News from Accountz.com

Feature: Understand Accounting

2009-03-10T13:35:00.000-07:00

Quentin Pain, founder of Accountz.com, provides an introduction to accounting and the philosophy behind the Accountz range of products.

This is a simple guide to double-entry bookkeeping, a pattern like all good patterns that has stood the test of time (modern double-entry was outlined in Benedetto Cotrugli’s treatise Delia Mercatura et del Mercante Perfettoin in 1458 and expanded in Pacioli’s Summa de arithmetica 36 years later). The problem with most guides (certainly all those I have read on the subject) is that they start off with the balance sheet. This is enough to put most people off for life.

This guide takes an entirely different approach. By using a few transactions and some simple guidelines the logic behind double-entry becomes clear and the jargon falls into place.

Words like nominal ledger and trial balance will become second nature. You will have no problem with your debits and credits. In short, you will be able to post a journal just as easily as you can now post a letter.

By the end, you will be able to talk, and understand, the same language as your bank manager, accountant, and tax inspector.

Transactions
When we buy something there are two things to consider:

Where the money came from (i.e. the account that is paying for it, e.g. bank or cash)
Where the money went to (i.e. what it was spent on, e.g. petrol, stationery, insurance)

In a single-entry accounting system entries are recorded one after another in a book which typically has columns for the account used and the analysis of what was bought. Whilst we have no problem looking at the bank and cash columns as accounts, we rarely think of the analysis headings as accounts in their own right.

In a double-entry system all of these are referred to as accounts (e.g. a cash account, a petrol account etc.), and more importantly, separate entries are made for each account involved in a transaction.

Suppose we pay for some petrol with cash. Two entries are required:

one to show where the money came from (cash)
and the other to show where it went to (petrol).

This from and to aspect of each transaction is known as crediting and debiting. It is what the term double-entry means.

In order to record these entries we need somewhere to write them down. These are called Day Books or Journals.

The Journal
This is a book (similar to a diary) that contains various columns where day to day financial transactions are recorded. The minimum number of columns required is five:

date
account
reference
amount to debit
amount to credit

All transactions are entered one after another in date order, therefore the book contains a complete history of transactions in chronological order. In practice, a business will use more than one book, each of which will be devoted to a certain aspect of the business and each will be given a name to reflect this (e.g. ‘sales’ or ‘purchases’).

Lets start with the example given earlier: purchasing petrol with cash. Two accounts are involved in this transaction (petrol and cash) so we will need to make two entries.

The entries show how the money flows from one account to another. To achieve this the first entry will credit one of the accounts and the second will debit the other. However, deciding which account to debit and which to credit is not particularly obvious (getting it the wrong way round is by far the most common error in double-entry).

This is where our first helpful hint comes in: Every transaction must come from somewhere and go to somewhere else. The from side is the credit side and the to side is the debit side.

So, from=credit and to=debit. You can remember this easily because the F in from comes before the T in to and C in credit is before the D in debit. Remember this single rule of wisdom and you always know your credits from your debits.

Traditionally the debit column is shown to the left, and the credit column to the right. That is, double-entry goes to before it knows where it came from, hence the famous T-Shirt slogan Accountants do it Backwards!

If you apply this from and to principle to our first transaction you will know which account to debit and which to credit: the money is coming from cash and going to petrol so we credit cash and debit petrol.

Lets take a look at the cash account to understand exactly why we credit it when we are taking money from it.

The cash account should be thought of as a real cash box. When you remove some money to buy some goods, you should replace it with a receipt or petty cash slip to say what the money was used for. A receipt or petty cash slip is a form of credit note, so the cash box now contains a credit note instead of the cash, hence we show the entry as a credit. (Logically, if you returned the goods because they were faulty, the receipt would be given back in exchange for the cash).

The exact same applies to any monetary account whether it is cash or a current bank account. When you take money from it, it is credited in your books.

Looking at the debit side (where the money went to), the petrol account now has the money (albeit in the form of half a tank of petrol!), it got the money from cash so it is in debt to cash - hence it is entered as a debit.

