Accountant

[chuggafugga]

I could do with an accountant the way things are going with business as things are going pretty sweet, some one reliable who works from home, can do informal banter, is familiar with commercial invoicing as well as obligations to companies house.

Berkshire based ideal.

 

[kelvin_273]

Salary?

 

[Effendi]

Keep your own books, date stamp and number all invoices and receipts, keep them neatly filed and then take them along to a chartered accountant once a year. More often if you are VAT registered.

 

[bobthebuilder]

Keep your own books, date stamp and number all invoices and receipts, keep them neatly filed and then take them along to a chartered accountant once a year. More often if you are VAT registered.

How very 20th Century.

Get a cloud based book keeping ap such as Xero or QuickBooks. Automate your invoicing and payment receipts system onto a payment gateway line Square and integrate that with your accounting package. That way quotes, estimates and invoices are all joined up and go seamlessly into your books. And when invoices are paid, they reconcile.

Set up banking on your accounting system so that you can pay your bills direct from your system. Get your suppliers to invoice electronically so that their invoices can be auto loaded on to your accounting package. Scan any paper receipts or invoices with the accounting packages app and load then that way.

Run a bank reconciliation once a week. Use a cashflow planning tool to manage weekly cash in and out. Run P&L reports etc monthly and review against your plan. Once a quarter, run a VAT reconciliation and file. Once a year, run an annual reconciliation and file.

Finally, provide your accountant with access to your package to do their annual statutory stuff. Get their advice on how to integrate everything.

 

[chuggafugga]

How very 20th Century.

Get a cloud based book keeping ap such as Xero or QuickBooks. Automate your invoicing and payment receipts system onto a payment gateway line Square and integrate that with your accounting package. That way quotes, estimates and invoices are all joined up and go seamlessly into your books. And when invoices are paid, they reconcile.

Set up banking on your accounting system so that you can pay your bills direct from your system. Get your suppliers to invoice electronically so that their invoices can be auto loaded on to your accounting package. Scan any paper receipts or invoices with the accounting packages app and load then that way.

Run a bank reconciliation once a week. Use a cashflow planning tool to manage weekly cash in and out. Run P&L reports etc monthly and review against your plan. Once a quarter, run a VAT reconciliation and file. Once a year, run an annual reconciliation and file.

Finally, provide your accountant with access to your package to do their annual statutory stuff. Get their advice on how to integrate everything.

I did speak to an acccount, it came up VERY costly and some of the services I need to do are very simply done online, like £160 pm for them which include access to Xero.

Xero it seems is a point in the right direction and once books are in order over a period than time to give them a shout regards further requirements.

Alright thanks @bobthebuilder and @Effendi

 

[rockpile]

Full time appointment? Mrs R is a qualified accountant and we are within sight of the Berkshire borders.
However, she has a very well paid job at the moment but might be able to help out if you are pushed.

 

[Effendi]

How very 20th Century.

Get a cloud based book keeping ap such as Xero or QuickBooks. Automate your invoicing and payment receipts system onto a payment gateway line Square and integrate that with your accounting package. That way quotes, estimates and invoices are all joined up and go seamlessly into your books. And when invoices are paid, they reconcile.

Set up banking on your accounting system so that you can pay your bills direct from your system. Get your suppliers to invoice electronically so that their invoices can be auto loaded on to your accounting package. Scan any paper receipts or invoices with the accounting packages app and load then that way.

Run a bank reconciliation once a week. Use a cashflow planning tool to manage weekly cash in and out. Run P&L reports etc monthly and review against your plan. Once a quarter, run a VAT reconciliation and file. Once a year, run an annual reconciliation and file.

Finally, provide your accountant with access to your package to do their annual statutory stuff. Get their advice on how to integrate everything.

You go with that.

 

[bobthebuilder]

You go with that.

I have. It really isn’t hard to do and if there are challenges, pay someone to sort them. We had a challenge synchronising inventory between e-commerce, POS, invoiced sale and warehouse; $200 on AirTasker and it was fixed.

I honestly don’t see the logic in not systemising a business’ invoicing, payment and bill paying onto a book keeping platform

 

[Effendi]

I have. It really isn’t hard to do and if there are challenges, pay someone to sort them. We had a challenge synchronising inventory between e-commerce, POS, invoiced sale and warehouse; $200 on AirTasker and it was fixed.

I honestly don’t see the logic in not systemising a business’ invoicing, payment and bill paying onto a book keeping platform

I don't see it either, it makes sense, I have pieces of paper for business information systems, and have done it for small businesses and a couple of banks.

