New Practice Startup help

New Practice Startup help

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Hi guys,

I am an ACCA qualified accountant with 8+ years of practice experience under belt. I am looking to setup a practice from scratch. Need help and advice from all those who have been through this.

This is what i have done so far to start up .

1. Hooked up with a solicitor friend and going to use their office space for couple of days in a week(rent free for 4 months). Will advertise to clients coming in their offices and they will refer their clients to me.

2. Applied for ACCA practicing certificate this week and expected to receive it most probably next week.

3. Arranged Professional indemnity insurance

Now the questions I wanted to ask are

1. Which accounting software to use? I have mostly worked on IRIS and found it very useful but it’s a bit expensive for a start up practice.

2. Which tax software to use? IRIS has integrated tax software which i find very streamlined but again it’s a bit expensive for a start-up.

3. Which book-keeping software is best? the practice i work for currently uses sage but it has same problem of being way too expensive.

4. Which payroll software?

Any suggestions or help is greatly appreciated

Replies (22)

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PJ
By paulgrca.net
27th Sep 2013 13:01

Many threads on AW about this

but in response to your questions:

1. VT final accounts

2. Keytime

3. VT transactions

4. All much the same whatever you can get the best deal on at the time

 

 

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By Ken Howard
27th Sep 2013 13:15

Best of breed

I, too, used to work in a larger practice.  We used IRIS which was fine, before then we used Auditman & Taxman, and we also used Sage.  Far too expensive for a one man startup as are most integrated systems.

I've been using the following for many years without problems:-

VT accounts and VT transaction for book-keeping

Moneysoft for payroll

Taxcalc for tax returns (although probably changing to BTC next year as I don't like the new database they've forced on us).

All for under £1k p.a.

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By Gary Hornby
27th Sep 2013 13:47

At the risk of repeating Ken...

VT for bookkeeping and accounts (simply brilliant), Taxcalc for tax, Moneysoft for payroll.

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By Jakarmi
27th Sep 2013 15:23

My choices

Here's what I currently use;

 

1. Digita

2. Digita

3. Sage - Yes it's expensive but you will quickly get a client who uses it and will need to work on their back up.

4. Moneysoft - Free trial with them used to be available (probably still is). No brainer that one.

 

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By andrew55
27th Sep 2013 15:25

More Moneysoft

Also look at Moneysoft's Money Manager for book keeping

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Logo
By marks
27th Sep 2013 20:49

what i use

1. Taxcalc

2. Taxcalc

3. SAGE (desktop) Xero (cloud)

4. Dont know as i outsource all payroll

 

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Glenn Martin
By Glenn Martin
27th Sep 2013 21:11

Digita for me for full practice suite.
It does everything IrIS does and is a bit cheaper plus they have a starter pack which is affordable for a start up, ( I also only started in April 2013 full time).

For new start ups I would steer towards cloud bookkeeping software like xero or similar.
For established businesses many will use Sage and Quickbooks so you will need a working knowledge of them, and maybe a copy to run there data on. There is a lot of choice now so it would cost you a fortune to carry all so pick one and stay with it
Xero partnering is something to look at as they have strong marketing support behind them.

Moneysoft Payroll is only about £120 per year and you cannot beat it.

Sage payroll is far too expensive for bureau software.
VT is cheap and popular with AWEB members but I don't personally like it.
Digita practice management will be a big help to you as you grow.

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By Jason Dormer
28th Sep 2013 13:12

Start with the end in mind

You will not be a start up forever - if it's Iris you want then get Iris.  It is expensive but it would be less expensive than buying an alternative system and then converting later on down the line.

What is your business plan?  How many clients do you want to achieve and what type of client?  Build your system around the answers to these questions and choose the software appropriately.

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By andy.partridge
28th Sep 2013 13:28

I agree with Jason

When you are busy with lots of clients and you have outgrown your very basic and 'temporary' software, the disruption to your business trying to change systems could prove a real challenge.

That said, the suggestions given above are good ones. For what it's worth, I use VT, Moneysoft and PTP. I made the mistake of being wedded to Sage for many years and it was a painful process making the change to VT.

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Teignmouth
By Paul Scholes
28th Sep 2013 16:02

Agree it's worth sticking with Iris

I'm a sole practitioner with less than 40 business clients on Accounts Production and so have just switched to Iris Lite (40) and also pay for Automail, PM, Company Secretarial, Incorporations and the dividend service.  

I think you'd find that, whilst VT et al look good, having been used to the facilities provided by Iris, you'd miss them if dropping down to just the core bits, plus, as Jason & Andy say, you won't be a startup forever and so treat the cost as an investment.

Others will not be surprised to hear me say that Cloud bookkeeping is where the future lies and whilst Xero is good, you may find clients will not need all its complexity (or cost) and so I'd strongly suggest you look at FreeAgent (via Iris QuickBooks) &/or Clear Books, with the latter being a better alternative, I think, to Xero (and a third of the cost).

Also, unlike Xero, both have payroll built in, with Clear Books "Open Payroll" being a stand alone, that you can integrate with a Clear Books client or use it as on a bureau basis.

For client collaboration and document approval sign up to Iris OpenSpace, it's free and you don't have to be an Iris customer.

