SOFTWARE
ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE
There are 4 ways to maintain your accounting records:
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Manual (paper and pen);
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Excel which is a spreadsheet that replicates manual records;
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Integrated Accounting software such as Quickbooks, Xero, FreeAgent & SAGE.
INTERGRATED SYSTEMS
Integrated accounting systems are the way to go when your accountancy and tax requirements reach a certain level of complexity. This will often be the case if you act as a limited company and need a Balance sheet or where you are VAT registered. I am happy to advise what software you will need now and when it is time for you to move on to something else.
EXCEL
Excel is MTD compliant however will not easily cope with more complex issues such as VAT, large portfolios and limited companies where a balance sheet is required. If this is all you can manage it is however a reasonable way (and better than manual records) to provide the information to your book keeper to transfer, if necessary, to accountaing software. I can of course set you up on a suitable Excel accounting system, such as my free one designed for small businesses.
PROPERTY MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTANCY SYSTEMS
These systems are ideal for landlords of Buy to Lets who want to either manage them rather than get an estate agent to do so or who want to at least be actively involved in some aspects of the management. The accounting systems are excellent but are limited in that they generally cannot handle VAT or produce a balance sheet which is a requirement for limited companies. The real beauty of these systems is that they are really simple to use and provide a lot of management information from simple reminders about dealdines for insurance or safety checks to details of tenancies and even great financial information such as rental yields, equity and remortages.
