Just a couple of thoughts in addition to the previous comments.
From what I have seen, when accountants take a couple of short-term roles they are then pigeon holed for those type of contracts (and the agencies you are speaking with - or specifically the consultants - are those that look after these type of vacancies).
Are there permanent roles in your area?
Have you looked at longer-term contract roles (eg. maternity cover is likely to be 12m + from experience the person on mat leave rarely returns full-time, so there may be further opportunities).
Are you financially able to focus on permanent / 12m+ contracts and wait a few months until something comes along?
Sorry to state the obvious, but in this position then getting a job is your job - something you need to work on/at all day/every day, and part of that is having a positive mindset (both for yourself, and also when speaking with agencies or attending interviews) - I know that it isn't easy, but also focusing on mindfulness etc. may also be a help?
I am not sure what you mean by analysis or reporting? - the comparison is usually practice / industry.
As a newly qual ACA you are in a great position - please also bear in mind that from a recruiters perspective, you will be easier to place (and therefore earn them commission) in another general practice.
I am sorry everyone as I know this is not strictly what this forum is for, but last time I had some helpful replies and I am very stressed about this, I am not a confrontational type of a person and I am going through financial difficulties and this invoice just came out of the blue. I wish I had just closed the company. I will do it today.
The total bill is £600 - and you must have expected to pay something, eg let's say £400 (this ignores the fact that you can't both have filed confirmation statements, and you must have expected a charge for using their address as the registered office).
Why not settle on £500 ? - you both "lose" on £100, however the time stress etc. is costing you both a lot more than £100
What were you charged and what were you expecting to be charged (and what was the basis of your expectation?).
Both you and your accountant need to have a cup of tea and come to a pragmatic solution so that you can both move on - it sounds as though the accountant wants to do this and you will need to meet them somewhere in the middle.
Ok, assuming that this is a one-off and your accounting system doesn't allow for foreign currency conversion.
You need to convert the invoice to GBP - use the same rate that the supplier used for the VAT - and post the GBP amounts to your system.
When you actually pay the invoice, you will need to pay this in USD - you should be able to do this via your GBP bank account, and your bank statement will show the GBP equivalent paid.
You will then post the payment amount on the bank statement to the AP account as normal - there will most likely be a difference to the invoice amount you converted, and this difference is posted as a currency difference (and if you don't have this, just as a payment/receipt to bank charges).
My answers
I work in industry, so am effectively paid by my employer when I am on hold (although it is still very frustrating).
Just out of interest, how good is the agent helpline - the general line varies considerably!
Also, are you able to store up queries so that you can deal with multiple queries on one call?
Just a couple of thoughts in addition to the previous comments.
From what I have seen, when accountants take a couple of short-term roles they are then pigeon holed for those type of contracts (and the agencies you are speaking with - or specifically the consultants - are those that look after these type of vacancies).
Are there permanent roles in your area?
Have you looked at longer-term contract roles (eg. maternity cover is likely to be 12m + from experience the person on mat leave rarely returns full-time, so there may be further opportunities).
Are you financially able to focus on permanent / 12m+ contracts and wait a few months until something comes along?
Sorry to state the obvious, but in this position then getting a job is your job - something you need to work on/at all day/every day, and part of that is having a positive mindset (both for yourself, and also when speaking with agencies or attending interviews) - I know that it isn't easy, but also focusing on mindfulness etc. may also be a help?
Good luck.
I am not sure what you mean by analysis or reporting? - the comparison is usually practice / industry.
As a newly qual ACA you are in a great position - please also bear in mind that from a recruiters perspective, you will be easier to place (and therefore earn them commission) in another general practice.
They have got a couple of years to think about it, and the world may be different then (indeed, it my not be the current Governments problem).
I assume that HMRC will need to cross reference tax returns? - will a taxpayer need to provide the details (NINO etc.) of their spouse/partner?
Congratulations on your job offer.
When you are qualified in 3 years it will then be much easier to move to a Big 4 firm at that point if that is what you want to do.
It seems that the OP is viewing the job as effectively 8 hours of data entry? - is this what the client thinks they are getting?
Also - the following comment does not suggest that the client is "very organised" - what makes the OP think that they have suddenly become organised?
He has created an excel cashbook and it's very organised but he has had some issues and not submitted any vat returns since 2019,
The total bill is £600 - and you must have expected to pay something, eg let's say £400 (this ignores the fact that you can't both have filed confirmation statements, and you must have expected a charge for using their address as the registered office).
Why not settle on £500 ? - you both "lose" on £100, however the time stress etc. is costing you both a lot more than £100
What were you charged and what were you expecting to be charged (and what was the basis of your expectation?).
Both you and your accountant need to have a cup of tea and come to a pragmatic solution so that you can both move on - it sounds as though the accountant wants to do this and you will need to meet them somewhere in the middle.
Ok, assuming that this is a one-off and your accounting system doesn't allow for foreign currency conversion.
You need to convert the invoice to GBP - use the same rate that the supplier used for the VAT - and post the GBP amounts to your system.
When you actually pay the invoice, you will need to pay this in USD - you should be able to do this via your GBP bank account, and your bank statement will show the GBP equivalent paid.
You will then post the payment amount on the bank statement to the AP account as normal - there will most likely be a difference to the invoice amount you converted, and this difference is posted as a currency difference (and if you don't have this, just as a payment/receipt to bank charges).
You can invoice in USD (or any other currency), however the invoice should show the VAT amount in GBP, plus the exchange rate used to convert.
Therefore, the supplier and customer use the same GBP amounts on their respective VAT returns.