7 articles
When the trial balance will not balance, a suspense account keeps the books moving — but only if it is cleared quickly. This guide explains what suspense accounts are, why mystery balances appear, and walks through two real worked examples showing exactly how to trace and resolve them before they distort your reports or raise flags with HMRC.
Company cars, private health cover, and other perks all count as benefits in kind, and HMRC expects them valued and reported correctly on P11D forms every year. This guide breaks down how valuations work, what Class 1A NIC actually costs your business, the exact deadlines for filing and payment, and the journal entries needed to keep your books aligned with HMRC — all illustrated with a worked example so nothing gets left to guesswork.
A profitable month on paper and an empty-feeling bank account are not a contradiction — they are two different accounting lenses on the same business. This article unpacks the gap between accrual and cash basis accounting with a worked example, journal entries, and a step-by-step reconciliation so you can stop confusing timing differences with real trouble.
Debits and credits confuse most SME owners because bank statements use the terms backwards from how bookkeeping actually works. This article breaks down the one rule behind double-entry accounting, with worked examples showing stock purchases, supplier payments, and a running bank balance calculation.
Choosing between salary and dividends is not a rounding error for director-shareholders. This guide walks through a real £50,000 worked example, showing how a small salary topped up with dividends can put nearly £4,000 more in your pocket than a salary-only approach, with no change to company performance.
Petty cash is one of those accounting topics that sounds too simple to merit a guide — and yet it is responsible…
One of the earliest and most consequential decisions any business owner makes is also one of the least understood: should you operate…
