Bookkeeping for small businesses
Tools & Resources
Key Learnings
- Bookkeeping is the process of recording all the financial information of your business.
- Though professional bookkeepers are available to work with, most people are comfortable managing their own books.
- Financial software is available to help take the hard work out of managing your books.
Keeping a record of your business’s financial information is a fundamental part of running a successful company. By keeping organised and thorough records, business owners can keep track of income and expenses and stay on top of cashflow.
Click below to find out more...
1
What is bookkeeping and why is it important?
Bookkeeping is the recording of all your business’s financial information. It details all your incomings and outgoings, enabling you to see a full picture of the financial performance of your business. Bookkeeping also helps you to budget and avoid cashflow problems, keeping your business solvent and maximising your chances of success.
2
How is bookkeeping different from accounting?
Put simply, bookkeeping involves recording all the financial transactions for your business. Accounting, on the other hand, focuses on reporting and interpreting the business finances.
3
Do I need a professional bookkeeper?
It’s not essential to hire a professional bookkeeper. If you’re confident with maths and numbers, you’ll likely be capable of carrying out your own bookkeeping.
It’s worth checking out some of the software available to help you stay on top of your bookkeeping. Software like Quickbooks, Xero and Sage can all be beneficial to help keep your records thorough and up to date.
Of course, if you don’t feel confident, there is always the option to source a professional bookkeeper.
Next steps...
- Keeping on top of your finances when you're running a business can be difficult. That’s why we’ve teamed up with The Accountancy Partnership to offer discounted access to a range of online accounting services.
- Find out more about keeping thorough and balanced books to maximise your chances of business success with UMi’s guide to accounting and bookkeeping.
- If you are a Sat Nav subscriber at the start of your business journey, you can register your limited company through Tide for FREE, and get £50 cashback on a Tide business bank account (powered by Clearbank).