This is the fundamental principle of double-entry, we are keeping track of where the money came from (a credit) and where the money went to (a debit).

Furthermore the first rule of accounting states that all the debits must equal the credits. Therefore, provided all your entries are correct, no money can ever escape the system or be introduced into it without a complete record of it being shown in the journal.

The second example will be a sale. You will need one more account that we shall call Sales. In this example we will sell something for cash. Therefore the second set of entries will credit sales (where the money came from) and debit Cash (where it went to).

As we enter more and more transactions it will become increasingly difficult to calculate our current cash balance (or for that matter our total sales). Therefore we need a way of looking at each account separately. This is achieved by making exact copies of the entries in the journal to another book called the ledger. This is called posting.

When posting you are not moving an entry, but making a copy of it somewhere else. Your original entries will always exist in the order you entered them in the journal.

Posting is traditionally done at the end of each month but is entirely at your discretion - if you need to know what your sales figures are, then you will need to make sure all your transactions are entered in the journal and posted to all the relevant accounts in the ledger as we are about to see.

The Ledger
A ledger is just another book but with each page devoted to a single account. It is simply an alternative view of your journal entries - the journal entries are in date order, the ledger is a re-arrangement of the journal in account order.

The important thing to remember is that all your transactions are entered in the journal first. The ledger merely contains copies of them re-arranged by account.

Just like the journal, most businesses will use more than one ledger, each devoted to a certain aspect of the business and each given a different name to reflect this (e.g. ‘Sales Ledger’ and ‘Purchase Ledger’), but whatever the case, a single general ledger will always be opened. This is called the Nominal Ledger (called the General Ledger in the US).

Although it is termed ‘nominal’ for reasons which will become clear later, it is nevertheless important to realise that it is the main ledger of a business (i.e. where other ledgers are also in use, the final balance of those ledgers will also be held in the nominal ledger). Therefore, the nominal ledger will hold the full picture of a business however many other ledgers are used.

In order to post (i.e. make copies of) the entries from the journal we must draw up a list of the accounts used so far and give each one its own page in the ledger.

We need three accounts at this stage: a cash account, a petrol account and a sales account.

The layout of each account in the ledger is identical to the journal with the exception that the ‘account’ column is no longer required - we are looking at the entries of just one account so it can be included as the title of the page instead.

Once we have posted our entries into the ledger we can then begin to see how the business is doing.

Posted entries are exact copies of the original. If the entry was a debit entry in the journal then it is also a debit entry in the ledger. Although we can now see the relevant entries we don’t yet know what the balance is; furthermore we don’t know whether that balance means we have a surplus or a deficit of cash. To find out, follow this procedure:

1. Start by adding up the debit and credit columns and show the totals on a new line.
2. Subtract one from the other to get the balance using the following rules:

If the debit total is greater: the balance=debits-credits and the result is put in the debit column.
If the credit total is greater: the balance=credits-debits and the result is put in the credit column.
In other words, we are always going to get a positive balance, and it will always be placed under the highest total (this is the reason the columns were totalled first).

Because the balance of every account is always expressed as a positive value it doesn’t tell us where we stand in relation to it (e.g. do we have a surplus of cash or is it overdrawn?).

We can overcome this by applying our from/to guide again (from=credit and to=debit). If the balance is in the debit column, then we have a positive cash balance (more money has gone to it than from it). If it shows a credit balance then it is overdrawn.

How does it apply to the sales account? If it has a credit balance, then we have positive sales. Where has the money come from? sales. And finally, look at the petrol account. Where has the money gone to? petrol.

The next step is to check that all the journal entries have been posted correctly to the ledger. This is called a trial balance.

The Trial Balance
The trial balance is a complete list of your account balances from the ledger. The layout is similar to the ledger except that only three columns are required: the account name and a debit and credit column.

Just the final balance line of each account is copied into the trial balance using the debit column if the account has a debit balance, or the credit column if the account has a credit balance.

The debit and credit columns are then totalled and checked that they match each other to satisfy the first rule of accounting (all the debits must equal the credits).

