Bookkeeping and reconciliation
Bank, card and payment-processor feeds reconciled every month, supplier invoices coded consistently, and a short note listing anything we could not match without you.
- Monthly close
- Coded ledgers
- Open-items note
What we handle
Four lanes of work, and exactly what lands in your inbox.
Most clients take bookkeeping plus year-end and add planning once turnover becomes less predictable. You can start with one lane and move later.
Year-end accounts and filing
Statutory accounts drafted from books we already know, a review call before anything is approved, then filing well ahead of the deadline rather than in the final fortnight.
- Draft and review
- Approval call
- Early submission
Tax planning and forecasting
A rolling view of what you are likely to owe and when, so a good quarter does not turn into a surprise bill. We model salary and dividend mixes before the year closes, not after.
- Liability forecast
- Drawings modelling
- Allowance timing
Payroll and contractor admin
Payroll run on a fixed day each month with payslips issued before payday, plus the record-keeping that keeps subcontractor and freelancer payments defensible.
- Fixed pay date
- Payslips issued
- Contractor records
We work from your records, not a rebuild
If your bookkeeping already runs in a cloud ledger, we connect to it. If it lives in spreadsheets and a shoebox, we will tell you honestly what the first three months of tidying involves before you commit.
Choosing an engagement
Three shapes of working relationship.
Scope is agreed in writing before work starts, and fees are quoted as a fixed monthly or annual amount after we have seen your records.
| Compare | Year End OnlyAnnual | Monthly BooksMost common | Advisory RetainerGrowing firms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who it suits | Sole traders and dormant companies with tidy records and few transactions. | Owner-run limited companies with staff, stock or regular invoicing. | Firms hiring, raising finance or planning a change in structure. |
| Cadence | One preparation window after your year end. | Monthly close, quarterly management pack. | Monthly close plus a scheduled planning session each quarter. |
| Bookkeeping | You keep the books; we review and adjust. | We keep the books and reconcile every account. | We keep the books with departmental or project coding. |
| You receive | Statutory accounts, tax computation, filing confirmation. | Monthly ledger summary, quarterly pack, year-end accounts. | Everything in Monthly Books plus cash-flow forecast and scenario notes. |
| Review meetings | One approval call. | Two calls a year, plus questions by email whenever they come up. | Four planning sessions a year with written follow-up actions. |
| Starting point | Send last year's accounts and current ledgers. | Records review, then a clean-up month if needed. | Records review and a scoping session on what you are planning. |
Filing year at a glance
What a steady year actually looks like.
This is the rhythm we hold clients to. Nothing here is urgent if it happens on time, which is the entire point of the schedule.
Open the year cleanly
- Confirm opening balances carried forward
- Review payroll figures for the new period
- Agree the year's fee and scope in writing
- Set the monthly close date with you
Check the trend early
- First management pack with margin commentary
- Early estimate of the year's tax position
- Chase aged receivables before they harden
- Review recurring supplier costs
Make decisions while they count
- Model drawings, salary and dividend timing
- Plan equipment purchases against allowances
- Flag anything that changes your filing duties
- Tidy the ledger before the final quarter
Close, approve, file
- Stock, work in progress and accruals confirmed
- Draft accounts issued for your review
- Approval call, then filing ahead of deadline
- Next year's plan written while it is fresh
Dates are set against your own accounting reference date, not a generic calendar year.
How we work
From first enquiry to a filed set of accounts.
One accountant stays with your file. You will not be reintroduced to a new contact every quarter, and nothing is handed to an anonymous processing team.
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Records review
You send recent ledgers, bank statements and last year's accounts. We read them before we talk, so the first conversation is about your business rather than your file formats.
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Scope and fixed fee
We write down what we will do, what we need from you each month, and the fee. If a clean-up period is needed first, it is priced separately and explained.
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Handover and first close
We take over the ledger, set your close date and run one supervised month together. Any inherited gaps are listed plainly rather than quietly absorbed.
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Steady cycle
Monthly close, quarterly pack, planning before the year ends and filing early. You hear from us on a schedule, not only when a deadline is close.
Common questions
Asked before most people enquire.
Can I switch accountants part-way through my financial year?
Yes, and it is more common than switching at year end. We request your records and working papers from your current accountant with your written authority, reconcile from the last agreed position, and carry on from there. A mid-year move usually adds one extra reconciliation month to the first invoice.
What format do my records need to be in?
Any cloud ledger we can be invited into works directly. Spreadsheets are fine too, provided the bank statements are complete. We do not require you to change software to become a client, though we will say so if your current setup is making the work slower and more expensive than it needs to be.
My bookkeeping is months behind. Is that a problem?
It is the situation we see most often. We quote the catch-up work as a separate, fixed clean-up phase so it never appears as an open-ended hourly bill. Once the backlog is cleared, the ongoing monthly fee is the one we quoted at the start.
How are fees worked out?
From transaction volume, number of bank and payment accounts, payroll headcount and whether stock or projects need tracking. We review your records first, then quote one fixed monthly or annual figure. Fees are reviewed once a year, in writing, before the new period starts.
Who actually does the work on my account?
A named accountant owns your file and does the review work. Routine processing may be shared within the practice, but the person who signs off your accounts is the person you have been speaking to all year, and they are the one who answers your questions between closes.
Will you talk to me during the year, or only at year end?
During the year, deliberately. Decisions about equipment, hiring or drawings are far cheaper to shape in quarter three than to explain in quarter four. Short questions by email are included in every engagement and are not billed as extras.
Enquire
Tell us where your books are now.
Send a few lines about your business and we will reply with the records we would need to see and a realistic start date. No obligation, and no pressure to move before your year end if waiting suits you better.
- Reply time One working day
- First conversation No charge
- Fee quoted After records review