UK Small Business Bookkeeping: Records to Year-End

What's inside

1. Level 1: Why Records Matter and What HMRC RequiresFree
   Learn why accurate records protect a UK business, which records HMRC expects you to keep and for how long, as stated on current GOV.UK guidance (checked 19 October 2026: 5 years from the 31 January filing deadline for sole traders, at least 6 years from the end of the accounting period for limited companies), and why this course is general information, not accounting or tax advice.
2. Level 2: Cash Basis Versus Accruals BasisFree
   Learn the difference between recording income and expenses when money moves (cash basis) and when they are earned or incurred (accruals basis), and who can use each.
3. Level 3: Double Entry in Plain Terms: Debits and Credits
   Learn how every transaction has two sides, and use simple rules for when to debit and when to credit assets, liabilities, income, expenses and capital.
4. Level 4: Setting Up a Chart of Accounts
   Learn how to design a clear, numbered chart of accounts for a small UK business, grouped into assets, liabilities, capital, income and expenses.
5. Level 5: Sales Invoices and the Sales Ledger
   Learn what a valid sales invoice must contain, how to number and issue invoices, and how to track money owed by customers in the sales ledger.
6. Level 6: Bills, Receipts and the Purchase Ledger
   Learn how to record supplier bills and receipts, track money owed to suppliers in the purchase ledger, and code each purchase to the right expense or asset account.
7. Level 7: Bank Reconciliation Step by Step
   Learn a repeatable, numbered process for matching the bank statement to the cash book and explaining every difference.
8. Level 8: Petty Cash and Expense Claims
   Learn how to control petty cash with an imprest system and how to record employee and owner expense claims with proper evidence.
9. Level 9: VAT Registration: Thresholds and When to Register
   Learn how VAT works, what counts as taxable turnover, and when registration becomes compulsory or is worth doing voluntarily, using GOV.UK's current figures (checked 19 October 2026: £90,000 registration threshold, £88,000 deregistration threshold).
10. Level 10: VAT Rates, Records and Schemes in Outline
    Learn the standard, reduced and zero rates, the difference between exempt and outside-the-scope supplies, and the main VAT schemes in outline: standard accounting, cash accounting, annual accounting and the Flat Rate Scheme.
11. Level 11: VAT Returns Under Making Tax Digital
    Learn the digital record-keeping and digital-link rules under Making Tax Digital, how the return boxes are made up, and how to check, file and pay a VAT return on time.
12. Level 12: Payroll and PAYE in Outline
    Learn the payroll basics a small employer needs: registering as an employer, Real Time Information submissions, tax codes, National Insurance, pension auto-enrolment, and recording payroll in the books.
13. Level 13: Reading the Profit and Loss and Balance Sheet
    Learn how the trial balance becomes a profit and loss account and a balance sheet, and how to read each one to understand how the business is performing and what it is worth.
14. Level 14: Year-End, Depreciation and Accountant Handover
    Learn the year-end routine: closing checks, depreciation of fixed assets in outline, accruals and prepayments, stock counts, and putting together a clean handover pack for your accountant.
15. Level 15: Choosing Software Without Lock-In
    Learn how to compare Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent and Sage against your business's needs, and how to keep your data portable so you never depend on a single provider.
16. Level 16: Finding and Fixing Common Bookkeeping Mistakes
    Learn to spot and correct the most common errors: mixing business and personal spending, miscoded VAT, duplicate or missing transactions, unreconciled accounts and wrongly recorded capital purchases.
17. Level 17: Final Challenge: A Full Period of Books Exam
    Bring the whole course together by keeping a full period of books for a cafe or freelance designer, from source documents to reconciled ledgers, a VAT return, payroll, financial statements and an accountant handover pack, and finish with the reminder that this course is general information, not accounting or tax advice.

Access

The first 2 levels are free with a free account. Every level, the podcast edition and the AI tutor come with All Access at £4.99/month or any Creator plan — see pricing.

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