If they are not equal to each other it is proof that a mistake has been made. An audit is then carried out to find the error.

An audit simply means going through each entry in the journal to check that it matches the original paperwork (this is called an audit trail). If no error is found then it must be due to a mistake when posting the entries to the ledger. The audit then continues by checking each journal entry against the ledger entries.

OK, so lets discover if the business is making a profit or a loss.

The Profit and Loss Account
The Profit and Loss account (aka P&L), as its name implies, tells us whether we are making a profit or a loss: are we earning more money than we are spending? (a profit), or vice-versa (a loss).

The layout of the P&L account is just like any other account. To compile the P&L account copy the balances of the sales and expense accounts into it. We can then use our from/to guide on the resulting balance to determine if a profit or loss has been made. If more money has come from sales than has gone to expenses, we have made a profit. That is, if the credit side is greater than the debit side we have made a profit.

Having established the P&L account we must do one more thing: take a look at the business as a whole. For this we need to prepare the balance sheet.

The Balance Sheet
We can now look at the main equation of a double-entry system which will show that the first rule of accounting (the debits must equal the credits) not only applies to each transaction but continues right up to the main financial statement of the business; the balance sheet.

The P&L account reflects the balance of a specific area of your business over a particular period of time. The balance sheet reflects the current balance of everything since the business began.

The ledger holds this information, so like the trial balance we can compile the balance sheet by copying all the account balances into a report. The only difference is that the accounts are re-arranged to show what the business owns and what it owes. These are broken down into 3 groups:

Assets These are the things the business owns. They are usually broken down into two groups: Current Assets and Fixed Assets.

Current assets include money in the bank, petty cash, and money owed to the business by its customers.

Fixed assets include capital items like business premises (assuming they are not rented), company cars and office equipment.

Liabilities These are the things the business owes to third parties. They too are usually broken down into 2 groups: Current Liabilities (e.g. overdraft at the bank) and Fixed Liabilities (e.g. Long Term Loans).

Equity Equity represents what the business owes to the owner of the business. This includes money paid for shares or capital introduced, any profits (or losses) brought forward from previous years as well as the current balance from this year’s P&L.

These three groups make up what is known as the accounting equation:

Assets = Liabilities + Equity

Easily remembered by those who like a pint with the acronym: ALE.

Just like any mathematical equation a balance sheet can be re-arranged in any order you like:

Equity = Assets - Liabilities
Liabilities = Assets - Equity

Probably the most useful view is Equity. Since equity is what the business owes its owners, it represents the value of the business from the owners point of view. If this were your personal accounts, it would be your net worth.

Compiling a balance sheet is just more of what we have been doing so far; rearranging account balances by copying them into a different order. Assets first (bank balances, cash balances, debtors, unsold stock, buildings and company vehicles), then Liabilities (overdrafts, creditors, loans, mortgages), then Equity (P&L, Paid-up share capital, profit or losses brought forward from previous years).

The Assets will have a debit balance, the liabilities (including equity) will have a credit balance. Add the two resulting columns up and they should both have the same balance.

Although this is a very simplified view of accounting from an initial transaction right through to its effect on a balance sheet, it shows just how simple the process really is. Before computers came along, the whole process was carried out manually exactly as above.

Early software emulated this process, making things only marginally quicker by automatically adding columns. Modern software takes things a stage further by eliminating the need to post anything.

All you need to enter are the original transactions.

Take a look at accountz.com for more on the subject as well as software to try out.

Macworld San Francisco: The Reception

2009-01-08T10:23:00.001-08:00

The reception of the Accountz range within the Macworld Expo 2009 has been superb. It seems that the US market is looking for alternatives to the likes of Quicken and Sage. Benefits of the Accountz range include a fixed one-off fee for payment; no charges for routine upgrades and the program being self contained on the local computer.

Throughout 2009, you can expect to hear considerably more about this.

Video Tutorials - part 3 - How to create entries and accounts in Personal Accountz

2009-01-05T11:40:00.000-08:00

In this tutorial we take you through the process of creating accounts, and adding entries to those accounts, within Personal Accountz.

