Bookkeeping and Compliance
68 articles on bookkeeping and compliance for UK limited company directors, contractors, sole traders and small businesses.
Bookkeeping and Compliance
Qualifications are optional for a UK bookkeeper. Anti-money laundering supervision is not. This guide separates the legal requirement from the professional badge, shows you the three checks to run before you hand over your records, and sets out what HMRC actually does when an agent files something wrong on your behalf.
Bookkeeping and Compliance
Most UK micro-businesses under 30 transactions a month, with no VAT registration, no payroll and no stock, do not need a bookkeeper. Software plus an accountant at year end covers it. Cross any one of those four lines and the case changes fast, because the cost of bad records is measured in missed deductions, HMRC penalties and enquiry risk rather than in fees.
Bookkeeping and Compliance
Most UK small businesses pay a bookkeeper somewhere between £20 and £45 an hour, or £100 to £500 a month on a fixed retainer, with transaction volume and VAT registration doing most of the work in setting the price. This guide breaks down the three pricing models, the in-house versus outsourced maths, and what Making Tax Digital for Income Tax adds from April 2026.
Bookkeeping and Compliance
A self employed bookkeeping template only earns its keep if its columns map onto the boxes you actually fill in on your tax return. This guide lays out the four records that matter (income log, expense log, mileage log, bank reconciliation), shows exactly which SA103S box each expense column feeds, and sets out the point at which a spreadsheet stops being enough.
Bookkeeping and Compliance
Large UK buyers took an average of 33.5 days to pay their suppliers in the first half of 2026, the fastest figure since statutory reporting began in 2017. This article works through the full trend using our proprietary UK Late Payment Index, built entirely from the statutory Payment Practices Reporting dataset, and covers what a month-plus wait still means for a small supplier's cash flow, and the three levers an owner controls: payment terms, credit control, and invoice financing.
Bookkeeping and Compliance
The Insolvency Service's industry-level data shows construction, wholesale and retail trade, and accommodation and food service account for close to half of all English and Welsh company insolvencies in the trailing twelve months, despite representing a much smaller share of the total business population. This article ranks every sector, explains why these three lead, and sets out the early-warning signs an owner in a high-risk sector should be watching for.
Bookkeeping and Compliance
A systematic cash management practice for UK small business owners. Covers 13-week rolling forecasts, debtor-days arithmetic, the cash conversion cycle, and a credit-control operating rhythm. Number-first, with worked examples you can run on your own figures.
Bookkeeping and Compliance
The legal answer depends on your business structure, and many people are surprised by what the law actually says. This guide explains the position for sole traders, limited companies and partnerships, covers the HMRC record-keeping angle, and walks through what good separation looks like in practice.
Bookkeeping and Compliance
Double-entry bookkeeping records every transaction in two accounts simultaneously. This guide explains debits, credits, ledgers and T-accounts, then walks through a full five-transaction worked example from journal entry to balanced trial balance.
Bookkeeping and Compliance
If a business owes you money and has missed the agreed payment date, UK law gives you automatic rights to charge statutory interest, claim fixed compensation and, eventually, reclaim the VAT you already paid to HMRC. This guide covers the exact figures, the worked arithmetic and the escalation steps you need.
Bookkeeping and Compliance
A balance sheet is a financial snapshot of your company at one date, showing everything it owns, everything it owes and what remains for shareholders. This guide walks through every section of a UK small-company balance sheet in plain English, including a worked illustrative example, the directors loan account, and the three patterns lenders look for in your Companies House filing.
Bookkeeping and Compliance
A practical guide to dentistry compliance for UK dental practices. Covers CQC registration, HMRC tax obligations, VAT on dental services, associate vs. partnership structures, and payroll rules. Written by our specialist accountants for practice owners.