April 2010

Service Levels

Posted Tue, 06/04/2010 - 10:19 by Jon@AccountsPortal

We were recently looking to outsource some of our SEO activities, and so we contacted 8 different companies, all of whom were at (or near) the top of the Google rank for 'SEO' or 'Search Engine Optimisation'. We figured that if they could get to the top of a search term like 'SEO', then they knew what they were doing. Maybe so, but of the 8 companies that we contacted, only 1 got back to us 5 days later with a half-hearted attempt at introducing themselves (and has since completely dissapeared). Either business is so good for these companies that they can completely ignore potential clients, or their service levels are atrocious. I'm betting the latter. Not that we are doing too badly on SEO - currently ranking 6th for 'uk online accounting'.

Having very high service levels is something that we pride ourselves on enormously at AccountsPortal. Its not 'just another thing' that we do - we actively track how long it takes us to get back to every single inquiry - whether it be sales, support or just general questions.

For inquiries made during working hours, we answer support requests (on average) in only 21 minutes.

Yes, if we get a question at midnight then its going to take longer to get back to you. Or if its a complicated item that requires more investigation.

Our next aim is to get this down to less than 20 minutes. And we are also currently considering implementing a Live Chat feature on our website - will you find this useful?

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Dashboard Overhaul

Posted Wed, 14/04/2010 - 10:37 by Tracy@AccountsPortal

 

We've given the main dashboard a major overhaul that should hopefully present a lot more information in an easy to use manner.

Along with a list of AccountsPortal Updates, there are now 4 charts:

i) Outstanding invoices and credit notes grouped by month.

ii) Outstanding purchase invoice and purchase credit notes grouped by month

iii) A running total of all your bank accounts, displayed over the last 10/30/60/90 days

iv) A summary of your income, expenses and net profit for the financial year to date, grouped by month. You can view this as a cumulative total (i.e. running balance for the year to date), or on a per-month basis.

Dashboard

Sales and Purchases Overview

Posted Thu, 15/04/2010 - 13:00 by Jon@AccountsPortal

 

The Sales and Purchases tab now each have an overview, which lists the Top 10 Customers/Suppliers by outstanding amount.

This is a great way to quickly find out which customers owe you money, and which suppliers you still owe money to. By clicking on a customer/supplier's name, you will also get a chart showing the ageing profile for that specific customer/supplier.

Check it out in the latest version!

Sales Overview

Flat Rate VAT - Accounting Implications

Posted Thu, 22/04/2010 - 13:11 by Tracy@AccountsPortal

 

We've had a few inquiries from clients as to how flat rate VAT works in AccountsPortal.

Before we go into that detail, it may be a good idea to go through the background to flat rate VAT first. The HMRC website is a great place to start.

Some important points to bear in mind:

  • You can only register for the Flat Rate Scheme (FRS) if your annual taxable turnover is less than £150,000. Your annual taxable turnover is the total of all the vatable items that you sell during the year.
  • You can stay on the FRS as long as your total business income is less than £225,000 per annum.
  • You still need to show VAT on each sales invoice (note that this is not your flat rate!).
  • You pay VAT as a fixed percentage of your VAT inclusive turnover. The actual percentage depends on your business - see FRS percentages for more information. You get a 1% discount in your first year of FRS registration.
  • You cannot claim back VAT on purchases (unless they are in respect of capital assets worth more than £2,000).
  • One of the main reasons for the FRS is simplicity of record keeping, although in practise this is not always the case!

Manage Out-of-pocket Expenses

Posted Tue, 27/04/2010 - 13:51 by Gidon@AccountsPortal

 

Out-of-pocket expenses are business costs that have been paid out of your personal bank account or cash. At a later date, the business reimburses you for the full out-of-pocket amount.

Using online bookkeeping and accounting means you and your staff can submit these expenses from just about anywhere. You no longer have to wait until you return to the office.

Managing out-of-pocket expenses consists of just four easy steps:

  1. Create a Supplier account for the relevant staff member (only required once per staff member).
  2. Create a Purchase Invoice for each invoice you pay or receipt you collect.
  3. Pay yourself or your staff from the business bank account, or petty cash, to reimburse the total out-of-pocket expenses incurred.
  4. Enter the Payment and allocate it against the staff Supplier account.

Remember though, maintaining online accounts does not mean you can ignore good basic accounting practises. Hang onto your physical invoices/receipts and file them methodically for future reference.

Accounting Software on your Mac

Posted Fri, 30/04/2010 - 10:40 by Jon@AccountsPortal

 

Apparently Sage now supports using their software on a Mac. From what I could gather, it seems that you still have to be running it through "Bootcamp or virtualisation software such as VMWare Fusion or Parallels Desktop". Yep, you read that right - its not a native Mac installation!

All of the online accounting software providers automatically support PC, Mac, Linux...well, anything that can run an internet browser. And have done so for years. Who is playing catch up now?