Bookkeeping Services for Businesses

What the service covers

• Ongoing recording of every transaction — income, expenses, cash, credit cards and banks;
• VAT returns on time, monthly or bi-monthly according to turnover, including the detailed report;
• Income tax advances and withholdings — current reporting and payment;
• Monthly bank reconciliations, and credit-card reconciliations;
• Customer and supplier ledgers — who owes you, whom you owe, and what is ageing;
• Inventory and fixed-asset registers, including depreciation;
• Trial balance and management reports — profitability, cash flow and comparison with prior periods;
• Preparing the books for the annual return, alongside the firm's audit team.

Single-entry or double-entry — which fits you

Single-entry bookkeeping records mainly income and expenses. It suits small businesses and liberal professionals whom the bookkeeping regulations do not require to do more.

Double-entry bookkeeping maintains a full system of debits and credits — ledgers, balance sheet, balances. It is required of companies and of businesses above a certain scale, and even where it is not mandatory it gives a picture single-entry simply cannot: how much is genuinely owed to you, what the inventory is worth, and what the equity is.

The choice is not only a question of legal obligation but of management need. A business that intends to raise credit, bring in a partner or be sold will be required to present an orderly double-entry system — and had better not start building one retrospectively.

← Read our full guide: bookkeeping, audits — and how to prepare in advance

What makes the work different here

The same people who keep the books sit in the firm that represents you in the audit. That sounds like a technicality, and in practice it changes how entries are made: a ledger maintained with a view to what you will be asked about in two years looks different from one kept only to close the monthly return.

Three things follow from that:

1. Issues are classified in real time — a mixed expense, a vehicle, hospitality or an expense reimbursement is examined as it is recorded, not in hindsight;
2. No year-end surprises — reconciliations performed currently prevent the gap that otherwise surfaces in the return;
3. A smooth transition to audit — the books reach the audit team in order, which shortens the process and reduces its cost.

Moving to us from another provider

Moving mid-year is routine and not complicated, but it contains one step that must not be skipped: checking the incoming balances. We do not take opening balances as given — we verify them against the bank, against the ledgers and against the last return. This is the stage at which most problems carried over from earlier years come to light, and better that they do so now.

The information on this page is general and does not constitute professional advice. Bookkeeping obligations are determined by the type of business, its sector and its turnover.