Posts Tagged ‘payroll’

If I could recommend any one product to anybody running their own small company, above all others it would be FreeAgent.   Freeagent is a web based small business accounting package.   But its more than that – it’s an example of how all things should be done.

I first came across Freeagent about 8 months ago when I had a fall out with my small business accountant that I used to my companies accounts.  Without going into too much detail, let’s just say we had a disagreement on some aspects of how the accounts were being done, and I was becoming more and more unhappy at the rising costs of doing my accounts.

When I started looking around for alternative accountants, I was originally looking at another normal accountant and actually met with 2 or 3 to talk rates and work I needed them to do.   But a few people in the same industry as me started to direct me towards a number of online accounts packages including clearbooks and sage.  But the one that stood out for me was freeagent – and I was impressed from the start.

Freeagent provides everything a small company owner could ask for – estimates, invoices, purchasing, bill payments, automatic chasing of late payments, full accounts, payroll, taxes, vat calculations and year end calculations, plus full online book keeping.  But the best bit is, you don’t need to know anything about accounts to use it – its just works, straight out of the box.  If you need advice or tips (and it’s really not difficult – if I can understand it anybody can), there is a very good support group.

Freeagent does all the things my accountant did, for a fraction of the price. For me, the best bit is that it provides day-by-day view ability of my (small) company’s state of play, from profitability, to outstanding invoices, pending quotes, tax position etc.   With my accountant doing my accounts, I only got this picture at the end of every quarter or at the end of the year.

Some of the many features of FreeAgent includes:

* Quotation of Estimates and quotations (from scratch or using a price list)
* Project setup and time tracking
* Expenses (both tracking) and payment
* Converting quotes into invoices (or new invoices from scratch) , including project time and expenses
* Print the invoices, convert to PDF or automatically email them to the customer
* Chase late payments
* Bank account transaction tracking, including download from most banks
* Tax calculations as you go, including PAYE, corporation and VAT
* Automatic submission of VAT to revenue and customs
* Payroll processing and reporting, including PAYE and dividends
* Tracking of multiple accounts, including paypal
* Full accounting reports; balance sheet, P&L, payroll, expenses, transactions, etc

Maybe the best thing about FreeAgent is you dont need to spend a lot of time on it, or know anything about accounting – it steps you through and does everything for you.  It is so simple. Its saves me time, it has saved me lots and lots of money, it provides me a clear picture of the state of my company, and its online so other people can access the information at the same time.   It’s already as cheap as chips, but if you use this link, you get a further 10% of the fees.  Plus you get to try it free for 30 days, so you have nothing to loose and everything to gain.

If you run any sort of small business, take a look – you really won’t regret it!