Bookkeeping Courses is fundamentally one of the most important factors of running a small business. It not only produces end of year accounts, essential for the tax man, but more importantly for a small business helps keep control on expenditure and therefore maximise profit. Recent surveys have suggested that up to 50% of small business owners in the UK fail to give there end of year accounts into their accountant on time. This normally results in late submission to the Inland Revenue, and as a consequence the small business owner is fined. The longer the delay the heavier the fine. It is estimated that in 2008 about 20% of small businesses in the UK will hand in there tax returns late netting the Inland Revenue a staggering £200m.
There are still many small business owners who still use manual book keeping, which can be time consuming. Others out source their book keeping which allow them to focus on running their business day to day. So why would icb bookkeeping accounting software benefit a small business owner?
The main purpose of book keeping accounting software is to streamline the process. In most cases it will enable you to do your accounts in hours instead of days. The most valuable aspect of these packages is the information and reports they produce. At a glance you will know your sales, who are your customers, have they any outstanding debts or exceeded their credit. Your list of suppliers and purchases,any outstanding invoices, calculate VAT for you. Stock control and even forecast your cash flow. With this information small business owners can make those vital decisions in controlling their business weekly or even daily, without waiting for their quarterly or half yearly accounts. To run a successful business is to keep tight control on your expenditure and captialising on sales, and to have the information at hand is vital. Book keeping accounting software is a key tool in running a successful business.
If you are a small business owner I would highly recommend that you don’t rush out and buy the first package you see. It is imperative to make sure it will offer you the right aspects you need to keep financial control over your business. Also, are there features within the software that you can download or manually change to comply with the latest government legislation.
One of the most widely used book keeping accounts software packages used is sage accounts. This is a comprehensive package and will cover all aspects you will need. Even though it is a fairly straight forward to use, like all software, there are the right and wrong ways to use it. I would suggest that anyone embarking on using sage accounts to receive sage training.
You may be thinking at this point why bother getting trained and having an accounting package, firstly are you totally aware of all your financial aspects of your business, secondly the UK government will require that all accounts are submitted electronically by 2009, thirdly why invest in a tool for your business if you don’t know how to use it.
By having an accounting package like sage accounts has been of great benefit to many a small business in controlling there finances and streamlining the business.