Finally, although you don't ask, the one crucial piece of advice that I wish someone had given me when I started out was that if a new prospect doesn't feel right then don't take them and if you have regrets about a new client, address the issues straight away, you are as important as any one client.

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Replying to ireallyshouldknowthisbut:
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By StartUpAcc
29th Sep 2013 23:02

Agree with Paul

I am just starting out too as a sole practitioner after years in industry - I think Paul's last piece of wisdom is perfect. There are enough clients out there that if one doesn't feel right or you just know they'll take up all your time, then don't take them on.

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Replying to DJKL:
Red Leader
By Red Leader
30th Sep 2013 12:17

my 4

1. IRIS

2. IRIS

3. For most clients, I recommend FreeAgent or ClearBooks

4. Moneysoft

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Replying to ireallyshouldknowthisbut:
By ccassociates
30th Sep 2013 15:17

clients

Paul Scholes wrote:

Finally, although you don't ask, the one crucial piece of advice that I wish someone had given me when I started out was that if a new prospect doesn't feel right then don't take them and if you have regrets about a new client, address the issues straight away, you are as important as any one client.

There is lots of advice on software above so I wont add my twopenneth, however print the above quote in large letters and paste it on your wall, its the best advice you will get.

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By CJMA
01st Oct 2013 11:28

Try Iris cloud software

I started trading last year and work with Cloud software.  Iris do OpenCloud for personal tax and CT - cost is based on the number of clients; their Cloud accounts production is being developed - in the meantime I am using an automated spreadsheet; OpenAudit for all audits including specialist.  Payroo (not Iris) payroll software is free up to 9 clients and nine employees and works perfectly for me.

Bookkeeping software - you may need to run with the crowd as I have clients who do their own bookkeeping and send backups for me to prepare the annual accounts etc.  I have Sage and QuickBooks.

 

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PORTRAIT
By ECK2
01st Oct 2013 11:33

SOFTWARE

I would recommend talking to IRIS. it may look expensive but if you want to set up a good foundation from the start, go with IRIS SUITE. Also, look at outsourcing the payroll as it makes sense!   I also agree with Paul above, don't take on clients just to get an extra client. lot of time wasters out there!

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By pauljohnston
01st Oct 2013 12:30

Can I suggest

that you consider glide http://www.whatsglide.com in addition to the great advice above.

This is a low cost practice management tool and you can have a free trial to see if it is for you.

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By robert
01st Oct 2013 12:36

outsourcing payroll

I am interested in this although I only do about 15 one of which is weekly.  Any recommendations and some idea of cost gratefully received.  Certainly agree about taxcalc hub.  I too am looking to change - why BTC?

 

 

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By Ron Dodge
01st Oct 2013 17:26

Capturing bank records for incomplete records clients

Does anyone have any suggestions to take the fag out of manual data entry?

I've been to a Bankstream seminar but was not impressed. Didn't have coverage of all clearers, so not much use, apart from cost.

I've now heard of AutoRec, which appears to use templates and OCR to convert statement entries to Excel or CSV files. Any experience or other suggestions?

 

 

 

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By pauljohnston
02nd Oct 2013 14:44

OCREX

This does what it says

Download a trial copy from www.ocrex.com

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Teignmouth
By Paul Scholes
03rd Oct 2013 01:22

Autorec

from OCREX identifies tables of numbers on a scanned, PDFd bank statement and generates a spreadsheet with tick boxes and a balance total so you can make sure it's accurately imported the numbers, so it looks quite neat.  The cheapest version is £100 pa for up to 125 pages a year.

I've been using Able2Extract for years, which does the same thing, only without the concentration on bank statements or Excel, so I can open any PDF highlight the bit I want converted and then tell it whether I want it converted to Excel, Word or Powerpoint.  So I've used it on lots of  bank statements but also many other schedules and reports people have sent me and it's excellent and actually "OCRs" better than Adobe Acrobat.  Its desktop version is $100.

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By Karen Bennett
13th Mar 2014 15:51

AutoRec Software

Thanks for the positive comments about AutoRec.

@ Daud  - If you were dealing with a lot of clients that have incomplete records you could take a look at our book keeping / bank reconciliation software, AutoRec. It basically removes the manual data entry requirement and also provides automation in the analysis of the data. For bank and credit card statements you can take the statements and process into AutoRec converting all the data into a spreadsheet for you. However typically it's software for Accountants who process all the clients’ records rather than for your client to use. If you’re just starting as a sole practice it can save you a lot of time and money. You can export the data into your accounts production software (IRIS, Sage, VT, CCH, etc).

I’d be happy to take you through a demo. Its only takes 15 – 20 minutes. Email – [email protected]

Best of luck with the set up. 

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By Karen Bennett
25th Mar 2014 10:14

VAT Analysis Tool

If you want to complete VAT analysis for sole traders you could have a look at AutoRec which is a bank reconciliation software. Within AutoRec it is possible to set up different VAT rates for different types of clients.

You can complete a payment and receipt analysis where AutoRec will calculate by default VAT received and VAT paid for your transactions. You do have the option to override any of the VAT rates also. The functionality is quite simplistic in terms of calculating VAT returns however.

AutoRec is quite intuitive as it largely based on the functionality of excel but the features are specifically designed for accountants in practice who process incomplete records clients.

It is typically used for VAT analysis by our clients though. 

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