If you have any requests, please let us know - support@accountz.com.

Video Tutorials - part 2 - Import Microsoft Money files into Personal Accountz

2008-12-29T11:36:00.000-08:00

In this tutorial, we explain how to import Microsoft Money files into Personal Accountz for the PC, Mac or Linux. If you've changed computers, this is a very easy way to retain your existing files and hence a history of your finances.

If you have any requests, please send them to support@accountz.com.

Video Tutorials - part 1 - Import Quicken files into Personal Accountz

2008-12-22T11:29:00.000-08:00

There are a number of video tutorials for Personal Accountz available through YouTube. We'll be highlighting these, once a week, through the News Blog: the aim being to provide you with practical hints and tips that will allow you to be more productive with Personal Accountz and your money in general.

None of these videos is particularly long: all are quick and easy guides to a particular aspect of the program. We'll highlight these on a weekly basis; should you wish us to cover anything in particular; please email support@accountz.com and request it.

Accountz.com at the Macworld Conference & Expo 2009

2008-12-13T03:54:00.000-08:00

Accountz.com will be exhibiting at the Macworld Conference & Expo 2009, taking place at the Moscone Center in San Francisco from January 5th to 9th 2009.

Located within the Special Interest Pavilion on booth 3726 in the Moscone North Hall, we'll be launching the first versions of Personal Accountz and Business Accountz Enterprise aimed at the American market.

Quentin Pain, the founder of Accountz.com Limited, will be on hand to demonstrate the product; and we'll have press kits available with fully functional versions of both Personal Accountz and Business Accountz Enterprise available for members of the press.

We hope to see you there.. and if you are visiting, we have a hundred passes for the Expo available free of charge. Visit the site at http://rcsreg.com/macworld/RHW61604 to register for your pass. Get them while they're hot! We hope to see you there.

Business Accountz and the new 15% VAT rate

2008-11-30T08:36:00.000-08:00

This new week brings with it a new rate of VAT. With the VAT rate dropping to 15%, those running their accounts will need to ensure that the VAT rate charged on all invoices issued from Monday reflects this.

Users of Sage searching through the website may find very little. A telephone call brought the advice that you should manually change T1 to 15%. If you have to enter old bills, edit it back to 17.5 again, then edit back to 15 etc.

With QuickBooks, there is no mention on the website; only QuickBooks Pro can do it but they were not sure how over the telephone. Their advice was to speak to the technical support department who should be able to talk you through it.

Users of MYOB and Mamut will find no mention on their website, and we had trouble getting through on the telephone.

Accountz.com Limited have made available an upgrade (free of charge to existing users) that is date aware. This means that you do not need to think about the VAT change at all - the process is completely automatic.

UK VAT Rate change December 1st 2008

2008-11-28T15:06:00.000-08:00

Business Accountz was updated within 1 hour of the chancellor announcing the unprecidented decision to change the standard rate of VAT with less than a week's notice.

As Accountz have never imposed any support charges, all Business Accountz users benefit from a free update. Users of Business Accountz do not have to worry about the change as the software is VAT DATE aware and adjusts the VAT automatically. No codes have to be changed by the user.

Quentin Pain, CEO and founder said "we sent an email to all our users the same day to inform them of the change and to reassure them they were safe with Accountz. As a result we only received a single phone call asking for advice".

Free Internet Payroll

2008-11-18T04:02:00.000-08:00

Accountz announces partnership with Payroo Ltd to offer free internet payroll for UK customers.

This will be launched at the Business Startup Show at Olympia, London on 28/29th November 2008.

Payroo Ltd operate a fully HMRC accredited online payroll in the UK. Quentin Pain said "We are delighted to be working with Payroo to bring free online payroll to our customers. We will be working closely with Payroo to enable our customers to have a seamless update with the online payroll and our Business Accountz range of software.".

Full integration between the packages should be available in early 2009, however, Accountz customers can enjoy the benefits of free online payroll from the end of November 2008.

