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- Fellow PM.Dip
- Practice Licence
- 186 posts
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Apologies if this is a daft quesiton, I am new to bookkeeping, have just got my practice licence & have my first prospective client meeting on Monday so my mind is going into overdrive.......
As a member we can product final draft accounts - in the "real world" how do work with an accountant? My prospective client is looking for a bookkeeper to reduce their accountancy costs so if I were to do the books, produce the P&L & balance sheet - what information is normally passed to the accountant & what do they actually do with it? Specifically I am thinking of a limited company & the "typical" (if their is such a thing) rate an account would charge to do their bit after we've done our bookkeeping elements.
Thanks in advance,
Jo
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- Fellow
- Practice Licence
- 85 posts
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Hi Jo,
Accountants like to have a schedule of 'working papers' to accompany the tb, that backs up the balances, so to produce a reconciliation of not only the bank/cash/credit card, but also the vat, paye, net pay control, any loans, debtors, creditors is desirable. A list of fixed asset (a fixed asset schedule) is also useful, along with copy invoices for fixed asset additions in the year.
Also check that all the analysis in the p&l is correct, and the presentation is neat and tidy.
All this should make a difference to the accountancy fee (should do, but it depends on the accountant!)
Good Luck
:-)
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- Fellow PM.Dip
- Practice Licence
- 186 posts
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Jewellz Angelssaid:
“Hi Jo,
Accountants like to have a schedule of 'working papers' to accompany the tb, that backs up the balances, so to produce a reconciliation of not only the bank/cash/credit card, but also the vat, paye, net pay control, any loans, debtors, creditors is desirable. A list of fixed asset (a fixed asset schedule) is also useful, along with copy invoices for fixed asset additions in the year.
Also check that all the analysis in the p&l is correct, and the presentation is neat and tidy.
All this should make a difference to the accountancy fee (should do, but it depends on the accountant!)
Good Luck
:-)
”
Thanks Karen for replying to the post, much appreciated :-)
Jo
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- Member PM.Dip
- Practice Licence
- 12 posts
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Dear Jo
We produce draft accounts for accountants, and in our experience, the key is to ensure that you start from the right place. Check the opening balances from the last set of accountants agrees, before you start putting together your year end accounts.
We generally, reconcile all the control accounts mentioned by Karen, and file under in the same headings that you would find on a chart of accounts.
One extra important tip - produce two of everything, and keep two seperate files. One you give to the accountant, and one you keep for yourself. With your own file you will be able to answer questions from the accountant easily as you will know exactly what he is looking at, you will also have a reference point for any queries that arise in the future - very helpful for following on from in the subsequent year, and finally you can show your client just how few adjustments the accountant makes after you've produced a fantastic set of draft accounts!
Good luck!
Lynn
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- Fellow
- Practice Licence
- 85 posts
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Hi Jo,
Good pointers there from Lynn - although I'd have posted the opening bals on as soon as they arrived following the finalisation of the previous set of accounts. I also think it's good practice to do not only bank etc recs, but the other balance sheet accounts too, through the year as you go along. Then you can nip any anomolies in the bud, as it were!
Re the working papers - we try and be as paper free as poss, so we keep a 'soft' copy of ours, to be easily and quickly accessable and to provide quick responses to any queries.
Good Luck
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- Member PM.Dip
- Practice Licence
- 12 posts
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Dear Karen
I got the impression from Jo that she'd be starting work on existing company records, and thought that checking the opening balances would be important.
I agree with you, we like to process the opening balances as soon as we have them, so that we can provide meaningful MI to the clients, and we do reconcile control accounts on a regular basis.
Thanks
Lynn
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- Fellow
- Practice Licence
- 85 posts
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Hi Lynn,
Good tips and you're right, existing company records and opening bals is important.
That's what's so wonderful about our profession - there's always more than one way of skinning the cat!!
Have a good day,
Karen
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@ Jo
Your so- called " Daft question about Accountants" has turned out to be helpful as you have had such informative pointers.
Thanks for posting this good question.
Kind Regards,
Nathalie
Edited at 31 May 2012 09:51 AM GMT
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- Fellow PM.Dip
- Practice Licence
- 186 posts
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Thanks Nathalie, I often think I should know more than I do but I am new to bookkeeping so if I don't ask, I don't learn! 
Thanks also to Lynn & Karen for your valued input!
Jo
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