However, you used the word "cloud". I don't do cloud. Fullstop. Nice idea, till some clever twat attacks their cloud locations and corrupts, nicks, or destroys the data..........and it will happen. I know where all the old De11 clouds are, the only thing fluffy and white about them is the steam coming off their cooling arrays - they are now owned by NTT. A civvy might think that an 8 foot fence makes something secure, but I don't.

Added to which I chat with a couple of industry experts regularly. I have one brother who lives in San Francisco and is the top man in software engineering for a household name accounting software company. The other brother works for Microsoft as a head of a division, also a software engineer. Without going into details clouds are nice for making money and hooking you to a single provider.

All my accounts, and the family accounts are done offline, air gapped, stand alone, no risk of compromise.

But, if you are not worried about any problems and think that McAfee, or Norton will do the job then have at it.

 

[bobthebuilder]

I don't see it either, it makes sense, I have pieces of paper for business information systems, and have done it for small businesses and a couple of banks.

However, you used the word "cloud". I don't do cloud. Fullstop. Nice idea, till some clever twat attacks their cloud locations and corrupts, nicks, or destroys the data..........and it will happen. I know where all the old De11 clouds are, the only thing fluffy and white about them is the steam coming off their cooling arrays - they are now owned by NTT. A civvy might think that an 8 foot fence makes something secure, but I don't.

Added to which I chat with a couple of industry experts regularly. I have one brother who lives in San Francisco and is the top man in software engineering for a household name accounting software company. The other brother works for Microsoft as a head of a division, also a software engineer. Without going into details clouds are nice for making money and hooking you to a single provider.

All my accounts, and the family accounts are done offline, air gapped, stand alone, no risk of compromise.

But, if you are not worried about any problems and think that McAfee, or Norton will do the job then have at it.

None of our businesses would exist without cloud based services and none could have existed before cloud based services were available. We’ve built three very different businesses, but all acquire their customers, source materials and inventory, make their sales, deliver most of their goods and services, invoice and collect their revenue using cloud based apps. Quite why we would air gap our accounts from our businesses beats me; accounts are just an administrative tool for running the business. We do backup our monthly reconciliation with a gap, but that is all.

Clouds are no different from any business for hooking you to a single provider. Using the accountancy example, most businesses get hooked to a single long term provider because once in its hard and probably expensive to change. If you build your own books in Xero or MYOB, changing accountant is easy and cheap.

 

[Effendi]

None of our businesses would exist without cloud based services and none could have existed before cloud based services were available. We’ve built three very different businesses, but all acquire their customers, source materials and inventory, make their sales, deliver most of their goods and services, invoice and collect their revenue using cloud based apps. Quite why we would air gap our accounts from our businesses beats me; accounts are just an administrative tool for running the business. We do backup our monthly reconciliation with a gap, but that is all.

Clouds are no different from any business for hooking you to a single provider. Using the accountancy example, most businesses get hooked to a single long term provider because once in its hard and probably expensive to change. If you build your own books in Xero or MYOB, changing accountant is easy and cheap.

I'm not saying it won't work, I'm just saying with my knowledge and the input I have from others I would not use a cloud. But, then my business does not depend on it, if I did build an online business there would still be design features and protocols in place to minimise exposure, and risk. Everyone seems to think that everything needs to be connected to "The Web" 24/7, and it does not.

 

[bobthebuilder]

I'm not saying it won't work, I'm just saying with my knowledge and the input I have from others I would not use a cloud. But, then my business does not depend on it, if I did build an online business there would still be design features and protocols in place to minimise exposure, and risk. Everyone seems to think that everything needs to be connected to "The Web" 24/7, and it does not.

I’m intrigued to know how you would propose to run an e-commerce business that isn’t connected to the internet 24/7. That’s kind of the whole point; clients and customers can purchase products or services anytime.

And I’m also intrigued to know how you would build a business in the e-commerce space without using cloud based solutions. TBH I don’t think you can avoid it; marketing, advertising, sales, order fulfilment, payment, after sales support etc etc all rely on third party apps that are cloud based.

Unless you propose reinventing the entire e-commerce space by replacing any or all of Google, Facebook, Shopify, Amazon, Salesforce, PayPal, Square etc etc with your own platform, there is no way of building in protocols to minimise risk.

The fact is businesses of all sizes (and government) from micro business to mega conglomerate use cloud based applications, often the same ones. We use Salesforce; so do some of the biggest companies in the world.

 

[Effendi]

I’m intrigued to know how you would propose to run an e-commerce business that isn’t connected to the internet 24/7. That’s kind of the whole point; clients and customers can purchase products or services anytime.

And I’m also intrigued to know how you would build a business in the e-commerce space without using cloud based solutions. TBH I don’t think you can avoid it; marketing, advertising, sales, order fulfilment, payment, after sales support etc etc all rely on third party apps that are cloud based.

