Excel over Accouting Software

DannyT90

I've been looking at what I would need in regards to starting out as a self employed bookkeeper.

Am I right in that choosing an accounting software to use is only worth having if your potential clients are using it too?

The websites don't make it very clear about what's best for normal bookkeeping.

Could excel be used to start with small business and sole traders? I would like to use a accounting software but nothing seems clear.....

Norvydas

@DannyT90

I am in the same boat as you, I think I've spent around 5-6 hrs looking at different softwares & the best way to start off as being self-employed.

I've came to the conclusion that all of the bookkeeping will be done via excel (assuming you will be working with small/medium size companies/sole traders). In regards of the accounts production software (Tax Returns / Corporation Tax/ Annual Accounts etc)- I haven't decided this yet as there are so many to choose from & some of them are quite pricey as well...

There's still much research needed to do to decide which option is best. As you want to make sure at the end of the day you will be making profit out of your business.

douglasstroud

Have you looked at VT+ and Taxfiler, good bits of software and very reasonably priced.

DannyT90

So is it not as easy as choosing a software and being able to put all your clients on there as if they are separate companies?

Norvydas

@DannyT90

Do you mean by having 1 software i.e. QB and then opening different companies and each company represents different client? - Yes that's possible, I know when I was working on QB you could create different companies. I believe this works on Sage as well, I think it should work on all bookkeeping softwares (don't quote me on this as I've only used CCH & QB).

When I said that I will do bookkeeping in Excel and reports on the software I meant that I am not only going to be doing bookkeeping but also producing annual accounts (Tax comps etc) therefore I will need special softwares for this. I've done some research and there are not many softwares that would be able to do bookkeeping and produce decent reports that you would need (Tax computations, annual reports for companies). Therefore some people have 2 softwares, 1 for bookkeeping and then another one for reports where you basically upload everything from bookkeeping software to accounting software and then you produce accounts in there.

If you only looking to do Bookkeeping then I would say invest into a software as it will be easier producing invoices on behalf of the clients and keeping track of everything rather than going through Excel - it also depends by how many businesses you are looking after and how complex their books are.