Something we know from both personal experience and having worked with many different types of clients over the years, is that running a business can be incredibly time-consuming. Anything that can help to lighten the load is always warmly welcomed and that’s why we love Clear Books so much.  Today we take a closer look at Clear Books and online accounting for small businesses. 

What is Clear Books?

Clear Books is an award-winning, time-saving cloud accounting software programme.

It enables you to collaborate with your accountant and monitor your business finances wherever you are. With accounting made simple, you have the tools you need to achieve your business goals because you’re not spending hours, even days stressing over invoicing and balancing the books.

Clear Books is directly influenced by customer suggestions and feedback on their community forum so it really has been designed with small business owners in mind.

It has an 89% approval rating on independent review website, Feefo and has been accredited by the ICAEW and ICB. It has also won multiple awards including Client Software Product of the Year at the British Accountancy Awards so you can be rest assured you’re in safe hands with Clear Books.   

How does it work?

The great news is that you don’t need to be an accountant to use Clear Books. The software is simple, intuitive and easy to use so even those with no experience can quickly get to grips with it.

Because it’s hosted online, you can access your data anywhere, any time, as long as you have an internet connection. With the increased use of mobile devices and more flexible working conditions, this is a modern and convenient alternative to slow and old-fashioned desktop applications.

You and your accountant will both have logins to your account and all the data is in real time. This means that you’ll both always see the most up-to-date information so there’s no danger of duplicating information.

To find out more about Clear Books, this short video explains everything you need to know. 

• You can send and create customisable invoices. You can also set up automatic reminders and recurring invoices
• Because it’s hosted in the cloud, you can access your business finances wherever you are
• You can set up an unlimited number of users on your account
• You can create reports to get a clear and simple snapshot of your finances
• Help is always on hand because you can communicate with your accountant within the Clear Books app or you can use the handy live chat tool
• Clear Books hosts weekly webinars to help customers learn the key features of the system

Making Tax Digital

As you will no doubt have heard, Making Tax Digital (MTD) came into effect for VAT-registered businesses on 1 April 2019. More than one million businesses have already been mandated into the programme and within time, this will eventually be rolled out to all businesses.

At the moment, Making Tax Digital is only a requirement for businesses registered for VAT and who have a turnover of more than £85,000. If this is you, it’s important that you start preparing to switch over. The first returns under MTD are due on 7 August 2019.

You can find out more about Making Tax Digital and what it means for your business here.