General

One of the first questions asked by new bookkeepers regarding their own accounts is can I claim my training costs as an expense. This is a complex area so lets walk through it slowly.

As a sole trader, the training you gain to enable you to start a business is an enduring asset of the business. It’s something that will allow the business to generate income over a prolonged period of time. The fact that training isn’t tangible doesn’t make it any less of an asset to the business. This is where the…

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology is used to convert scanned or photographed images of paper documents and PDF files, into machine-encoded data. It may not garner headlines in the same way as some of the more fashionable tech trends, yet it’s helped to drive considerable social change and innovation in business over the years. So how has it developed and what significance does it hold for organisations today?

OCR through the ages  

OCR isn’t ‘new’ technology, having being leveraged …

Another chance to see one of our most popular sessions from last years conference.  If you still dont have a ticket for this year, we have just a few remaining.  You can grab one at www.bkconf.co.uk

Some of you will know that one of the many reason I encourage all bookkeepers to look towards menu pricing is something that behavioural economists call the "Pain of Paying".

This concept tells us something that many of us instinctively know.  People feel pain when they spend money.  This is because we tend to be loss averse.

We can manipulate how great we feel this pain by changing how and when we make payment.  If we pay by credit card the pain is less than if we pay by cash.  The reason for thi…

When is an expense not an expense? When it’s a disbursement. But what is that, and why should you care?

The big difference between an expense and a disbursement is how it’s treated for VAT. A disbursement is a payment you make to a third party supplier on your clients behalf. It’s outwith the scope of VAT. This means you neither charge, nor reclaim VAT on it.

The simple reason behind this is that you’re not the customer. It’s your client who buys and receives the goods or services, you are only ac…

As technology evolves and becomes more sophisticated, so too do viruses, malware and hackers, and their means to violate protective barriers in order to infiltrate sensitive data and information.

According to PwC’s 2016 Global Economic Crime report, cyber crime affect almost one in three organisations (32%), with the financial services industry the ‘most threatened’ by economic crime. As accountancy and bookkeeping practices handle sensitive personal and financial data for their customers, the r…

It’s taking years to debate, much less implement. It’s got the small business community in a lather as everyone tries to figure out what it means for them. And depending on who you listen to, it’s either going to make filing your tax as easy as pressing a few buttons, or it’s going to require you to file miles of data five times a year. Making Tax Digital (MTD) has certainly got small business owners talking … and many are asking, why go digital at all? What’s the point of implementing MTD? And …

We all want our employees to be happy. An engaged, satisfied workforce results in a productive and profitable company. Yet research reveals only 15% of UK employees consider themselves as ‘highly motivated’, with low engagement negatively impacting productivity, resulting in a combined £340bn in missed output per year.

Finance and accountancy professionals are now among the most in-demand across sectors, in part due to economic uncertainty following recent political events. These employees have …

 

Time is our most valuable commodity (even though we should charge using it!) and as a self employed bookkeeper, you’ll know that there never seems to be enough of it. Being self-employed means you have to wear all of the hats; you’re in charge of customer service, you’re an administrator, a marketer, and so much more. It’s very easy to feel overwhelmed.

An endless amount of administration, emails to answer, and seemingly mundane tasks can leave you feeling like you’ve got a mountain to climb, ye…