How to keep my accounts in better order?

[HiccupHaddockHorrendous]

I am ridiculously disorganised and never file my tax return until at least the middle of January .

When I do get around to doing it, it takes the best part of a weekend to get it all in order so I put it off until the last minute.

I need a better system to make sure I keep on top of things throughout the year and can then file my tax return in April like lots of others seem to be able to do.

At the moment, I have a Friday morning off so this is now going to become book-keeping day and I'll use it to keep track of my expenditure for the week before.

Invoices are a bit of a problem. I have a template which I c&p into an email, fill in the dates and fees and email to each client. However, I can never find them in my sent folder of my email account so can't check that I have followed the same format each month.

Any suggestions on ways to improve invoicing or ways to keep things better organised?

I use a template in word which I fill in and pdf and send as an attachment. I then file the pdf in a folder, and move it to a sub folder called 'paid', when it goes into my bank account.

I also have set up my regular payments to go out at the same time each month (wage, employer tax, capital tax) so I have them as regular payments that are easy to spot on my account.

I pay myself expenses once a month (milage, small cash buys such as parking, stamps, and my working away allowance), these are linked to any invoices sent that month with an explanation of any extra costs and attached receipts. This keep all this small stuff together and easier to account for at the end of the yr than buying small things through my business account and needed in to sort all the receipts at the end of the yr.

(I'm not in the UK so allowed expenses etc might be a bit diff for you.)

Try Paydirt. You have to pay a small fee each month but it is amazing for sending and tracking invoices etc. It is worth the money for my sanity.

Hate accounts.

Definitely set up a folder on your pc and save invoices - and only invoices - on there in a way which makes sense to you. So if you want to track them by when you issued them, put the date at the front of the file name.

I also cross-reference every invoice into a spreadsheet - I tend to do a lot of jobs for one client and invoice monthly, so every time I start a job I make a note of it in the spreadsheet and use that to prepare my monthly invoice, but it also means I have a running tally of my weekly/monthly/yearly earnings which is so, so useful. And not at all complex to set up.

I also have a little pouch thing for my receipts and keep a separate filing tray for stuff I know I'll need for my accounts.

and I still get into a panic over my tax return

I have a limited company so have to use a accountant to do my year ends but we use FreeAgent to manage our accounts. It generates invoices automatically and you can reconcile all incomings and outgoings with your bank account directly. I also get a snap shot of how much tax I owe, etc, which is very handy. There is a fee, but it is included in our accountancy fee. I may one day get rid of my rubbish accountants, but I will be hard pressed to part with freeagent.

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