If your accountant is providing you with a bookkeeping service, you need to keep sufficient paperwork so they can see what has come in and gone out of the business. Therefore, you need to maintain evidence of every transaction within the business. This evidence should include:

Sales Invoices

These are the invoices you send to customers for products you have sold or services you have provided and act as a representation of the income you have received.

Purchase Invoices

These are invoices you have been issued by suppliers.

Bank statements/ credit card statements

Any statements which show transactions relating to the business should be provided to your accountant. There is no need to label what each transaction is, accountants are very experienced in identifying bank transactions and if there is anything they are unsure of they will contact you.

Receipts

Any receipts you receive for purchases relating to the business should be maintained and supplied to your accountant. For example, fuel receipts.

Cheque Book stubs

Cheque books that contain details of cheques used to pay for things relating to the business should be kept and given to your accountant with the rest of your records.

Higher Purchase or loan agreements

If you purchase anything of a high value to help you trade or you take out a loan for your business you should hold on to the agreements and include them in the paperwork you give to your accountant.

 

 
A decent accountant will always contact you if they feel there are additional expenses you could claim for that you have not provided information about. Therefore, whilst it is important that you provide your accountant with all the information relevant to the business to ensure the efficient and prompt completion of your accounts, don’t worry too much over whether you have included everything as your accountant will contact you if there is anything missing.

At The Accountancy Partnership, we encourage our clients to keep their own records, with our ongoing support, as we believe it is beneficial for you to have an idea about how much profit your business is making throughout the year and not just once your accounts are completed. However, if you are more comfortable having us do the bookkeeping for you, so you can concentrate on running the business, we are more than happy to do so. Our accountants are always available to answer any questions you might have about what paperwork to hang on to and will always contact you regarding missing expenses should this be the case.

Our online accountants and bookkeepers are ready to help – find out more about our online accountancy services by calling 020 3355 4047, or using the Live Chat button on screen.

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About The Author

Lee Murphy

MAAT and ICPA accountant, with a passion for making accountancy and bookkeeping accessible. Other interests include cloud-based software development for web and mobile access, keeping fit, reading, and entrepreneurship.

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