Being in industry requires generally speaking a broad level of accountancy knowledge, within small business it's all rather straightforward, within the corporate world there is a lot more compliance work and auditing (shudders)
If it's money as your goal getting roles leading to FC/FD is desirable such as management accounting roles in a reasonable sized organisation 200+ employees, or a smaller one with aggressive growth plans with a strong FD
That said, there are those in practise who are doing very well financially, but they take a long time to get to the level of experience required to acheive that.
Personally i've worked in SME's, within the corporate world and i'm currently moving into practise as a management accountant/bookkeeper as i prefer the variety of the work.
I work with a self employed home baker, my approach to her will simply be a straightforward excel system
Initial stock, usage in month for finished/WIP/wastage and closing stock.
The WIP you could setup as a balance sheet code.
Does it require more detail than this? How many different stock items are there?
Would a reasonable epos system be a good solution as these come with stock management and will help track sales, card terminal fees can be as low as 0.35% Dr cards now, so this may be an area for savings, depending on sales level
Tax relief on the additional mortgage taken out against the higher rates value is correct.
The owner of the ltd co is able to extract 50k tax free from the company.
What happens if the property value goes down significantly, interest rates climb, and rental payments default?
We are left with a company that is insolvent.
This treatment is wildly risky, and if the property market crashes, will result in thousands of these companies becoming insolvent.
Does this not worry or concern anyone operating in this sector??
The answers so far have been great. I'd like to add a cautionary tale.
I advise extreme caution, there are lots of offerings out there, make sure you get all the information before pitching anything. We all have our preferences. Mine is quickbooks, but there are lots of differing packages. In this case MS dimensions may be a better fit, i'll let you research it yourself.
If we are being really snazzy then have a good look at Fathom reporting suite, that's down the line after you make an impact.
I have been in your situation, I proved myself to the directors first by generating big vat reclaims from missing invoices. Directors like getting big wads of cash back from HMRC, get the basics right before you change the wheels.
Start with the bank rec, when contacting suppliers they will tell you something has not been paid, particularly with recurring invoices at same values. request full statements of the history of all accounts. Match them off, locate missing invoices, request copies, cleanse the problems first
Then and only then try and change all the systems, in my humble and experienced view. Doing this as a practise accountant is one thing, doing it as an accountant within a business in another.
If you go in there dictating all the things wrong and how they need to change you will get laughed out the building and spit out quickly. At least thats what happened to me.
If you are calm and considered in your approach then maybe you will have greater success than I did.
Operating a photo studio is all based on upsell, people walk in on £10 coupons then get upsold to £300-500 deals. Very few of their customers have this cash available so sign a credit agreement, much the same as the old Comet credit agreements on washing machines etc.
The service they currently use takes 40% of the revenue which is extortionate.
BEtter to overtax than undertax but it seems madness you've challenged it and they still insist in such a large overpayment...i'd phone again but then repeating the same action and expecting different results is insanity.
I do feel your pain, two months ago I spent a day being bounced around chasing an overpayment to be told there was none, despite the first person i spoke to stating there was and let me transfer you so you can talk to someone who knows more....
My answers
Hiya,
As other have said it depends on your end game.
Being in industry requires generally speaking a broad level of accountancy knowledge, within small business it's all rather straightforward, within the corporate world there is a lot more compliance work and auditing (shudders)
If it's money as your goal getting roles leading to FC/FD is desirable such as management accounting roles in a reasonable sized organisation 200+ employees, or a smaller one with aggressive growth plans with a strong FD
That said, there are those in practise who are doing very well financially, but they take a long time to get to the level of experience required to acheive that.
Personally i've worked in SME's, within the corporate world and i'm currently moving into practise as a management accountant/bookkeeper as i prefer the variety of the work.
I work with a self employed home baker, my approach to her will simply be a straightforward excel system
Initial stock, usage in month for finished/WIP/wastage and closing stock.
The WIP you could setup as a balance sheet code.
Does it require more detail than this? How many different stock items are there?
Would a reasonable epos system be a good solution as these come with stock management and will help track sales, card terminal fees can be as low as 0.35% Dr cards now, so this may be an area for savings, depending on sales level
If the situation then follows:
Tax relief on the additional mortgage taken out against the higher rates value is correct.
The owner of the ltd co is able to extract 50k tax free from the company.
What happens if the property value goes down significantly, interest rates climb, and rental payments default?
We are left with a company that is insolvent.
This treatment is wildly risky, and if the property market crashes, will result in thousands of these companies becoming insolvent.
Does this not worry or concern anyone operating in this sector??
So the issue is not the accountancy profession, as ever.
It's HMRC having a quarter of the budget it should to be able to effectively manage an insanely complicated tax and revenue system.
Having several high tech apps doesn't stop you being on top of well managed ledgers, quite the contrary
The answers so far have been great. I'd like to add a cautionary tale.
I advise extreme caution, there are lots of offerings out there, make sure you get all the information before pitching anything. We all have our preferences. Mine is quickbooks, but there are lots of differing packages. In this case MS dimensions may be a better fit, i'll let you research it yourself.
If we are being really snazzy then have a good look at Fathom reporting suite, that's down the line after you make an impact.
I have been in your situation, I proved myself to the directors first by generating big vat reclaims from missing invoices. Directors like getting big wads of cash back from HMRC, get the basics right before you change the wheels.
Start with the bank rec, when contacting suppliers they will tell you something has not been paid, particularly with recurring invoices at same values. request full statements of the history of all accounts. Match them off, locate missing invoices, request copies, cleanse the problems first
Then and only then try and change all the systems, in my humble and experienced view. Doing this as a practise accountant is one thing, doing it as an accountant within a business in another.
If you go in there dictating all the things wrong and how they need to change you will get laughed out the building and spit out quickly. At least thats what happened to me.
If you are calm and considered in your approach then maybe you will have greater success than I did.
Good luck!
Thankyou for all your replies. The end result was the employee agreed she had stolen £15000. We recovered the funds but did not press charges.
As we have signed confirmation of this I think I am happy to flag this to anyone who contacts us concerning this employee.
KrisKros
Me Myself eye
Operating a photo studio is all based on upsell, people walk in on £10 coupons then get upsold to £300-500 deals. Very few of their customers have this cash available so sign a credit agreement, much the same as the old Comet credit agreements on washing machines etc.
The service they currently use takes 40% of the revenue which is extortionate.
I hope this sheds some light on the issue.
Thankyou so much for taking the time to respond!
Shoot first ask questions later policy.
BEtter to overtax than undertax but it seems madness you've challenged it and they still insist in such a large overpayment...i'd phone again but then repeating the same action and expecting different results is insanity.
I do feel your pain, two months ago I spent a day being bounced around chasing an overpayment to be told there was none, despite the first person i spoke to stating there was and let me transfer you so you can talk to someone who knows more....