Accountz at MacLiveExpo and Business Startup Olympia

2008-10-17T10:32:00.000-07:00

Accountz will be demonstrating their full range of products at the MacLiveExpo at Olympia, London from 23rd to the 25th October 2008. Founder Quentin Pain will be demystifying accounting in the expo theatre. If really want to understand just how simple accounting and bookkeeping can be, come along and enjoy the fun.

Accountz will also be at the Business Startup show, also at Olympia on the 28th and 29th November. Their stand is directly opposite the entrance to the Seminar 1 theatre, where you will be able to come to grips with an important part of any business while queuing to watch the likes of Levi Roots splashing his saucy business wit and wisdom all around!

OFX import and export for Personal Accountz

2008-07-21T07:15:00.000-07:00

Personal Accountz, the multi-platform personal finance software from UK company Accountz.com Ltd now supports both import and export of OFX files. Many banks worldwide have adopted this flavour of XML including HSBC.

The ability to import means that users no longer need to enter data manually. Personal Accountz has an account mapping facility that enables it to learn how to analyse data. It includes the ability to recognise and ignore duplicate entries, and the forecast facility has been adapted so forecasts based on real standing orders and direct debits and credits can be created without data duplication.

Users can now export, merge and manipulate data and import back again with ease.

Business Accountz new range for 2008

2008-06-06T03:24:00.000-07:00

Business Accountz extends its range with 3 new versions launched on 12th June 2008.

Basic for pure, high speed, fully editable bookkeeping
Professional for those also needing invoicing and customer management
Enterprise for those who also need purchase order and supplier management

All versions have Rapid Data Entry technology including Accountz' 1 click VAT return. Enterprise is fully expandable with options such as Stock Control and Multi-Currency.
All versions run on Windows Vista, XP, Mac (OSX 10.4+) and Linux.
Training is available every Friday at Accountz' state of the art centre £199+VAT, accounting best practice made simple.
Please telephone 0800 5999740 for more information.

Accountz Autumn Apple Store Tour

2007-11-13T06:35:00.000-08:00

As part of the Accountz Autumn Apple Store Tour, Quentin Pain is here pictured with a member of the newly opened Apple Store in Buchanan Street Glasgow.

Quentin also visited Apple Stores in Sheffield, Manchester, London and Southampton and would like to give a big thank you to the hospitality received from all the Apple staff.

Most Successful New Business Award Nomination

2007-06-08T07:49:00.000-07:00

Accountz made the final 3 in the UK Trade and Investment sponsored Business without Borders conference and awards for the most successful new business in 2007 (http://www.bwb.org.uk).

The conference and awards ceremony took place at the University of Bedfordshire in Luton. The keynote speaker was Margaret Hodge MP, Minister for the Department of Trade and Industry (pictured with CEO of Accountz, Quentin Pain).

Quentin Pain said "I am absolutely delighted that my company and its very hard working staff have been shortlisted for this prestigious award and would like to extend my thanks to the organisers including Derek Ludlow MBE and Professor Paul Burns for an extremely informative and fun conference on international trade. An interesting perspective on marketing came from Dr Sergio Arzeni [Director, OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development)] who turned basic marketing principles upside down by pointing out that consumers now work on a wants basis and not needs, which explained the reason why Harley Davidson made a profit of a $1bn and GM a loss, but not why he was wearing non-branded specs! Ross Walker, Chief Economist at RBS pointed out the dangers of rising interest rates and advised me to invest money in the business rather than property... so the new Accountz HQ will have to wait another year then. Many thanks to all the exciting and optimistic entrepreneurs I met. I had a fabulous day. I would also like to thank Margaret Hodge MBE for agreeing to the photograph despite having to rush off to 'fight our cause in Brussels' - I hope you weren't late."

(image by kind permission of Jean Mulligan of Rubicon Communications Ltd)

Accountz Wins MacWorld Awards 2007 Nomination

2007-04-21T10:41:00.000-07:00

Business Accountz, the latest financial software package from Accountz has been nominated as a contender in this year's MacWorld 2007 Awards to be held at the prestigious Gibson Hall in London.

