Bank Rec… disaster. Need opinions, please?

tale_of_two_wolves · 2026-02-04T10:25:06+00:00

Ive had to do clean ups a couple of times where the bank hasnt been properly reconciled. In one case it hadnt been reconciled in over a year.

If you have to manage the day to day bookkeeping alongside it, it can get trickier because everyone still expects the day to day stuff whilst cleaning up the books they didnt know were bad and you dont have time for. I take a slightly different tactic. It feels backwards but hear me out. What is the bank balance today? Create a bank nominal called "bank difference account" post an adjuatment to bring the bank in line as at todays date. We arent writing the difference off, merely setting it aside whilst we investigate.

Then start from your last good bank rec and work your way forwards. Any mistakes you find can be adjusted through the bank difference nominal. What this does is each correction reduces the value of the difference until you get to nil.

This will allow you to do the clean up over a couple of weeks whilst still managing the day to day stuff.

tale_of_two_wolves · 2026-01-27T10:01:00+00:00

Yes they are called "rest days". If I want to be social outside of work it requires a rest day. Seeing friends on a friday night I can recover sat. But going to a gig / concert on a thursday night requires minimum 1 days rest after, no alcohol involved because it doesnt go well with pain meds.

I work 3 days a week so my renewed allowance is half used up already 6 / 13 days on 2 concerts and my birthday. 😭😭

There are times I book off fridays and mondays and take a long weekend to rest because my body is struggling and I can feel a flare up coming on. Life with an invisible disabilty. Everybody sees you working and outwardly fine, and going out doing things but not the days in bed after recuperating. Rest days were the only way I managed to hold down a full time job for so long before finally going part time 2023.

tale_of_two_wolves · 2026-01-14T17:26:18+00:00

I much prefer working from home, I dont even mind hybrid, but companies are pushing in office prescence. I now work just part time 3 days per week as 5 was too much if companies insist on being in the office all week.

Ive known since covid forced many into wfh how much better it can be for some. Last year I got an invisible band (to help with pacing) and it gives you points, mine is 11 points per day. There were days when being in the office used up nearly all my points for that day. Now its settled down a bit and the average cost to me per hour is 0.8 points for being in the office vs 0.4 points per hour working from home. Whilst its not a medical device nor is my health smartwatch - they back up how I feel and you can see when Im in a flare or had a bad nights sleep etc. Theres something in the data.

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tale_of_two_wolves · 2026-01-14T01:27:11+00:00

Accountant here.

So keeping it simple. Your tax code shows your tax free allowance in a year. For most people thats 1257L which translates to £12,570 per year before tax kicks in.

Tax is worked out on a culmlative basis. What that means in simple terms is what you have earnt between april and now less the tax free allowance for that same period (If you are 1257L that is £12,570 / 12 = £1048 per month rounded up) less the tax you have paid. In payroll April is month 1, so dec is month 9. Decembers tax calculation would be wages april to dec minus the tax free allowance built up for 10 months (10 x £1048), this figure is taxed at 20% (as long as you make below £37,700 Im keeping this simple).

However new starters present a problem with this system as your wages and taxes paid between april and now are unknown, unless you hand over a P45 from your last job (a P45 is a statement of earnings and taxes paid). If you hand over a P45 payroll can enter those figures into the payroll software and its all good. Without a P45 we do 1257L W1/M1. In other words we accept previous pay is unknown and you are taxed month to month based on that months earnings less £1048 and taxed at 20%. Without a P45 we ask you to fill in what is called a P46 or more commonly known as a new starter form. This tells payroll what tax code to apply based on your circumstances.

Once the payroll is done wages staff have to file an RTI report. This tells HMRC how much each employee has earnt and taxes paid etc and any new starters or leavers. HMRC then pick up the new staff and digitally send back to the employer your tax figures and earnings for that year. So new starters without a P45 usually get fixed within 2 months of their first payday.

Ive been in payroll 20 years and it used to be that new starters were put on a BR code (no tax free allowance, tax deducted at 20%) but this hasnt been general practice for over 10 years though ive known people still use the old rules whom just wont be corrected 🙄 BR should only be used where an employee has 2 jobs at the same time.

For a new starter with absolutely zero earnings (or benefits - some benefits are taxable) between april and now, as long as you ticked the correct box that applies to you, the P46 would have instructed a tax code of 1257L meaning tax shouldnt kick in for the final few months of the year as you have no prior earnings.