Unless you propose reinventing the entire e-commerce space by replacing any or all of Google, Facebook, Shopify, Amazon, Salesforce, PayPal, Square etc etc with your own platform, there is no way of building in protocols to minimise risk.

The fact is businesses of all sizes (and government) from micro business to mega conglomerate use cloud based applications, often the same ones. We use Salesforce; so do some of the biggest companies in the world.

I have no plan to run an online business, but if I did I would not need to reinvent the wheel as it as already been invented. The problem everyone has and the cleverness they think they have which creates security issues is that they connect everything. Especially small enterprises, presumably such as your own (no offence intended, but to me a small business is anything less than 500 employees) where reliance is placed on a collection of computers on a single network. Small companies tend to rely on single networks to do everything in the business process - they also stupidly rely on a single server (cloud function if you want) to hold all their transactional data. Define your core business areas and then create dedicated networks to operate for those areas, not difficult and invisible to the customer who, depending on where she/he clicks is taken to one, or other network. Simplistic, but I'm not being paid to sort out IS issues anymore, I much prefer property development.

It is within the scope of a competent system designer and a competent programmer to do this kind of stuff, they are not one and the same, totally different skill sets. And good ones cost money. You get a dentist to fix teeth, a car mechanic to fix cars, and you should get the relevant IT, or IS professionals to sort out IT/IS matters. The problem is that the software companies have made it too easy for the average user, not programmer, but unknowing user, to cobble together their own little linked up collection of widgets without much regard to the whys and wherefores. FFS I have met idiots who tell me they work in IT when all they do is change printer cartridges and load up paper, or sit there inputting data on a single screen form all day.

The Mrs works for a financial institution - they cannot use cloud storage, they use three server locations. Same with the other financial institution she worked for, same with the couple of banks I designed clever AI widgets for, and Ford who I designed and built a specialist system for.

Bottomline is that if you program properly you use your own storage and not cloud storage. The only point I was making is that commercial cloud storage is insecure.

 

[bobthebuilder]

I have no plan to run an online business, but if I did I would not need to reinvent the wheel as it as already been invented. The problem everyone has and the cleverness they think they have which creates security issues is that they connect everything. Especially small enterprises, presumably such as your own (no offence intended, but to me a small business is anything less than 500 employees) where reliance is placed on a collection of computers on a single network. Small companies tend to rely on single networks to do everything in the business process - they also stupidly rely on a single server (cloud function if you want) to hold all their transactional data. Define your core business areas and then create dedicated networks to operate for those areas, not difficult and invisible to the customer who, depending on where she/he clicks is taken to one, or other network. Simplistic, but I'm not being paid to sort out IS issues anymore, I much prefer property development.

It is within the scope of a competent system designer and a competent programmer to do this kind of stuff, they are not one and the same, totally different skill sets. And good ones cost money. You get a dentist to fix teeth, a car mechanic to fix cars, and you should get the relevant IT, or IS professionals to sort out IT/IS matters. The problem is that the software companies have made it too easy for the average user, not programmer, but unknowing user, to cobble together their own little linked up collection of widgets without much regard to the whys and wherefores. FFS I have met idiots who tell me they work in IT when all they do is change printer cartridges and load up paper, or sit there inputting data on a single screen form all day.

The Mrs works for a financial institution - they cannot use cloud storage, they use three server locations. Same with the other financial institution she worked for, same with the couple of banks I designed clever AI widgets for, and Ford who I designed and built a specialist system for.

Bottomline is that if you program properly you use your own storage and not cloud storage. The only point I was making is that commercial cloud storage is insecure.

The keyword in all of this is SMALL. The risk in a micro-businesses like the three we run is minimal. The whole point of using software as a service is that you avoid the upfront costs of building something that may not survive contact with the market. Commissioning bespoke systems when your turnover is in 100s of ks is inappropriate.

Not all e-commerce platforms are alike. But the likes of Shopify and Salesforce are compliant to industry best practice standards. If you follow the security rules, don’t load third party apps and control user and collaborator access, the risks are minimal. As you scale build more appropriate security; take a risk based approach.

If you build a store on Wordpress and use unverified e-commerce plugins, you get what you deserve.

 

[Daxx]

@chuggafugga I could put you in touch with someone. Don't know how busy they are, cost etc Is non military but has a sense of humour. Based nr Heathrow. PM if interested, small finders fee etc

 

[sirbhp]

There's tree types of Accountant .
those who can add up
an those who cant .

 

[Roadster280]

I don't see it either, it makes sense, I have pieces of paper for business information systems, and have done it for small businesses and a couple of banks.

