Have you ever wanted to be a fortune teller? This rare ambition suddenly seems a lot more attractive when you become a small business owner and every day can be fraught with uncertainty. One of the tools for getting perspective on your business is your cashflow prediction. But, what exactly is cashflow and why won’t we stop talking about how important it is to track it? Here’s the part where we try to transform you into a cashflow convert.  What is cashflow? Cashflow is, at its simplest, the money coming into and going out of your business. And generally, you’ll want to aim for a positiv ..read more

Sustainability is an increasingly important aspect of every business and industry, and accounting and bookkeeping is no exception. Whether it’s day-to-day adjustments or incorporating big-picture opportunities such as net-zero advisory services, there are multiple ways to make your practice more sustainable. Here are four top tips to help you get started. 1. Start small, start internal When thinking of new habits for your practice, it might be best to start small and consider easy ways to minimise waste and reduce your carbon footprint. Whether you work from home, or in an office, it’s possib ..read more

Capital assets for businesses come in all shapes and sizes - from cars and furniture to land or a business patent. That’s why we’ve rolled out exciting new functionality that gives you more flexibility to make FreeAgent work better for you. First off, you can now use different methods to calculate depreciation - previously FreeAgent supported the straight line method on a yearly basis for a maximum of seven years. Now you’re able to choose the relevant method, and let FreeAgent take the wheel to calculate all of the ongoing depreciation calculations for you. FreeAgent now supports:  The ..read more

When you come to sell one of your properties, you might expect to make a considerable profit on your initial investment. However, HMRC is also due a slice of that cake, which you’ll have to pay through taxes like Capital Gains Tax.  So we’ve whipped up a quick guide to Capital Gains Tax for property: what it is, when you need to pay it and how much you’ll have to pay.    What is Capital Gains Tax? Capital Gains Tax (CGT) is a tax you pay when disposing of certain large assets. These are generally assets which increase in value over time, such as properties, land or shares ..read more

A new expansion of FreeAgent’s innovative integration with NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland and Ulster Bank business accounts means customers can now see their tax calculation and invoice details within their banking app. We’ve been working closely with the banks to give users a seamless experience by bundling banking and accounting together in one place and giving you easy access to your key financial data. If you use FreeAgent and retain a business bank account with NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland or Ulster Bank, you can now access your tax calculation and insights and view your invoices fro ..read more

You should be able to be yourself at work. We don’t think this is a particularly radical vision - but part of this is supporting all employees, to help them feel included and valued. However, there are particular challenges standing in the way of women in the workplace - especially within the tech industry. The Tech Talent Charter estimates that women make up just 28% of the tech workforce in the UK and also only occupy 22% of senior roles in tech.  As a tech company, we know we have to take action to support women in our company and the wider tech landscape. Here are a few of the ways F ..read more

With the new tax year just around the corner, it’s the perfect time to review your tech stack. Whether it’s automating daily admin, onboarding new clients or managing communication with clients, choosing the right digital tools can set your practice up for a successful year. Here are five top tips to help you take stock of your tech stack.  1. Evaluate the current situation To kick things off, it helps to understand a few fundamentals. For example, what does the term ‘tech stack’ mean? It’s a set of digital tools you can use to build, run and grow your practice.  Different accountin ..read more

To incorporate or not to incorporate - that is truly the question. As a landlord, you’ll need to decide how you want to operate your property business: as a sole trader or through a limited company, usually known as incorporation.  Unfortunately, we can’t hand you the right answer on a plate. We can, however, give you the pros and cons of incorporation so that you can make the best decision for your property finances.  Benefits of incorporation 1. Mortgage interest can be offset Since mortgage interest tax relief was removed in 2017, unincorporated landlords haven’t been able to off ..read more

We’re delighted to give you a heads-up about exciting updates to our capital asset and depreciation functionality. There will soon be greater flexibility over the methods you can use to calculate depreciation and how frequently the ledger entries are posted. We’re adding support for the following: The reducing balance method of depreciation Assets that don’t depreciate, such as land and investments Assets depreciating on a monthly basis Asset lifetimes of up to 25 years when depreciating using the straight line method A more detailed capital asset report that can be exported These updates w ..read more

Even when you’re skillfully juggling all of your responsibilities as a business owner, keeping your cashflow healthy relies on your customers paying you - and more importantly paying you on time.  It sounds simple, but when we dived into the data, a staggering 43% of invoices sent over a year by FreeAgent customers were paid late. But we come bearing good news - FreeAgent has lots of powerful (and easy-to-use) functionality to help you overcome roadblocks in your invoicing and payment process. Make it easy for your customers to pay in a jiffy  One way to get paid promptly is by maki ..read more