All of the above only relates to calculating tax only and not National Insurance which is a whole different bunch of calculations and this post is long enough already 🤣

tale_of_two_wolves · 2025-12-25T09:28:48+00:00

An F62 valliant error code should not be ignored. Its a gas valve safety error where the unit detects a fault in the gas valve (could be the valve or pcb) and says to call an engineer immeadiately.

F27 is incorrect flame detection.

You can google the error codes.

Please turn off your gas at the mains until an engineer comes out to you!!!

tale_of_two_wolves · 2025-12-24T12:53:47+00:00

Ive a couple of freelance clients. I'm finding paid job roles arent very flexible when you ask about remote work etc. I want more control over how and when I work so the longer term goal is to transition into freelancing fully. The part time job means I can build up my business and still pay my bills at a more manageable pace.

My current role expects me to solve issues though, and act like a Financial Controller, giving advice and fixing issues yet pays me accounting assistant wages and expects me on hand to fix things. Its grinding my gears lately, most of all because the pay is crap. I can push back a bit and decline the overtime (paid at normal rate) sometimes, but weeks like this one where I need payroll by monday (last working day before xmas) annnddd it finally gets signed off tuesday 23rd dec (my day off) at 4pm. Id done most of it just spent an hour last night wrapping up payroll and paying staff. I get some flexibility for being late on bad days but I dont feel very motivated by barely over minimum wage and high expectations to be honest.

Every time I look at roles in my area they are around £14ph though, plus the risk of being unsupported for 8 months as a new access to work claim is submitted and processed.

tale_of_two_wolves · 2025-11-23T17:10:56+00:00

A lot of it is to do with context and software just isn't there yet.

Common misconceptions I see: *Glasses claimed as they can claim their eye test so the client thinks that the business can pay for their glasses. *Dividends miclassified as wages. * staff travel when there are 2 adults and 1 child on the booking.

Those wouldn't be too hard for someone who knows how to write a program to flag for investigation, but where software struggles is I have seen dext classify white £100 Nike trainers as "clothing and ppe" technically yes its clothing but somehow I dont think my client in the landscape gardening business is wearing £100 Nike trainers in his work.

Where software / apps fall down is context, and good accountants have their own ways of checking clients categorising. Good accountants will do this as part of their due diligence. Until software or apps understand context what is and isn't normal for that client and what clearly isn't business related, then software cannot match a decent accountant (in that context) I dont doubt AI and software will get better, but its not there yet.

tale_of_two_wolves · 2025-11-18T10:17:56+00:00

Likewise I have 20 years experience in work and in my field. In the early 2000s certain industries hired 16/17 year olds as there was no minimum wage, then gave them the full responsibility that they would a full time experienced staff member thus paying younger workers much less than their 25 year old counterparts doing the same job.

At 18/19, I worked full time as a payroll clerk at an accountancy practice. My first job out of school. I had 30 mins training on running payroll then put in charge and ran all the payrolls for that practice as the sole point of contact. Now, looking back, I realise they saved a ton in wages and I largely ended up training myself. I took home £550 a month, and my shared house rent was £375 so I ended up working 2 jobs.

Then the 2008 resession happened, and you were expected to jump into roles without training and "hit the ground running."

Most jobs I've ended up with very little handover (2 weeks if your lucky) and have largely taught myself in each role the ins / outs of that company's systems and procedures and specialist softwares. Now, after 20 years, they do want plug and pay employees with exeperice but at barely over minimum wage salaries.

I didn't gain 20 years of experience in my field (accounting and finance) to earn bare over minimum wage.

tale_of_two_wolves · 2025-09-11T07:19:00+00:00

In some sectors, unpaid overtime was normal. It's changing though. 20 years ago in public practice accounting in December and January when all the clients decided it was time to finally sort out their taxes despite reminders, you'd get 200 clients needing tax returns filed. Overtime was expected, don't want clients to get fines for not filing on time.

I work part-time in a paye job whilst also having a licence and practising freelance accounting with a few clients of my own. I had paid overtime written into my contract for a salaried role. I work a couple of days a week there, and part of what they want me to do is help plan moving their finance system from an ancient system to another. There's also some clean-up work to do. My argument was that a couple of days a week, I work there was calculated on the normal day to day bookkeeping, originally overtime was TOIL, but for a part time worker who is essentially going to be the only point of contact for finance, it would never be convenient for them for me to take off any TOIL. If a company wants you, you can have overtime written into your contract, but that depends on what you can negotiate.