It is one of just 5 nominations in the Business Productivity Software section. Other contenders include Google for Google Docs and Filemaker Pro, last year's winners.

The whole accountz team are delighted with the prestige and recognition this nomination affords.

Business Accountz UK Launch

2007-02-19T14:50:00.000-08:00

After 5 years of development Business Accountz launched on the 18th February 2007. The Scottish launch will be at the New Start Scotland exhibition at the SECC centre Glasgow on the 23/24 March 2007 where Kell Ryan the co-founder of RyanAir will be speaking about starting a business and all things entrepreneurial (I may have spelt that wrong, but hey what the heck, George W says the French don't have a word for it :)

If you want to speak to a human about accounting for your business, telephone 08700 111747, 9 to 5 Monday to Friday and we will do our best.

UK's First multi-platform Business Accountz product about to launch

2007-01-11T10:46:00.000-08:00

Accountz will be launching the first in a series of business accounting software in February. They are the first British company to launch a multi-platform accounting suite.

Using Accountz innovative methods that transform industry standard accounting methods into something that non-accountants can understand, Accountz have been building a large reputation for first class products and customer support.

Quentin Pain, managing director of Accountz, said "our products come from a long pedigree of development, they are designed always with the user in mind. The reason our customer support is so good is that it is hardly ever required. We have attracted over 13,000 new customers during the last 14 months. Most of that has come from word of mouth. Every support phone call is answered usually within 5 rings, and you get to talk direct to a member of our team at our HQ in Cambridgeshire. We are committed to customer service. We could only do this if the software was first rate, and our record to date shows this to be the case."

Business Accountz Professional, the second product in the range is launched at the New Start Scotland exhibition at the SECC, Glasgow, March 23/24. For a product brochure and newspack please contact hannah at accountz.com

Multi-platform Personal Accountz

2006-10-22T22:09:00.000-07:00

Accountz launches the latest version of their popular Personal Accounts software. Renamed Personal Accountz (with a z!) to fit in with the Accountz brand, it represents the first commercial multi-platform home accounting software for a British company.

Quentin Pain, Managing Director, said:
"We are so proud of the work our developers have put into this product. It has taken 20 months to develop, and at times we have been in despair trying to get it to run on the very diverse range of operating systems out there. But it has all been worthwhile. It doesn't matter whether you use Windows, Mac or most flavours of Linux, Personal Accountz runs out of the box on a single CD. This makes our distributors happy too."

"We have increased our customer base by 10,000 during the last year, and most of that has happened through word of mouth. We are proud of our products and proud of our customers. My favourite phrase is 'Hug the Software'. By using it ourselves, we ensure it makes home financial management as quick and painless as possible for our users."

Personal Accountz features financial downloads using the industry standard OFX format. It can convert QIF files as well as previous version Personal Accounts files. It also features a user-definable multi-tabbed display giving it an extremely contemporary feel.

To get in touch with Accountz, please telephone Hannah on 08700 111747 between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday.

Record sales for award winning software

2006-07-12T07:31:00.000-07:00

4, May, 2005 Immediate release

Record sales for award winning software

A report released this week from Accountz.com Ltd has revealed that sales in Quarter one of 2006 has increased 40 fold since the same quarter in 2005.

Increased sales for the company based in Chatteris, Cambridgeshire can be accredited to the efforts of the Accountz staff who have been concentrating on initiating and building relationships with various distribution channels.

Customer surveys have shown that awareness of the brand has increased thanks to word of mouth. The team is also enjoying countless compliments and letters from new and existing customers congratulating them on their exemplary customer service.

Managing Director Quentin Pain said:

“It’s great to see that all of our hard work is beginning to pay off. We hold our customers in the highest regard and recognise that none of this would be possible without them. We pride ourselves on being at the end of a phone and will ensure that this always remains our top priority”.

/ends
For further press information: contact the PR Team on 08700 111747.
Find all our recent releases at http://accountz.blogspot.com

Note to Editors: The Accountz.com team have accounting experts with over 20 years experience available for interviews regarding all aspects of accounting and financial wellbeing amongst students, small businesses and the general public.

