*We are most definitely not financial advisors, or any expert in anything financial or accounting, please do seem advice from your financial advisor or accountant before going ahead with any of these suggestions.*
Do your receipts currently live in a shopping bag or box? Let’s sort that out!
Digital Receipts and Mileage Apps
Expensify https://www.expensify.com /pricing £4 per month
Tiny Scanner http://www.appxy.com/ free and basic
Zoho Expense https://www.zoho.com/expense/pricing/ if you already have zoho!
Our favourite – Smart Receipts – https://www.smartreceipts.co/ – free and open source and only £10 year for pro
Remember when choosing one of these apps to think about the following…
What does it export data as? Where does it need to go eventually?
Remember to note what is a non-tax-deductible business expense at this stage too! That’ll help later on.
What Important Financial Information Do I need to keep?
- Email & Physical receipts
- Mileage
- Invoices
- Quotes
- Tax Return(s)
- Ltd company accounts
- VAT Returns
- Wage slips/P45/P60
- Details of Grants/Loans
- Credit Cards/Bank Charges
Digital Financial Software
A Do-It-With-You type offering of varying levels and prices… please do seek professional advice before choosing one of these!
Xero
Freeagent
Sage
Quickbooks
But one thing we should talk about here, is what links with what. Some of these already have built-it receipt and mileage apps, so it is worth shopping around.
Some help you just with you tax return like Taxcalc – registered providers can be found on the gov website at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/self-assessment-commercial-software-suppliers/self-assessment-online-commercial-software-suppliers or https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/making-tax-digital-software
Do It Yourself Accounting and Returns
You can do your accounts for free if you’re self employed on a “small business” as you can do simplified accounts. Check out the latest gov guidelines for more info of if that’s relevant to you.
Using your bank account and an Excel spreadsheet it is possible to do it for free if the above applies!
Remember to fill in the correct documents and legal requirements for all the countries you work in.
Document Systems for Finances
Have a think about how is best to organise your paper and digital documents you need to keep for legal reasons
If you decide to go digital, think about what folder management you would be best using – dates, clients or projects based for example.
Make your files accessible on the go with a range of file syncing softwares and programme such as Dropbox, Zoolz or Google Docs.
If you want to access and edit documents on the go, on your smart devices we recommend the MobiSystems Office Suite https://www.mobisystems.com/
What to do when you book in some work?
We would recommend at the same time you book a piece of work in, you also book in time to create and send your invoice, and when you’ll send a reminder if payment hasn’t yet been received, all at the same time when you make that initial booking.
You might also like to use the Send Later Apps like Do It Later, or Later for iOS.
And Finally… Some other cool apps to check out…
Mint – Personal Budget Tracker – https://mint.intuit.com/ – you can link it with your bank accounts, track your spend, set budgets and more!
Plum – AI for savings – https://withplum.com/ – 52 week challenges, rainy day funds and more
Need More Help?
So if you have any quick questions you can’t find the answer to, give us an email and we’ll always try and help you out with some answers and links (we are happy to do this for free, but a fair usage policy applies).
If you’d like a more in-depth and bespoke online training session for you or your teams, contact us for more
