For Bexhill based businesses we have an office, and a qualified team of chartered accountants, who can manage and process your end of year accounts.
So what are your End of Year Accounts?
If you are running a Limited Company, then each year you will need to submit your accounts to companies house, these are often referred to as statutory accounts. Although the common year-end is 31st March or the 5th April, you may have opted for a different date in the year. Perhaps a time when you are quiet so that you can catch up with all the financial parts of the business.
Getting Ready for your End of Year
If you are based in Bexhill on Sea then why not call in and have a chat with us. Generally, we will advise you to get as much ready as possible before asking us to complete your end of year accounts. If you would like us to complete your end of year accounts, we will need the following:
- Compile all your company bank statements and any company credit card statements, as we will use these to check all income and expenses are listed.
- Provide purchase and sales records as these will be checked against the bank statements to ensure that the figures are comparative.
- Make sure you do a stock take so that we have an approximate figure for any stock you may be holding.
- Ensure there is a note of all assets and equipment purchased and any disposed of in the year as these could make a difference to your figures.
- If you have staff, and we do not run the payroll, we will need your payroll records.
- Make us aware of any loan or finance agreements that you may have taken out during the year so that the interest can be calculated.
- Provide copies of any VAT Returns that have been submitted during the year.
- Make sure we are aware of any payments made to the shareholders in the year such as dividends or drawings.
If you have prepared your own books, or if you have a bookkeeper and your records are kept digitally, we may just need access to your accounts system. Often we can reconcile everything using only your accounts system rather than everything listed above.
Internal preparations for your end of year
There are a number of things that you should do internally to make sure you are as prepared as possible for your end of year. Not only is this good practice, but it will make sure your books are up to date and accurate when you submit them to us.
Chase Unpaid Invoices
Keeping up to date with unpaid invoices is always great practice, but it is especially important prior to your year-end. Contact any clients who are behind in their invoice payments and ask them to get their invoices settled and up to date. If you are struggling to manage credit control, please get in touch. We can work with you to establish a plan to control your cash flow effectively.
Claim Back Expenses
Make sure you have submitted all of your expenses. Expenses are taken off your profit which will reduce any corporation tax due. If you are not sure if something can be claimed for then please get in touch to speak to one of our partners.
Pay Any Unpaid Bills
In the same way as claiming your expenses can reduce your tax bill you should make sure any invoices you owe to suppliers are also paid. Ensuring that any bills are paid within a specific year will bring down the profit which will, in turn, reduce the tax payable.
For more advice and guidance on managing your end of year accounts in Bexhill, please get in touch either online or by calling 01424 210530.