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Contents

  1. 1. What are business accounting services?
  2. 2. What business accounting services are available?
  3. 3. Benefits of getting help from small business accounting services
  4. 4. Who offers these accountancy services?

What are business accounting services?

June 30, 2021
For any small business owner, managing the accounts plays a vital role in assessing the financial strength and performance of their business. Knowing how much money is coming in and how much is going out is key to ensuring the business remains profitable – but there are lots of other things to consider as well.The good news is that you don’t have to sit down with a pen and pencil to work all of this out on your own. There are many business accounting services you can take advantage of to help. In this guide, we'll take a look at what business accounting services are available, how they can help you, and what the best options are to use.

What are business accounting services?

Business accounting services can help to support different elements of running, managing and monitoring the financial aspects of your business.
These services have traditionally been provided by a small business accountant or accountancy firm, but increasingly business owners are turning to advanced accounting software — such as Ember — to automate these time-consuming processes for them.

From filing tax returns to tracking expenses, accounting services are used to record, analyse, present and report financial transactions. Whether you're self-employed, a sole trader, start-up or small business, accounting should be at the heart of what you do. It provides vital information about costs, profit and loss, and tax management, allowing you to effectively budget your resources, comply with tax legislation and keep your business running smoothly.

What business accounting services are available?

Bookkeeping

This allows you to keep a record of all of your financial accounts so your financial statements are up to date. It involves record keeping, producing invoices, posting debits and credits, maintaining the general ledger and reconciling entries.

Payroll

Tax accounting services

Financial statements

Statements like cash flow, profit and loss and balance sheets are integral in helping a business monitor and investigate financial trends (both good and bad). If you need a list of all of your transactions, cash payments or cash balance, this is where you will find it.

Accounts payable

If you buy goods or services from a supplier on credit, the entry is referred to as accounts payable. It highlights any bills that are owed so you don't miss a payment, and correctly records when a payment is made – so you don't end up paying it twice!

Accounts receivable

This is the reverse of the above. When businesses buy your goods or services on credit, you need to collect payment at a later date. Having this recorded means you don't have to spend an age trawling through transactions to see what money you are owed, or miss a deadline of when a payment is due.This isn't an exhaustive list; businesses that operate at a large scale will usually need more support and may have dedicated finance, payroll and HR teams who manage all these functions (and more) in-house. For freelancers, contractors and small businesses, the level of accounting needed might be less, but in no way is it less important. If you are weighing up whether to get help with your business accounting services, here are some of the benefits it can provide.

Benefits of getting help from small business accounting services

Improve cash flow

Quite simply, if you don't have enough cash to keep your business afloat, then you will stumble into some serious financial problems. Falling behind on paying invoices or not paying staff on time could result in the end of your working relationship with your suppliers and your employees. Knowing when money is coming in and out of the business, your profit and loss, and real-time balance can help you make key decisions quickly.

Help with business strategy and growth

Having a real-time view of your finances can help you easily make decisions around scaling back or expanding your business. Categorising all of your transactions lets you see what areas are taking up the bulk of your costs, and financial statements help to forecast where you can afford to spend more of your money to grow the business.

Take care of payroll

Record management

Say goodbye to stacks of papers and receipts! You can either pass your invoices on to an accountant to record or store them yourself digitally – meaning you can access them whenever you need, without hunting through mountains of files and boxes to find them.

Tax efficiency

Of course, you need to pay the tax you owe, but you don't want to be over-paying on your tax if you can avoid it. Recording and categorising all of your transactions allows you to check that you are deducting all allowable business expenses.

Who offers these accountancy services?

Accountants and bookkeepers

For many years, the only way to access these services was through an accountant or a bookkeeper. Accountants are trained in financial matters and can provide expert advice, giving you peace of mind. They can look after your financial dealings, manage your taxes and keep you informed of the latest rules and legislation.However, accountants are not cheap. They can cost upwards of £150 a month and this figure may increase further depending on your business needs. You will also need to supply them with all of your purchase invoices and expense receipts and trust them to calculate everything correctly. If mistakes are made by your accountant, it is you as the business owner who is liable for any errors.If you don't have a huge number of business transactions, are comfortable dealing with the majority of services yourself, or want to stay in control, then an accountant is very unlikely to be the best option for you.

Online accounting software

With most online accounting services, you input all of your business transactions and the system stores and analyses the data for you. Depending on the type of software, it will also allow you to set up payroll, financial reporting and payment reminders.For people who have some knowledge of accounting, this is often preferable to hiring an accountant as it means more control. However, it can be a very manual process and take hours of time each month inputting finances and paying staff.There is also no guidance or support available from an accountant unless you hire one as well – further adding to your costs.If either of the above options aren't for you, there is a third choice...

Ember

Combine the expertise of an accountant with smart accounting software that lets you stay in control.We provide personalised onboarding, and our software allows you to handle your whole financial process with a few clicks – whether on desktop or our app.  If you do get in to bother or have any questions, you can reach out to us on our in-app chat and get a response from one of our accountants within 10 minutes. 

Why use Ember?

    Save Money: The less time you have to spend on your accounts, the more time you can spend working or planning how to grow your business. Rather than spending hours poring over receipts and making sure you've carried the 1, let us take care of the work for you.Free up time:  Our hassle-free accounting software automatically categorises transactions and allows you to see your real-time financial positions in just a few clicks.Minimise risk: When you sync up your business bank account, we'll automatically schedule upcoming payments that need to be made and alert you to your tax responsibilities. We can also file your tax returns straight to Companies House for you. 
Rachel Cameron-Potter
Rachel Cameron-PotterContent Marketer

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