Free accounting training for local organisations

2006-07-12T07:29:00.000-07:00

1, March, 2006

Free accounting training for local organisations

Free accounting guidance and software is being offered to local charities from the Managing Director of Accountz.com Ltd.

The company, founded by entrepreneur Quentin Pain and based in Chatteris recently offered all local organisations the opportunity to receive a copy of their award winning small business accounting software.

To ensure that the winners are able to benefit fully from their new software, entrepreneur Quentin has also invited them to attend a complimentary training day in which he will demonstrate the most effective ways to use the program and manage the financial demands of their company.

Mr Pain said:
“Our software is designed to be suitable for everyone. We are excited about running events such as this and assisting the successful applicants to manage the finances of their organisations.”

Successful organizations include the Piccolos Childcare Services and the highly acclaimed March and Chatteris Lions Club.

The training day took place on 21, February 2006 at the Local Council’s innovative new development in Chatteris, The South Fens Business Centre. The building will play host to what is expected to become an annual event.

/ends

For further press information: contact the PR Team on 08700 111747.
Find all our recent releases at http://accountz.blogspot.com

Note to Editors: The Accountz.com team have accounting experts available for interviews regarding all aspects of accounting and financial wellbeing amongst students, small businesses and the general public with over 20 years experience.

Don’t get hooked when they go Phishing

2006-07-12T07:28:00.000-07:00

30, January, 2006 Immediate release

Don’t get hooked when they go Phishing

A new scam has hit the internet in the form of Phishing and all they have to do to make you a victim, is ask you for your details.

Phishing entails sending out phoney e-mails in order to obtain your personal details, making stealing from their victims like taking candy from a baby.

The spam e-mails sent look very professional and can easily represent a site you are genuinely a member of. The scam artists simply imply that there has been an error in their system and ask you to confirm your log on details and password for their records.

The term Phishing originates from the statistics that most of the criminals involved in the scam get very few bites and there are many ways to ensure that you do not become a victim.

Most importantly be aware that no reputable bank or website should be sending you e-mail’s requesting that you confirm your details due to an error on their system.

If you are unsure of the validity of an e-mail always contact them directly to confirm that the e-mail received asking you to confirm your details has been sent from the proper authorities.

Most importantly, ensure that you are in control of your own finances. Accounting Software is the ideal way to guarantee that you know where your money has gone and allows you to recognise immediately, any dubious transactions that have taken place. Monitoring your own accounts allows you to take action over any discretion as soon as your statement arrives.

/ends

For further press information: contact the PR Team on 08700 111747.
Find all our recent releases at http://accountz.blogspot.com

Note to Editors: The Accountz.com team have accounting experts available for interviews regarding all aspects of accounting and financial wellbeing amongst students, small businesses and the general public.

Rave Review for Simple Software

2006-07-12T07:27:00.001-07:00

16, December, 2005 Immediate release

Rave Review for Simple Software

A recent review in Computer Shopper (Issue 216) has seen the popular and simple locally developed accounting software range by Accountz.com come up trumps yet again.

Beating market leaders such as Dosh and Sage the review rewarded the hard work of local entrepreneur Quentin Pain with four stars and recognised the user definable nature of this software as “Quick and Easy”.

The four star review is a tribute to the hard work of the company who are up against household names such as Intuit who received just three stars.

Managing Director of Accountz.com Ltd said:

“Receiving such recognition from such a prestigious magazine has confirmed that Accountz.com is ready to take on the big boys in the software market.’

Our customers have helped us build this software with their much appreciated feedback, perhaps demonstrating the main reason why they love it so much”.

/ends
For further press information: contact the PR Team on 08700 111747.
Find all our recent releases at http://accountz.blogspot.com

Note to Editors: The Accountz.com team have accounting experts available for interviews regarding all aspects of accounting and financial wellbeing amongst students, small businesses and the general public.

Banks to dictate consumer spending and lending.

2006-07-12T07:27:00.000-07:00

02, December, 2005 Immediate release

Banks to dictate consumer spending and lending.

