Making Tax Digital – The Cloud Based Accountancy Software

19/05/2017

As has been widely publicised a sole trader, partnership or landlord with a turnover of £85,000 or more, will need to comply with Making Tax Digital, potentially from as early as April 2018. This includes a requirement to operate an electronic bookkeeping system.

Xero and QuickBooks are leading companies offering a wide range of support and features. They also have the advantage of having cloud based production. So what are the benefits to you?

Efficiency Gains

The truth is whether or not you are a trained bookkeeper/accountant these packages are designed to make your life easier. We live in a technological age where mobiles, computers, laptops and tablets are a big part of our day to day life; these are integrated into the running of your businesses too. You are now able to carry out much of your work on the go, whether that is reconciling the bank on the train using a tablet/laptop or uploading a purchase invoice via the camera on your mobile phone – things have never been as accessible as they are now.

Paperless Business

With direct bank feeds into your Xero or QuickBooks account your bank is instantly updated and even easier to match to sales and purchase invoices. Coupling this with online banking, you no longer need to receive monthly bank statements and retain them on file.

Many suppliers are now emailing clients invoices. Using Xero or QuickBooks you are now able to upload invoices directly and even attach them to the correct transaction. Any other invoices can be scanned and uploaded directly to Xero or QuickBooks to create the transaction meaning less time is spent allocating payments.

Simplicity

The software is now far simpler to use compared to historic bookkeeping systems. Everything is set out very neatly and is designed to be very user friendly. You are able to customise your screen so you can have quick and easy access to the information you deem to be important.

Support

Whether this is from Xero or QuickBooks themselves or from one of our own highly trained individuals, any answers you need – big or small are only a few clicks away or at worst a brief phone call. With multiple users you can even give us access to your software and we can go in and sort the problem while sat at our desk!

Add-ons & Apps

There are over 500 apps which can be used in conjunction with Xero, QuickBooks or both. These can be very useful and some are designed specifically for certain industries or for a certain task. There will be regular reviews of different apps published here; highlighting the pros and cons for companies which I hope will help people going forward.

Adopting a computerised accounting system can be a very complicated and confusing time, but always remember we are here to help and advise you with anything you may be struggling with. It’s important to remember that although this is happening in the future, it is going to happen.

We would recommend not leaving this until the last moment, the sooner it’s sorted the sooner you can have peace of mind that everything is in hand. See this as an opportunity to take your business – big or small forward. If you’re not moving forward you are falling behind your competitors!