Thursday 27 March 2014

QuickBooks Online Plus – offer ending!

If you are considering an online accounting option you only have until the end of the month to sign up with us for QuickBooks Online Plus and be sure to fix your monthly cost for as long as you maintain a subscription. Signing up before April also gives you an unlimited rather than restricted number of users.  We can offer this for £15 including VAT - a discounted price to that available directly - and this also includes the benefit of access to support from our staff who are QuickBooks Online Certified Pro Advisors.

For further information about this initiative please see here or contact us. If you would like to find out more about what cloud accounting is then please see our recent Good Practice Guide .

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Accounts process – sending in your records

This item is specifically relevant for those organisations for whom we do accounts work. In recent e-bulletins we have covered various elements of the key stages of the process to follow when we prepare or examine your accounts. This is aimed at helping to make the process as efficient and effective as possible and enable us to give you the best service we can. This month we have produced some guidance about what needs to be in place before you think about dropping off your accounting records with us.

Please note if you drop these off without making arrangements with us first or if they are not complete we can’t guarantee having them ready for when you want them!  If you have any queries please do let us know.

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Gift Aid – Budget update

In last week’s Budget statement the Government stated its intention to encourage more donors to use Gift Aid on eligible donations and also smaller charities to register for the reliefs they are entitled to. The Budget document said this will include “targeted outreach work” and a “simpler” joint HMRC/Charity Commission application process.

If you think your charity is missing out on claiming under the Small Donations Scheme check this helpsheet  to see if you may be eligible.  To learn about practical steps to get the Gift Aid registration, declaration and claiming process in place, see the WYCAS Good Practice Guide  (at the foot of the page in the Tax section).  And if you would be interested in some specific training on this subject, please get in touch with Claire Welling.

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Good news from the tax man!

Did you know that small businesses and charities become entitled to up to £2,000 off their employer’s NICs from April 2014?  To make sure your organisation receives this allowance you need to tick a box on the first Employer Payment Summary (EPS) submitted for 2014/15. The employer may need to send an EPS every month that they reduce their payments to re-claim the £2,000. If you are using a payroll bureau make sure they are claiming the allowance on your behalf.

For groups in Leeds and Bradford – VA-Leeds and CPA payroll bureaux have this in hand. Your treasurer will need to amend the budget for 2014-15. More money to go towards the good work of your organisation!

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Charity SORP consultation

In several e-bulletins last autumn we referred to the release of the draft SORP (Statement of Recommended Practice) - ‘Accounting and reporting by Charities’. This is an important document for anyone interested in charity accounting and comments were encouraged from both preparers and users of charity accounts and reports. The consultation period ended in November and earlier this month, the non-confidential consultation responses were made publically available. You can find them on the Charity SORP website.  The SORP Committee’s considered response and associated recommendations is expected to be released shortly.

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New blog alert!

WYCAS has entered the blogging world! Our Leeds Community Account, Claire Welling has started a blog  on the DoingGoodLeeds website. She will pick up and cover topical finance related issues and queries and aims to blog on average twice a month.  We welcome any ideas of possible issues to cover so if you have any thing you would like to Claire to address please use the comments section.

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E-Bulletin

Our e-bulletin is issued on a monthly basis and sent directly to registered subscribers. It is also available from our website. Please note that information and resources contained in the e-bulletin are general in nature and not intended as specific advice or recommendations. We welcome any feedback on the content and format so that we can improve it and make sure it meets your needs. Please let us know  if you have any comments or suggestions.

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