UK webmasters, book keeping with foreign payments?

Im currently in the middle of putting my finances into an excel spreadsheet.

The problem is i receive USD and Euro payments as well as GBP.

Just wondered if any UK webmasters could tell me the best way to log this income, do i convert all the currencies to GBP and add them up that way?

Just doesnt seem all that accurate, im a little confused - any help would be greatfully appreciated

 

You should convert them to the amount that was credited to your bank in GBP when you accepted the payment.

 

Ok thanks,

I usually wait til the end of the month and pay all the foreign currency cheques in at one, it clears as one lump sum in GBP.

Is that an ideal way? Or should i be paying them individually as i receive them?

Thanks for the help!

 

To minimize charges you want to pay them all in together, then just calculate the GBP equivilent.

I've found it to be well worth the money (and my time) to hire a part-time book keeper to do this sort of work though if you invest in a decent accounts package that would also make life easier.

 

Thanks, that's what i've been doing, upto now.

Recently purchased QuickBooks and am getting to grips with it, but cant help feel im over my head.

Would you reccomend opening a business account with my current bank and making use of the guidance and services they have to offer?

For the past 6 months apart from keeping all my receipts etc i havent really kept any records and have kinda just played it month to month.

 

The best thing about a business account is you get to keep it seperate.

Also I use http://www.hrbs.biz for my accounts. He is an expert at accounting for people like us.

 

I've heard QuickBooks is very good for small to medium sized businesses. It's important that you set it up correctly from the start, so it might be worth paying someone to set it up and show you the ropes and then you'll be able to do it yourself from then on/

Definitely get a business account, it makes it so much easier to separate your personal and business finances. Most Banks will give you a charge free period of 1 or 2 years.

If you haven't done already you need to inform the taxman and have the annual tax return to look forward to, an accountant can save you money here by offsetting various household expenses (assuming you work from home) .

 

I would suggest you get multi currency bank accounts (if possible) in many countries you can have multi currency accounts

Then you have spread your exchange risks and also this avoids converting from currency to currency which the bank always charge you something for providing what should be a free service ............ but never is they always charge you even if they say the do not, they don't give you the best exchange rate

This is one way to do it .................... we have multiple accounts ............. it works well for us

 

Thanks for the guidance guys, its a real help!

Definitely going to look into getting a business acount, i think half the confusion is having all these mixed payments and deposits in the one account.

Gonna try get an appointment with my bank manager for next week, thanks again guys

 

Last time I looked, the Alliance And Leicester were doing 18 months free business banking.

 

I use abbey national free business banking forever. the only problem is you cant use the coutner for transactions u have to use teh bank machine, but it works fine.

 

Haha, what a strange co-incidence - I do to! Top bloke!

Did you find him through the A4U forums?

 

Thanks, thats actually pretty local to me. I'll be sure to give him a ring this week.

What are his rates like? I have a few other reccomendations but ideally looking for someone who knows about this industry.

Was a little awkward when i went to open the business account, the business manager had very little knowledge of the internet

 

Not sure about his rates. Once he answered my email withing a few hours and knew about affiliate stuff I knew he was the best person.

 

Yeah.. he sounds like a rare find!

 

Yeah give him a call or e-mail, his rates are very reasonable - and like you it was crucial I found someone who actually understood adsense/affiliate marketing etc.