Lenders have unveiled plans to share details of their customer’s finances in order to identify individuals facing financial difficulty.

In a big brother gone mad approach, the four lenders Barclaycard, Abbey, the Co-operative Bank and Egg will be able to access and discuss the income and outgoings of their customers with one another.

Although the new scheme will promote a long overdue need for responsible lending, it’s hard not to conjure images of agents watching your every move and subliminal messages in your music.

The banks propose to monitor spending and call customers when they consider them to be in financial difficulty in order to recommend a repayment plan or suggest a phone call to a finance help line.

A survey done by ACL (December 2005) found that although the majority of consumers appreciate that more rigorous tests carried out before lending takes place could be beneficial, the new scheme should be optional. Many stated that they resent the implication that they are unable to monitor their own finances and would find such an intrusive phone call from the bank an insult.

Founder of Accountz.com and accounting expert Quentin Pain said:

‘With so many personal finance aids on the market such as accounting software surely banks should be promoting personal awareness early on instead of trying to help once the damage is done’.
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For further press information: contact the PR Team on 08700 111747.
Find all our recent releases at http://accountz.blogspot.com

Note to Editors: The Accountz.com team have accounting experts available for interviews regarding all aspects of accounting and financial wellbeing amongst students, small businesses and the general public.

Local Entrepreneur hits software market hard

2006-07-12T07:26:00.000-07:00

28, October, 2005 Immediate release

Local Entrepreneur hits software market hard

Local entrepreneur and founder of Accountz.com, Quentin Pain is about to rock the software market with his new multi-platform home accounting software.

The company first started in 1985 has gone from strength to strength, recently doubling its workforce in order to cope with the extra work and ever increasing customer base.

The design of the software from Accountz.com is renowned for its simple design and the new software proves to be no different but unlike its predecessors the new software will be available to work on Windows, Mac and Linux.

Without the need for internet access, the program allows direct debit payments to be stored so that it automatically updates itself when necessary. The forecasted balance has proved invaluable to customers in avoiding unauthorised overdrafts and unpaid direct debits and therefore unnecessary bank charges.

Quentin believes that this is only the beginning of their success as they will be releasing the competitively priced Business Edition of the range early next year.

He Said:

‘There is currently nothing on the market capable of rivaling the simple yet sophisticated design of the Business Edition software being released by Accountz.com next year. We fully intend to send a wave through the software market and have no concerns about taking on competitors such as Microsoft and Sage.’

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For further press information: contact the PR Team on 08700 111747.
Find all our recent releases at http://accountz.blogspot.com

Note to Editors: The Accountz.com team have accounting experts available for interviews regarding all aspects of accounting and financial wellbeing amongst students, small businesses and the general public.

Prevent Identity fraud with accounting software to track your finances

2006-07-12T07:25:00.000-07:00

27, October, 2005 Immediate release

Prevent Identity fraud with accounting software to track your finances

Fears rise over identity theft as figures released by Which? state that one in three people have been or will be a victim of identity fraud.

To most people, dealing with bills and bank statements are not high on their list of exciting things to do but with direct debits a common method of payment and identity theft an ever increasing problem, more and more people are recognizing the need to keep records of movements within their bank accounts.

The Personal Accounts Home Edition from Accountz.com offers consumers accounting software that can be used to keep track of all movement to and from their high street and online accounts.

Without needing to access the internet the software will automatically update the balance of the accounts listed on the appropriate dates. As a result consumers are able to see almost immediately if any unauthorized payments have been made.

With its simple, award winning software Accountz.com has made a step in the right direction to combating identity fraud and enabling customers to feel confident about their finances.

The Personal Accounts Home Edition from Accountz.com RRP £29.99, is currently available in Staples and Amazon.

/ends

For further press information: contact the PR Team on 08700 111747.
Find all our recent releases at http://accountz.blogspot.com

Note to Editors: The Accountz.com team have accounting experts available for interviews regarding all aspects of accounting and financial wellbeing amongst students, small businesses and the general public.