Quentin Pain

Another year is upon us and at a time of world recession, you can not do better than being a bookkeeper. The number of new startup businesses is increasing globally because of redundancies and people unwilling to work for others. The one thing they all have in common is that they don’t want to...
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If you are not familiar with balance sheets you should take my bookkeeping course first as I don’t want to put anyone off with this article. OK, with the warning out of the way, let’s press on… With most accounting systems, things like balance sheets are considered as reports. That is, something you need...
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It’s been an incredibly busy month here on Accounting for Everyone, with many wonderful new comments on the various weeks course material. It took me many years to really understand double-entry. I did it by reading all the books I could get my hands on, and talking to thousands of business owners, oh, and...
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I just had to write a thank you note to all my loyal subscribers. Thank you so much for subscribing to my bookkeeping course. Your comments have been fantastic, and the Facebook recommendations have also been overwhelming. Please DO continue to recommend this course as I know it is helping a lot of people...
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Image by Ben Sutherland via Flickr Many business owners stick stubbornly to their policies, claiming that it confuses staff if you give them some room to talk more freely to customers. One of the things I found to win over customers is to listen. And I mean listen carefully. They are the ones with...
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A while back I was watching an episode of Dragons Den that reminded me of the confusion that abounds around the words: turnover, gross profit, net profit, profit margin and a bunch of other terms that have everything to do with how you view the profitability of a business. Turnover or T/O This is...
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(extant at 1 January 2001) Reproduced with kind permission from The Corporate Training Group Limited Statements of standard accounting practice Financial reporting standards Summary of UK accounting standards UITF abstracts SSAP2 Disclosure of accounting policies (see FRS 18) SSAP4 Accounting for government grants SSAP5 Accounting for value added tax SSAP9 Stocks and long term...
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We are on the last day of 2010 and for me this year has gone way too fast. I don’t know whether it is simply because I am older – and everyone I know is also a year older! but they all say the same thing. Fast, fast fast! Luckily in terms of bookkeeping,...
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Any accounting course will take you through the basics, but to really get ahead quickly you should sign up for our free 12 week accounting and bookkeeping course by filling in the form on the right. Armed with this, you will get the fundamentals of accounting firmly fixed in your memory. From simple transactions...
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If you have not signed up to my free 12 week bookkeeping course yet, then please do so by filling in your email on the right. It will give you the grounding for your bookkeeping career in a way you will not have seen anywhere else. For the first time you will be able...
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Businesses in the UK can claim fuel or usage as an expense when using a private vehicle for business. There are three choices: 1. Record every business trip and reclaim the mileage allowance. You can also claim back a small amount of VAT from the business mileage. Make sure you have receipts (although HMRC...
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There is a lot of FUD spread by (many) software companies about filing online and that you must have some kind of (ie. their) special software. They are using the oldest marketing trick in the book, fear. Here’s the reality. There is no law that says you must use software. Until there is, neither...
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Image by wallyg via Flickr Every business will suffer from a bad debt at some point in its life and this short guide will show you how to account for them in your business. A bad debt is where a customer does not pay you for work done. That could be for many reasons:...
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George Osborne announced his long awaited spending review today to reduce Britain’s deficit by around $81bn over 4 years. All departments will need to reduce expenditure significantly with an overall job reduction in the public sector of just under 500,000. HMRC have published a series of graphs and charts on the subject available on Flikr....
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In the UK and most of the EU there are rules on what must appear on a sales invoice if you are registered for VAT. Obviously those rules vary from one country to another, and you will need to check with your local inland revenue service, but there are some general rules that you...
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Image via Wikipedia Depreciation is the amount an asset has reduced by bearing in mind age and wear and tear. It is a core part of a year end routine (and for larger businesses can be done every month for strict management reporting). When you record the purchase of an asset such as equipment...
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From the 1st October 2010 the national minimum wage thresholds are changing. There are four classes to take into account: Apprentices 16 – 17 Year olds 18 – 20 Year olds 21 and older For qualifying apprentices it is £2.50 per hour. For 16 – 17 age range it is £3.64 per hour. For...
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In the UK, if you allow a discount for early settlement of an invoice (aka prompt payment) then the VAT is calculated on the discounted amount regardless of whether the discount is taken. Sub Total: 10.00 VAT: 1.58 Net Total: 11.58 10% Early Settlement Discount (ESD) So the VAT (17.5% at the time of...
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Ever since the terrorist attacks, governments around the world have introduced more and more red tape in the hope of curtailing criminal activities. One of the more obvious ways has been to set up so called ‘Money Laundering’ regulations. In the UK anyone involved in handling or looking after the finances or accounting of...
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Money laundering is a very recent change in statutory law around the world (although it has been going on since time immemorial) brought on by terrorist events over the last decade or so. Money Laundering in the UK and elsewhere In many countries including the UK you are required to record and keep proof...
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