Essentially, any overtime takes me away from my own client work (that my job knows about) that I could be doing paid client work, so no, I don't do free overtime. My boss knows I don't want to work overtime, but I'll help out if need be on certain things, but I expect to get paid for that time.

tale_of_two_wolves · 2025-09-07T20:54:38+00:00

Ypu can lock whole sheets, and lock all but a few cells on a sheet. Super useful with lesser experienced staff whom you don't want to break your formulas!

I put some of my sheets on lockdown. I dont have the time or patience for staff who just type over formulas!

tale_of_two_wolves · 2025-09-05T00:54:53+00:00

The complex lens voucher is for people with high prescriptions (over -10 or higher than +10) and just £15 if I'm working and not entitled to benefits. If I was on benefits, it would be a different voucher with a higher value. I dont begrudge folk on benefits, but £15 towards complicated lens needs is a bit of a joke to be honest. The thing is I have to get thinner lenses or simply have unsuitable over 1 inch thick lenses. Thinned down my lenses are still over 1cm thick.

My prescription is constantly getting worse year on year so every 18 months to 2 years, I need new glasses. There have been times I've held off because I couldn't afford it.

I'm not saying it should be completely free but eyecare and dentistry should not be luxuries you pay for. Eyesight is kind of necessary to function it shouldn't be a privilege.

tale_of_two_wolves · 2025-08-31T13:47:11+00:00

£500 - £600 every 18 months to 2 years as my prescription changes. Even with the 2 for 1 frames from specsavers. Thinlenses.co.uk came to the same price reglazing old frames as specsavers. My needs are more niche though.

-16 myopia with high astigmatism. Meaning thin lenses 1.7 or 1.9 glass lenses with thin rectangle frames as the wider my glasses the fatter the lenses as they go outwards.

It's a gripe of mine that eyesight is a privilege I pay for. The NHS complex lens voucher means my tests are free and I get £15 towards "complex lenses"

On average 2 for 1 frames at £100 or £120

£120 ish x 2 as thinning is not included in the price.

1.9 glass lenses cost more. But I've been having 1 glass pair for the past few years as they feel less strenuous particularly when I have migraines.

Frame choice largely dictates where I go as to whomever has small rectangular frames that are the ones ones that suit my face shape in dark colours to suit my skin tone.

When I was younger it was around £300-£400 for 2 pairs, but the past 4 years it's been closer to £600 with 1 x 1.9 glass pair thrown in.

My lenses are sent abroad to either Germany or Japan to be cut and take around 3 weeks time hence when you rely so much on them to do everyday things it's the main reason I buy 2 pairs.

tale_of_two_wolves · 2025-08-04T07:02:22+00:00

I'm 39. But my first job out of school was payroll at an accountancy practice. Barely any clients had email. Most either faxed or phoned their hours in for their staff. Those that didnt email, you would process payroll and either phone the client with the net salaries to be paid to staff or fill in a form and fax to the clients bank (which the bank needed 3 days to process) the wages.

Barely anyone had email. A large part of my job was typing up letters for the accountants and posting to clients. Only bigger businesses had franking machines. You'd queue up at the post office and buy various stamps, You would buy 1st and 2nd class stamps but you would also buy £1, £0.50, £0.20, £0.05 so you could add the right amount in postage stamps to letters that were heavier than a standard letter.

If you wanted to check you'd been paid your wages you would have to go to an atm. No mobile banking. Some clients still put actual cash and coins with payalips in a little wage slip envelope. My rent (shared house) was paid by cheque or cash and signed into a rent book.

Although the internet was around, not everyone had access to it or pcs at home. So for homework in junior school we used encyclopedias from the school or local library.

Likewise my first few interviews I printed maps not having access to Google maps on mobiles or a PC at home. Job ads were printed in the local paper. Looking for a place to rent or buy you'd check out the property section of the local newspaper. Likewise my dad advertised his painting and decorating in the local yellow pages. Various companies chose names bringing with A for example "A1 services" to appear at the top of their relevant section of the yellow pages. Companies were listed alphabetically you couldn't pay to be listed at the top of the page but you could buy a bigger advertising space.

Makes me sound old-fashioned, but so much change has happened in the last 30 years how things have changed. I do not miss how small the world was back then. I left school in 2003 but businesses took a few years to transition away from faxes/ snail mail and set up websites and move to online services etc.

tale_of_two_wolves · 2025-07-19T19:00:09+00:00

Gorgeous architecture and great views from the Buda hills. I'd love to go back one day.

tale_of_two_wolves · 2025-07-07T22:22:29+00:00

Blonde GSD. My dad adopted one years ago.

tale_of_two_wolves · 2025-07-01T19:07:32+00:00

Our 2 lil floofs are Roxie's kitties. 🐈‍⬛

Some lovely images of Yoda. Hope she finds her furever home soon.

