Book keeping software for contractors

[mattyfez]

Hi all,

As the title really, I have been contracting for about a year now, and whilst using an umbrella company is easy for a beginner as they take care of all my tax and insurance, they charege a lot and are not very efficient so I have been looking into going fully self employed.

My biggest concern is book keeping, some kind of accounting package is the obvious answer but im not to sure whats available and whats suitable for a one-man band, something thats designed for a large companies payroll will be too complicated and no doubt, expenseive!

What I really need is something user friendly, but sophisticated enough to change various tax ammounts depending on income and expense each month, whils also taking into account the years previous earnings for tax allowances, and enable me to do yearly and monthly wage summaries and reports.

Does anyone do a simmilar thing? what software have you used/reccomend/

Thanks

 

[Dappy]

Have a look at GnuCash, it's a free open source accounts program.

http://www.gnucash.org/

 

[CaptainCrash]

Does anyone do a simmilar thing? what software have you used/reccomend/

Thanks

Sage have got the SME bookkeeping market pretty well sewn up in the UK - accountants like it, and as your business expands it'll probably save you time, effort and ultimately money if you just go along with the herd.

Sage Instant Accounts is the base version (about £100 IIRC), and you can upgrade as and when your needs dictate. It's reasonably easy to use, although a little bookkeeping knowledge comes in handy as you'd expect.

Having said that, personally I don't really like Sage much (using an oldish version of Line 50 at the moment) - ensuring a solid audit trail is all well and good, but I always get the feeling it's working for other people rather than me.

 

[jbloggs]

There is also Microsoft Office Accounting Express which is also free...