We should really explain the difference between accountancy and bookkeeping.

Traditionally the bookkeeper would take all your records and process them to give a trial balance.

The accountant would come along, check through the work, discuss it with you and then make one or two adjustments. Typically these might be for accruals and prepayments as well as journals to bring the records into agreement with general accounting principles. This process was called creating an extended trial balance.

At this point a final set of accounts could be produced and this would form the basis for your tax return. If you have a limited company then the accounts would be filed at Companies house.

What does all this mean? Well typically you will see these options:-

1. We do it all from start to finish. From preparing the records, to filing the tax return.

2. We do the bookkeeping only.Preparing the records and then passing the records on to your accountant.

3. You have an in house bookkeeper to prepare the basic records. We then prepare the final accounts and prepare the tax return.