FreeAgent software

I use FreeAgent for my own books and several of my clients also use it. To answer your specific questions:

• it is an excellent system for a small limited company
• to obtain information, you simply log onto their account. You don't need to pay a fee; you just need their log on details
• is it really necessary? That's for you to answer but it certainly allows you to process information more quickly as you are using the client's own records; not transferring it to another format (e.g. spreadsheets) into you own format.

You also have access to their information in real time. They can import their bank statements directly into FreeAgent.

I am trying to persuade all my clients to move to FA.

Try it out. There is a 30 day free trial.

Hi - I'd second all of Steve's points.  We too have had several clients using it via Iris OpenBooks since last July and I'm almost at the stage of saying to any prospective (and suitable) client that I won't take them on unless they agree to move online, preferably OBs but to be honest, as long as it's a good online system I don't care.

You don't have to be an Iris user to sign up for OpenBooks, the benefit is you login to a dashboard that shows you all your clients and which enables to to instantly switch in & out of them.  The dashboard also reports any key things like when the client last logged in, the state of directors loan accounts, distributable reserves below £XXX, etc.

You pay Iris by batches of clients at a discounted rate then charge the client accordingly, up to you.

As an Iris user the added benefit to us is that when we enter the Accounts Production part of the software at the year end it can import direct the online TB.

Being able to login at any time, even when the client is using it to check out the bookeeping, add journals (for depreciation, corp tax, prepayments & accruals at say quarter ends etc etc) is something we were just unable to do before with clients running spreadsheets and various versions of QuickBooks (we don't do Sage) and so we and the client now get good up to date data as the year progresses, with the home page showing profit, prospective tax, retained profits v dividends etc etc. It also means at the year end you do their accounts online and download a perfect TB with no need for extra work other than a fine tuning of the Corp Tax liability.

By the way, QuickBooks is excellent and, for starters, all you need is for the client to email you XL versions of the year end TB, full General Ledger for the year, and detailed Supplier & Customer balances at the year end.  Assuming there are no glaring errors we then import the TB into Iris.

Clients really take to FAC quickly and love it.  It's written for the end user client, not the accountant, so it's very user friendly.  It has some nice features like easy entry of expenses and mileage claims, etc so no faffing about with journals etc.  The biggest advantage is that it gives you the "dashboard" showing CT, VAT and PAYE liabilities in a tax timeline (automatically updated with transaction entry) and running totals of dividend availability etc.  Once I train a client in its use (a simple job), they're virtually self sufficient and need very little support. The "accountant" side of things is a bit weak - i.e. you don't get the usual paper reports you'd expect from the likes of Sage so it's best to work from the screens rather than reports, although everything you need on paper can be printed - i.e. P&L, b/s, ageings, full nominal report etc - just not very well formatted.

Hi sparkler

In addition to the comments already made , may I add that FreeAgent's reliability, customer relationship management, support and response are excellent, and I believe that this is vital when considering an SAAS supplier for your clients.

Phil

-- Accounting the PaperLess way™

I have just completed some accounts for a new client who used free agent.

It is the first time I have used it.

Seems pretty user friendly.

However the client managed to break the double entry and ended up with a very incorrect trial balance.  

They inputted the opening balances for Debtors and Creditors as invoices with the previous year's date, which messed up the trial balance and other reports completely.  

I think clients need advice on how to set up the system, its not as easy as these software suppliers suggest     

Hi John

I guess your client could have looked at explanations like this:

http://www.freeagent.com/support/kb/getting-started/opening-balances

Which gives a pretty clear description of what to do. It seems fortunate they have an Accountant to rely on if they thought that entering invoices as opening balances was going to get them a good result :)

Phil