Outsourced Bookkeeping Services UK: What Leaves the Practice and What Never Should
Introduction A practice with 120 bookkeeping clients decides to outsource. Three months later, half the partners think it’s the best decision they’ve made and the other half want to bring everything back in-house. On the files that work, a manager reviews a month’s bookkeeping in 30 minutes and signs it off. On the files that […]
Bookkeeping Catch-Up Work: Rescuing a Client Ledger Before Year-End
Introduction It’s late October. A practice manager opens a client’s Xero file for the first time since spring. The bank shows fourteen months of unreconciled transactions and the suspense account holds £38,000. The aged creditors report lists £21,000 of bills that were paid a year ago. Then the client sends a message asking whether the […]
Outsourced Accounting for Startups: Building a Finance Function Before You Can Fund One
Introduction Eighteen months after incorporation, a SaaS founder sits down with an investor’s due diligence team to close a £1.5m seed round. The product is strong and the revenue chart points the right way. Then the questions start. Why are there 140 entries in the director’s loan account? Which of these card payments were for […]
Outsourcing Accounting Services for Small Business Clients Without Damaging the Relationship
Introduction A three-partner practice with 340 small business clients moves 60 of its bookkeeping files to an offshore team. The trial goes well. Reconciliations come back complete, the year-end files are tidy, and for the first time in months a partner has a free weekend. Then, at a routine accounts meeting, the owner of a […]
Veterinary Practice Accounting: Drug Stock, Client Debt and Practice Profitability
Introduction A four-vet companion animal practice closes its year on £1.9m of turnover and a profit the partners are pleased with. Then the reviewer starts pulling threads. The stock figure came from the practice management system, not a count, and health plan direct debits were booked as income the day they landed. There is more. […]
Care Home Accounting: Occupancy, Fee Income and the Agency Staff Problem
Introduction A 64-bed nursing home’s September management accounts show occupancy at 91% and the best month of the year. Then the reviewer reconciles the council remittance. Two residents who died in August are still being accrued at the full weekly fee. It gets worse. A resident who moved from residential to nursing care in July […]
Healthcare VAT: Exempt Supplies, Partial Exemption, and Where the Boundary Sits
Introduction A private GP clinic opens with consultations, health screening and travel vaccines. Two years in, it starts writing medico-legal reports for a firm of personal injury solicitors. Then a nurse prescriber begins Botox and fillers on Thursday evenings. Nobody registers for VAT, because medical services are exempt. By the time the accountant looks, the […]
When a Main Contractor Fails: Protecting a Subcontractor Client’s Position
Introduction The call usually comes on a Monday. A groundworks client has heard from the site manager that the main contractor has gone into administration over the weekend. The gates are locked, there is £86,000 of certified work unpaid, another £40,000 of work since the last valuation, £31,000 of retention, and a skip full of […]
Outsourcing Construction Bookkeeping: What a Clean Handover Pack Contains
Introduction A practice decides in September to outsource twelve construction clients. By the end of October three are running smoothly. The other nine are stuck, and not because the bookkeeping is hard. One contractor’s subcontractor UTRs live in a site manager’s notebook. Another client’s retention schedule exists only in a partner’s head. A third has […]
Personal Tax Accountant UK: What a Good One Delivers Beyond the Return Itself
Introduction Most people choose a personal tax accountant the way they’d choose someone to fix a dripping tap. Find someone available, agree a price, get the job done. For a simple return, that’s fine. For a higher earner, a company director or a landlord, it misses the point. A tax return is a record of […]