Bookkeeping for Business Owners

BOOKKEEPING & ACCOUNTING FOR BUSINESS

OWNERS By WKM Accountancy

Bookkeeping and accounting can be an overwhelming task even for experienced business owners; however, there are a couple of straightforward strategies that can keep your finances in working order. Here is a list of some of the most helpful accounting tips for your small business.

Keeping all your Records and Receipts in order

If you don’t keep your records and receipts, you could miss out on valuable tax deductions on expenses or you could end up understating your income which could lead to potential fines and penalties. A solution to help with this is to make use of one of the numbers of cloud accounting packages that allow you to track and submit your expenses on the go from your mobile or tablet. Another benefit of cloud accounting packages is that you can store all your receipts and bills online so there is no risk of losing them. Or you can still record your records on excel or use a desktop accounting package to help track your transactions. HMRC requires you to keep them for 6 years. Once all of all of your transactions are on a cloud accounting package they can be reconciled and categorized. By keeping good records of your business, you can ensure you get paid by all of your customers which is very important for small businesses with limited cash reserves.

Start early and keep on top of your records

If you start early and keep on top of your records you will save a lot of time and stress. As mentioned above, cloud accounting software can help with this, but you have to keep updating your records in order to stay ahead.

Forms and Deadlines

Most small businesses have at least two deadlines, one for filling out tax returns; the other for paying the associated tax bill. If your business turn over exceeds £85,000 your business will most likely have VAT returns to file as well. However, the payment of liability can be set up as a direct debit straight from your business bank account.

Furthermore, if you have a limited company, your company will have to file its annual accounts with companies’ house and HMRC. Should you miss any of these deadlines, Penalties can build up quickly. On top of that, if you are an employer, you also have to file payroll RTI (Real time information) returns each time you pay your staff. An accountant can help ensure you meet those deadlines and perhaps help your business to save tax and grow its turnover on profits. If you require assistance with making tax digital, please do not hesitate to contact us on 0115 82440555 or email info@wkm-accountancy.com For more information on tax/accountancy related, please visit www.wkm-accountancy.co.uk.

THEY WERE SENTENCED TO DEATH. GOT LAW DEGREES IN PRISON. THEN GOT FREE

By Dominic Kirui

In Kenya, where millions struggle to get access to justice, some inmates are studying the law so they can help themselves and each other. On a bright Saturday morning, Willis Ochieng’ watches on as some children play football on a muddy field on the outskirts of the capital Nairobi. A bit further away, some women are sorting rubbish into piles alongside locals washing cars in the sun. For most, this may be a very ordinary scene, but for Ochieng’ it is one to savour. Until a few months ago, he thought he would spend the rest of his life in jail. He had already been in prison for almost two decades. “Things have changed,” he exclaims as he pulls out his phone from his pocket. “On my arrest in 2001, I left a mobile phone with an aerial!” Ochieng’, who admits to selling drugs in high school and being a member of a gang called Baghdad, had been tried and convicted for robbery with violence. In Kenya, this crime is punishable by death, though in reality this equates to life imprisonment; no one has been executed by the state since 1987. With most of his life still ahead of him, the young man who’d had little education was thrown into Kodiaga prison in Kisumu County where he believed he would see out the rest of his days. Little did he know that nearly twenty years later, he would walk out of a prison a free man, having successfully argued in court for his own release.

When he first reached prison, Ochieng’ was keen to keep studying and took to it well. After a while, he sat his secondary school exams before going on to teach his fellow inmates at various different jails to which he was relocated over the years. Eventually, he found himself at Kamiti prison where he taught other prisoners’ chemistry and biology. That’s where he was in the late-2000s when a new initiative called the African Prisons Project (APP) began. Founded by Alexander McLean, who trained as a barrister in the UK, the initiative began as a way to help provide access to justice for inmates in Kenya and Uganda. “I met prisoners, usually young men like me,” he told African Arguments of his motivations for establishing the APP. “They had been in prison for years without a trial.” both hands, going on to attain a law diploma and then a law degree along with 17 fellow inmates. It was through this process that Ochieng’ and others learnt that they could apply for resentencing if they felt their punishments were not justified. Some APP paralegals helped them draft their applications and trained them in how to represent themselves in court. Ochieng’ made his case in front of the judges and was ultimately successful, in part thanks to the argument that death sentences are no longer legal since Kenya’s passed a new constitution in 2010. He walked free soon after.

Ochieng’ now works for the APP as an interim researcher. His colleagues include other former inmates such as William Okumu, an administrator for the initiative’s legal education programme. Okumu also managed to reduce his sentence after learning law in prison. “Studying [for a law degree] while in prison was a lot more fun and easier since everyone you met was a file,” he says. Yet other former inmates help the programme run clinics – or “mini law firms” – in prison where law students and paralegals can offer legal aid. Overall, the APP currently works in 30 prisons and has 115 paralegals, 17 law graduates and 15 law students. According to Mary Khaemba, Director for Rehabilitation and Welfare in Kenya’s prisons, these initiatives have made a huge difference to many prisoners, especially those who would ordinarily struggle to access the kind of legal support they need. “[The students and graduates] have been very useful in writing appeals for their fellow inmates and actually that was our desire from the beginning since some of the inmates are very poor. Getting lawyers or advocates to write appeals for them or to defend them is a nightmare”, she says. In Kenya, access to justice is a major problem. The country struggles to ensure all citizens get sufficient legal support and are treated equally by an overstretched legal system. It is estimated that of the over two million Kenyans arrested each year, less than a third even get charged in court. Programmes like the APP can only make a small dent in this shortcoming, but for those who have had the opportunity to get legal advice or studied for law degrees while in prison, the effects can be huge. And the initiative is now looking to assist graduates do their bar exams so that they can run law firms of their own.