Tag: Being self employed

My Top 5 Accountants on Instagram

~ Nisha ~ 1 Comment

My top five favourite accountants on Instagram all happen to be women. It wasn’t a conscious decision to find just women but it does seem that there are more women out there starting their own business.  Maybe its the social media effect or maybe when you are so into something that is all you see.

Lately, while on Instagram, I’ve been finding quite a few accountants.  My initial thought was how is this even possible?  What kind of picture would you put up? Another P&L account. Maybe lots of numbers. Or Oooh! Look! The balance sheet balances!

However, these accountants are pretty normal and still somehow manage to make accounts look good on Instagram.  Sometimes, I wish I was starting my own accountancy practice now as it seems like a really exciting period to be a woman and become a sole practitioner.  Anyway, here’s my list of the top five (female) accountants that I have found so far:

Continue reading “My Top 5 Accountants on Instagram” →

15 simple steps to create a filing system for your accounts paperwork

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These 15 simple steps to create a filing system for your accounts paperwork are aimed at self employed sole traders. You need to keep paperwork for at least 10 years in case you ever get an enquiry from HMRC. Being organised can help your accountant turnover the work faster and also resolve HMRC enquires faster, if you were ever in that situation. Continue reading “15 simple steps to create a filing system for your accounts paperwork” →

How to make your own planner

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It’s that time of the year when I start planning what I am going to do for the next quarter and as usual I have created my own planner.

There is a link to buy the planner below, however, because I can’t ever find a planner that I am truly happy with, I decided to have a go at helping you create your own planner. Quarterly planners are easier to start off with as it gives you a chance to change it again if there is something that you are not happy with. Continue reading “How to make your own planner” →

Claiming just expenses on your tax return

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Recently I was asked if they could do a tax return if they didn’t have any sales and just put expenses through. My initial thought was why go through the whole hassle of doing a tax return and the stress of meeting the self-assessment deadline if you don’t have to? With a new business, you can go back up to 7 years to claim your expenses and if you earn less than £1000, you can receive trading allowance before you even need to declare your income.

Technically though you could claim just expenses. There are some restrictions in that you would need to prove to HMRC your business is genuine. You need to do at least 10 hours a week with a view to making a profit. Continue reading “Claiming just expenses on your tax return” →

Refuse to Choose by Barbara Sher

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Refuse to Choose by Barbara Sher

I came across this book, Refuse to Choose, while I was looking at different VA services website and one of them had recommended this book. I am so glad I found this book. It’s a lovely book about how to follow all the things that interest you and you are passionate about. The author calls these people ‘Scanners’ and it makes being indecisive and wanting to do everything acceptable.

Another Notebook!

The things that she suggests you do are not really new concepts but they way she writes about it makes it all feel ok. As with nearly every single book or course I read now, they all start with buying a brand-new journal in which to write in. For this book, your notebook or journal needs to be new and special for you to write, draw and doodle all your fantastic ideas. Something like Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks. I dutifully complied.

Even though I did start my new notebook, I haven’t actually kept up to date with it. It’s currently sitting pretty in my bookshelf along with my notebooks on accounting, tax, blogging, writing and the 3 page a day(!) diary.

Chapters

The book is split up into two parts and 19 chapters. The first part describes what is a scanner and the second part describes what kind of scanner are you? These are the chapters in the book:

Part one
1. All about Scanners
2. What’s Wrong with me?
3. Scanner Panic
4. Commitment Phobia
5. Too busy to do What I Love
6. I won’t do anything if I can’t do everything
7. I can’t get started
8. I never finish anything

Part two
9. About Cyclical Scanners
10. Are you a Double Agent?
11. Are you a Sybil?
12. Are you a Plate Spinner?
13. About Sequential Scanners
14. Are you a Serial Specialist?
15. Are you a Serial Master
16. Are you a Jack of all Trades?
17. Are you a Wanderer?
18. Are you a Sampler?
19. Are you a High-Speed Indecisive?

Type Of Scanner

In Part two, at the beginning of each chapter is a list of questions about that particular type of scanner and if you can answer yes to a lot of these questions then that is the type of scanner that you are. You can be more than one type of scanner. When I went through this, I got Jack of all trades and Double Agent. It then gives a few examples of people in that group and what they do and then lists out potential careers of types of careers and finally what type of tools a scanner needs. There is a list of tools for a scanner in the appendix which is useful as most of these things I’ve not really ever heard of. Some of favourites are the portable dream deck where you can keep several different projects going at the same time, the scanners day book, A ring binder for all your different projects and a catalogue of ideas with potential. Actually, I think I would probably like them all.

The Good Enough Job

Another big theme I found in the book is to find a good enough job if you can’t find the perfect job and then you can spend the rest of your time pursuing the things that you enjoy. There are several chapters that I want to go back and read again but it really does make you feel better that its ok not to have a niche figured out and pursuing. You don’t need to be a specialist and focus all your energies on the one thing, if you enjoy doing several things at the same time.

If, like me you are wanting to everything that you find interesting without giving up anything, this book is for you. I can see why the VA feels like this book is a must for all other VA’s out there because you can offer lots of different services that you are good at as a VA.

The author, Barbara Sher, also has a website and mailing list which can be found here: http://barbarasclub.com/

Go and enjoy this book as I try and figure out how to organise my life so I can do everything I want to pursue!

Buy the book from amazon here:

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Are sales invoices really needed?

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What is a sales invoice?

A sales invoice is a request for payment by the seller for goods or services provided.  It is important for businesses to raise sales invoices for many reasons. Some of these reasons are listed below:

 

  • For tax purposes, HMRC require companies to keep evidence of sales made for at least 6 years and up to 10 years in certain circumstances. Companies also need a record of all the sales made in order to complete the year end accounts and calculate the amount of tax owed.The details on the invoice will show what you have supplied which can then help protect a business against any disputes.
  • By reconciling the debtors on a regular basis will highlight any outstanding debts that need to be chased.
  • Analysing the invoices can also be a good marketing tool to see how, what, where and when the products and services are being sold and which employee is making the most sales.

What needs to be shown on an invoice?

Continue reading “Are sales invoices really needed?” →

My Favourite Accounting Apps

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These are just my favourite accounting apps and in the link to their website, which can be found by clicking the title, has no affiliate links that I benefit from.  There are obviously so many accounting apps out there that will help you sort out your finances and keep you on top of your paperwork and sometimes you just have to use trial and error to find the ones you are happy with. Continue reading “My Favourite Accounting Apps” →

Women in Tax – Leicester

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Last Thursday I attended the women in tax meeting at the RSM offices in Leicester. I wasn’t sure what to expect. Would it be formal? Would I have to talk about anything? I’m I intelligent enough to talk about anything tax related? It has been a while since I felt proficient in tax. The most I do now are personal tax returns. And I do generally leave it till the end of the year to really worry and think about them.  Continue reading “Women in Tax – Leicester” →

The Pain of Class 2 National Insurance

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A change in tactic in my blog post today and hopefully going forward.  Once a month, I’m hoping to post a technical accounting or tax related post.  At the moment, I have no schedule for it and it will most likely be on what takes my fancy or what I had to deal with in that month.  So, for today, I’m going to look at national insurance and  in particular Class 2 NIC. Continue reading “The Pain of Class 2 National Insurance” →