What do members here use for their own books ?

Are the cobblers children the worst shod ?

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We all advise our clients on suitable book-keeping and records system but I'm curious as to what software we are all using for our own ( small practices) book-keeping ?

  • I generate fee invoices on a simple Word template - when saved then next years fee note usually only requires minimal editing
  • Fee invoices , banks etc posted to book-keeping module of year-end accounts production software ( in my case Relate Accounts Production - as I'm in Rep of Irl - but it is very similar to Sage Accounts Production both packages having the saame parentage)
  • Can be problematic at year-end as I can't move on to the next year without completing the current year ( or if I do then the opening balances etc have to be dragged through and reconciled to the new dataset later on) and as I noted in the subheading sometimes "the cobbler's children are the worst shod" :-)

How about you ?

 

Replies (19)

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By adam.arca
19th Feb 2019 12:47

I still use a very old version of TAS Books from the early noughties for my own bookkeeping. Absolutely the best, simplest, most logical software I've used or seen either before or after, although it obviously lacks a few more recent innovations such as bank feeds (or email for that matter).

Use an Access database for my own invoicing which does of course mean that I then need to re-key them into TAS but I'm not big on spending hours with complicated software in order to save myself 5 minutes.

So, yes, my arrangements probably are a bit Heath Robinson-ish and I doubt I'd advise a client to do it my way but they've evolved to suit my scale and the way I operate.

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Replying to adam.arca:
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By legerman
20th Feb 2019 02:18

adam.arca wrote:

I still use a very old version of TAS Books from the early noughties for my own bookkeeping. Absolutely the best, simplest, most logical software I've used or seen either before or after, although it obviously lacks a few more recent innovations such as bank feeds (or email for that matter).

We used a free version (part of a banking package if I recall) of TAS in the early 2000's where I worked at the time and I entirely agree. I looked at using it again a few years ago and was shocked at the price Sage were selling it at.

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Replying to adam.arca:
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By LFM
20th Feb 2019 10:55

We still use Tas for a group of companies and it is one of the easiest to use and train new staff. I hope they keep supporting it and add MTD for vat which they have promised.

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Replying to LFM:
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By adam.arca
20th Feb 2019 13:24

Bizarrely enough, I stumbled across something on the internet the other day completely by accident. It was a TAS reseller / developer who have built some bridging software specifically for TAS. Inflexys, perhaps or something like that.

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By Maslins
19th Feb 2019 12:48

FreeAgent. We recommend it to clients and use it ourselves too.

Most of our clients are contractors/freelancers, so tend to have a relatively low number of relatively high value invoices. FreeAgent is perfect for this.

We invoice most clients monthly, so have a large number of low value invoices. There are a few situations where it can be a bit time consuming. Eg most clients pay by direct debit (and not Gocardless), so each month we get one massive bank receipt that we then have to manually allocate across a few hundred invoices. Good practice for the trainees :-)

For us FreeAgent still works great, and it's helpful for us in terms of really getting to know the software, because we use it as an end user, as well as as an accountant. Hence we're better placed to help with things like invoicing, uploading bank transactions etc, rather than just knowing where to get the TB from.

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Glenn Martin
By Glenn Martin
19th Feb 2019 12:57

Xero + GoCardless
All bills setup monthly as recurring bills and collected by GC.

RB to capture expenses invoices.

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Red Leader
By Red Leader
19th Feb 2019 13:03

QBO.

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By Cloudcounter
19th Feb 2019 13:04

Xero.

We've been Xero partners since 2009 and are about to start our tenth year of the system. I can't imagine changing to anything else - it was far better than everything cloud that I compared it to then and streets in front of Sage and QB desktop.

Most clients are on Xero, athough naturally we do have those who use other systems, and even paper. As Maslins said, using it regularly helps us help clients. Quite often if they get something wrong, it's a mistake that I've made myself.

Although not the one who complained that they couldn't upload the bank transactions that they'd downloaded. Took me 20 minutes to find that they'd downloaded on their laptop and wondered why they couldn't find the file to upload on the desktop.

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By wilcoskip
19th Feb 2019 13:12

Xero. With GoCardless for payments, although we're moving more to Practice Ignition now.
We're also using Receipt Bank.
Apart from the payment collection, it's pretty much what we recommend to others.

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By Wanderer
19th Feb 2019 13:33

VTT+
Perfect for invoice generation, book-keeping, sales ledger etc. etc.

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By cbp99
19th Feb 2019 13:40

VTT+ and VT accounts. As said, does Vat, SL, invoicing, final accounts, everything with utmost speed and simplicity

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By andy.partridge
19th Feb 2019 16:30

Was Sage (ha ha ha), thought of moving to VTT+ where most client stuff resides. Decided on cloud with Quickfile. A revelation. Invoices are invoiced more quickly, look more professional, payments come in sooner, credit control automated and bookkeeping and general accounts maintenance takes less time.

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ALISK
By atleastisoundknowledgable...
19th Feb 2019 17:03

Xero, raise invoices both automatically via Practice Ignition or ad-hoc on Xero. As a practice we use AutoEntry for clients (rather than RB), but I don’t have need for it for our bkpg, it’s not a big enough issue. Staff submit expenses via the Xero Expenses app which is v useful.

Incoming funds are a combination of GoCardless, Bacs, Practice Ignition and Stripe. I like that you can force taking card details on PI, but don’t really want to pay the 3.4%. Any regular clients >£200pcm I get to do a GoCardless mandate, love their £2 fee limit.

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By Kaylee100
19th Feb 2019 23:36

Sage for invoices (used by Secretary). I reinput into Xero (maybe an issue in future) and run all my accounts on Xero.

Thats simply because they did bank feeds early and I was learning on my own package first.

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By Mouse house
20th Feb 2019 08:45

Xero + GoCardless for recurring fees all collected by DD. RB for purchase invoices. Simples!

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By DaveyJonesLocker
20th Feb 2019 10:20

Only a small business so I use Pandle.

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Sarah Douglas - HouseTree Business Ltd
By sarah douglas
20th Feb 2019 10:39

Sage 50cloud with Go Cardless set up within Sage . If I am on train I can work as the internet is not great when travelling through parts of Scotland

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paddle steamer
By DJKL
20th Feb 2019 11:13

Large half calf leather ledgers into which, each day, Bob scratches in ink the transactions for that day's toil.

We are however thinking of modernising, we may soon dispense with the quills and move on to steel nibs.

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Should Be Working ... not playing with the car
By should_be_working
22nd Feb 2019 20:01

Sage, because it was what I had 'lying around' some years back when I thought it time to do some proper bookkeeping for my own practice (yes, the cobblers' children thing).

VTT for our holding company (which also handles my better half's small amount of business income).

Word for the fee notes, etc.

Now looking at either Xero (most popular among the clients) or Sage Business Cloud, since if anyone's going to be the guinea pig for the latest iteration of Sage it might as well be us.

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