However, you used the word "cloud". I don't do cloud. Fullstop. Nice idea, till some clever twat attacks their cloud locations and corrupts, nicks, or destroys the data..........and it will happen. I know where all the old De11 clouds are, the only thing fluffy and white about them is the steam coming off their cooling arrays - they are now owned by NTT. A civvy might think that an 8 foot fence makes something secure, but I don't.

Added to which I chat with a couple of industry experts regularly. I have one brother who lives in San Francisco and is the top man in software engineering for a household name accounting software company. The other brother works for Microsoft as a head of a division, also a software engineer. Without going into details clouds are nice for making money and hooking you to a single provider.

All my accounts, and the family accounts are done offline, air gapped, stand alone, no risk of compromise.

But, if you are not worried about any problems and think that McAfee, or Norton will do the job then have at it.

Actually you do do cloud. You might not be aware of it, but you definitely use cloud if you use the internet at all. If you have a bank account, you use cloud. If you access Google, or Bing, or Yahoo, you use cloud. If you have a modern car, even it uses cloud. If you have a cellphone, it uses cloud. Use a credit card? Cloud.

Cloud is ubiquitous, and almost always is superior to on-prem servers. There are some use cases where on-prem is preferred, but they’re quite limited.

 

[Effendi]

Actually you do do cloud. You might not be aware of it, but you definitely use cloud if you use the internet at all. If you have a bank account, you use cloud. If you access Google, or Bing, or Yahoo, you use cloud. If you have a modern car, even it uses cloud. If you have a cellphone, it uses cloud. Use a credit card? Cloud.

Cloud is ubiquitous, and almost always is superior to on-prem servers. There are some use cases where on-prem is preferred, but they’re quite limited.

I don't actively use cloud, others might in connection with services they provide me with, but if it goes tits up that is their problem and not mine - copies of all accounts are kept on portable hard drives. Photos I keep on USB's, I text very rarely as I am not under 25, my phone keeps telling me to back up to the cloud..........back up what? The only thing I really use my phone for is making phone calls, sometimes mapping, rarely interweb as the screen is too small for most spectacle wearers to usefully see anything.

Car? I deliberately do not connect my phone to my car as I do not need the mercedes servicing monkey to trawl through my connections, phone numbers and GPS locations. All I use is a little car charger that plugs into the cigarette lighter socket.

Gmail is my email connection, so whatever they do, again if it goes tits up their problem and not mine. Important stuff I twaddle about over VOIP, which doubtless your old client can listen too, but as I do nothing wrong it does not worry me.

I just think too much trust is placed in clouds, which lets face it is just the latest money making business opportunity of the IT/IS industry.

You surprise me with cloud for credit card. The wifes place has three server site locations to make sure if disaster hits that they have copies of everything. They are so twitchy about data security and have a team on it 24/7 especially as some slack drills saw them hit around 18 months ago - so I don't see Reggie being a cloud fan as it would be a soft point.

 

[bobthebuilder]

I don't actively use cloud, others might in connection with services they provide me with, but if it goes tits up that is their problem and not mine - copies of all accounts are kept on portable hard drives. Photos I keep on USB's, I text very rarely as I am not under 25, my phone keeps telling me to back up to the cloud..........back up what? The only thing I really use my phone for is making phone calls, sometimes mapping, rarely interweb as the screen is too small for most spectacle wearers to usefully see anything.

Car? I deliberately do not connect my phone to my car as I do not need the mercedes servicing monkey to trawl through my connections, phone numbers and GPS locations. All I use is a little car charger that plugs into the cigarette lighter socket.

Gmail is my email connection, so whatever they do, again if it goes tits up their problem and not mine. Important stuff I twaddle about over VOIP, which doubtless your old client can listen too, but as I do nothing wrong it does not worry me.

I just think too much trust is placed in clouds, which lets face it is just the latest money making business opportunity of the IT/IS industry.

You surprise me with cloud for credit card. The wifes place has three server site locations to make sure if disaster hits that they have copies of everything. They are so twitchy about data security and have a team on it 24/7 especially as some slack drills saw them hit around 18 months ago - so I don't see Reggie being a cloud fan as it would be a soft point.

I’d argue that rather than being the latest money making business opportunity for the IT/IS, cloud is the opposite. It has enabled the provision of software as a service, which has destroyed swathes of well paid jobs in the IT industry. Jobs that previously flogged and installed stand alone, dedicated infrastructure that was put of date the day it was installed.

SAAS, meanwhile, has enabled small and medium businesses to take advantage of IT that they could never previously have envisaged using. In many cases it has provided a platform to build a business that simply could not have existed twenty years ago, e-commerce being an obvious example.

How do you think credit cards are processed if not in the cloud? How does the payment gateway in the shop where you buy your groceries work?

 

[Just_plain_you]

and 'three server locations' is a private cloud...