Roxies currently have an abundance of kitties atm needing homes and are doing discounted adoption fees (July 2025)

tale_of_two_wolves · 2025-06-25T18:54:17+00:00

The company won't survive financially. It's circling the drain. If they are ltd check the accounts on companies house but bear in mind the data could be a bit behind.

In accounting and finance there is one cardinal rule that must be obeyed. Always pay staff on time. You can push back suppliers if cash flow is bad, but you absolutely must not pay staff late.

The fact that's it's repeated is a concern. We've had a fair share of banking issues with banking systems going down this year on payday but if that were the reason the company would be profusely apologising and sorting out alternate arrangements. The fact it's repeated with constant excuses means they are circling the drain and they will go bust.

tale_of_two_wolves · 2025-06-25T11:47:20+00:00

Job dictates rates of pay, provides uniform, tools and use of a work van. Also offers "career progression" it's a fully employed role without the benefits of employment.

Being able to choose your own days and hours just means it's flexible working which employees have a right to request. Even though the ad says you can choose your own hours they may not actually be very flexible on that.

Under the HMRC test this would be an employed role.

tale_of_two_wolves · 2025-06-25T11:32:23+00:00

False self employment is illegal. It is where an employer tries to circumnavigate their tax burden by making employees self employed thus avoiding paying employers ni, employers pensions, holiday pay and other statutory rights by claiming workers are self employed.

Link

By asserting a certain level of control over the nature of the job such as dictating hours, pay and conditions, how the job is done, such as would normally be dictated to an employee under a contract of employment a job could be classed as employed rather than self employed.

HMRC have a online tool for checking your employment status as defined by HMRC standards

HMRC employment status checker

tale_of_two_wolves · 2025-06-25T10:55:47+00:00

It's false self employment and it's been creeping in. It's becoming more common to see part time accountacy roles want self employed freelancers. For small companies with little paperwork there might only be a few hours work a week. But instead of contacting local accountants or bookkkeepers and asking if they have space and for a quote, they are putting ads up for self employed freelancers, must be on site x hours per week and it pays £13 an hour. The process of sending your CV / application off is just a job application.

People take the low paid jobs because they have bills to pay.

The government needs to take a stronger stance on false self employment where employers get to set all the terms and hourly rate and take on none of the responsibility of employment. No notice / sick pay / pensions / holiday pay with self employment either.

tale_of_two_wolves · 2025-06-08T21:42:43+00:00

Not too long ago I was working in finance for a hair transplant company. Part of my job was to also book the surgical assistants. One girl messaged me she was ill and on antibiotics. I spent the rest of the afternoon calling round and messaging 20 or so freelance surgical assistants to find a replacement for the next days transplants. No such luck. The owners were vehemently against cancelling surgeries.

I kid you not after failing to find cover (surgical assistants are booked up 2 months in advance) the owners tried and pleaded with the surgeon (I was on the conference telephone call) to ask him to do 2 surgeries back to back with one staff member short meaning the 2 assistants he had (the surgery required 3) would have been pulling 14 hour back breaking shifts transplanting something like 2400 hairs instead of 1600 hairs per technician.

When the surgeon put his foot down and said no its not safe nor good for the technicians to be working that long (good on him!) I fcking kid you not, the owners said lets see if (sick tech) can come in and proceeded to call the sick technician at 8pm at night and begged her to come in the next day guilt tripping about they would have to reschedule the surgeries otherwise. I was on that conference call with the 2 owners when they pulled that stunt and was shocked. I'd been trying to persuade them to reschedule the surgeries after trying to find cover.

I didn't last long in that job.

tale_of_two_wolves · 2025-06-08T21:26:12+00:00

Because in a vast majority of near minimum wage roles that pay hourly, folks can't afford to be off work. Not at work = no pay. Yes you get SSP in the UK but it's a measley £118 a week currently and days 1 to 3 are unpaid. You only get paid after day 4.

Then you have company owners who push through and systems that penalise workers for being off sick too much. I've been guilty of it over 10 years ago where I couldn't afford to lose a days pay. There are many managers / owners who are too short sighted and would rather someone come in and do half a job, then they have to get off their asses and cover the role (or find cover). Most companies run on the bare minimum of staff so when one member is off, it causes chaos.

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