ve not got the right records to show them.
You need to balance your needs, knowledge and budget to get the right strategy for your business.
If you’re an accountant or bookkeeper yourself, you might want to rely on your own experience and expertise.
If your business is pretty simple and you don’t have a lot of transactions to process, you might get by using your own systems and spreadsheets, or getting dedicated software that you can update with all your invoices, receipts and payments. You’ll still need to complete all your VAT, Annual Accounts and Company Returns yourself, as well as running payroll if you have staff.
If your business is a bit more complex, if you have staff to pay and have lots of varied transactions to process, hiring an accountant might be the right option to ensure you aren’t making any mistakes.
A good accountant can not only do all the essential tasks of calculating your taxes, preparing returns for HMRC and running payroll, but they can also give you advice on how to reduce your tax bill and provide reports that show you how your business financials are faring.
You might also want to get a bookkeeper if you have lots of transactions to process, or you’ll be spending quite a bit of time on record keeping. Some accountants will do the bookkeeping for you.
