Question...dont know where to put this post

Marga

My husband is a self employed gardener ...

before i even know anything about accountancy i set up different tools for him to use to record bits and bobs , basically to know how much money he was getting and which customer had paid or not ....nothing brilliant ....we used to write things down in a diary then i decided i would try and do it in a excel spreadsheet


I set up his company logo, the template for the invoices and each customer details ....

i have also templates for all the cash/cheques he uses for petrol, food , tools you name it ...


it is all over the place and not in a professional way organaised


Now that i am AAT i thought that maybe i can then bring everything together plus all my knowledge and set up his accounts properly (instead of having another accountant to do it for him)

My question is ...Should i use Sage to have all his transactions recorded? is it a good idea?

Also , will the work i would do for him be recognised as some "work experience"?

Thanks i would appreciate anyone giving me an advice or pointing me to the right direction and sorry for the long post

JayneHogan

Firstly, I do not know very much about small businesses but Sage is used in a lot of businesses for employees numbering less than 50 to 500 employees. There is a lot more you can do with an accountancy package such as Sage line 50 or quickbooks that Excel just does not have the capacity for.

Secondly, there are accountancy firms out there that (for a fee) will do any of the accounting that your chosen software cannot cope with, such as payroll for instance.

In terms of whether doing the accounts for your husband's business will be counted towards your CPD the only organisation which I would recommend you to talk to about this is the AAT as the AAT are the only organisation professionally qualified to give you the right answer as to what they will or won't accept as professional accountancy work experience as part of your ongoing study towards your AAT qualification. Whilst others, such as friends, family or professional associates are able to offer their opinion that is all it is compared to what you will find out from the AAT.

Hope that this helps a bit.

Regards,

Jayne

Marga

Hi thanks very much and sorry for the late reply


I have been in contact with the AAT and they have advise that it would count as working experience but i should not advertise myself or even the AAT in doing his books ....

so i have Sage instant accounts which i think is enough for what my husband do? he is the only employee so i think it would work ....