Figurate!

On a more personal note – the name of my own company is now Figurate Ltd.
The legal name change at Companies House was quite straightforward.  It took a little more time to communicate the change to my clients and bank.  However, what will take the longest is changing all the directory/advertising entries that had been set up [...]

Other Things To Do when Renaming your Company

People to tell: 

Your customers
Your employees
 Your suppliers
Your bank
HMRC (the tax man)
Professional bodies/trade associations

 Other things to do:

maximise the marketing opportunity
change your business stationery
obtain a new domain name and relaunch your website.
update all your advertisements

Change of Company Name by Special Resolution

There are two ways of changing the name of a limited company, the first of these is by Special Resolution.
This is a resolution that must be passed at a general meeting of the company with a majority of 75%.  An ordinary resolution only requres a 51% majority.
A Change of Name by Special Resolution form (NC19) [...]

Renaming Your Company

It’s always best to chose a good name for your business at the outset , but in case you hadn’t, it is possible to change the name of a limited company after it’s registered.
You must first check to make sure that the new name you have chosen is available.  This can be done online using Comapnies House [...]

Working From Home and Time Management

I know it’s a cliche but  time management is even more important when working from home  to avoid an unproductive merging of work/home/family.  Here are just a few blogs on work/time management sites:
Time Management at Home
A Matter of Time
Mark Forster
 Pick the Business

Choosing an Accounts Package

I’ve recently been in the position of choosing accounting software, so this has been forefront of my mind.  This is a (by no means exhaustive) list of things to consider (in no particular order). 

price
functionality
ease of use/user friendliness
accounting knowledge
upgradeability
upgrade cost
ongoing support costs
flexibility
does it meet your legal obligations

Why use Accounting Software

The whole point of using accounting software is to make your life easier by saving you time and money.  Therefore, if it doesn’t and you can meet your legal requirements without it, you should question whether it’s worth the effort.
It should save you time because:

the whole process of bookkeeping should be faster (although setting up a [...]

Following the Trail of Journals

In doing a journal, it is important that it is cross referenced properly so that later, if you or your accountant needs to, you can follow the original “logic” for having done the journal.  Accountants refer to this as being able to follow the audit trail.  This applies whether or not you actually have your [...]

Correction of Errors using a Journal.

A journal is usually used to correct errors that have been made.  The errors must be able to be corrected by means of a double entry, to be able to put it right by journalling.
So, if £500 of sales of square widgets had been incorrectly posted to sales of round widgets, the correcting journal would [...]

Day Book Analysis and Journals

I’ve previously blogged about day books and analysing the sales or purchases into appropriate columns.  Depending on your business and grasp of accounting & bookkeeping, you might leave your record keeping at that.  However, to take it to the next step in terms of bookkeeping, a journal is used to take that analysis into the [...]

Journals

A journal is used to record any double entries that do not arise from anywhere else (such as sales, purchases, payroll).
The format of a journal is usually:
Date                                             Folio              Debit £   Credit £
Account to be debited                                          X
Account to be credited                                                         X

Calculating VAT without a Calculator

For those of you who might ever wish to calculate VAT at 17.5% without a calculator (or for those who enjoy a bit of mental maths), here’s how:
Work out 10% of the net value (by moving the decimal point one place to the left)
Half the above answer
Halve the answer again
Add the three numbers, calculated above, [...]