Client account accounts software

[DuFFmAn]

Hi all,

I need to set up a client account for my business which will manage projects on behalf of clients. The client account will be used to hold funds before being used to fund projects.

I am looking for software that would help manage the fund and ensure each client's money is segregated and ring fenced and to also reduce the risk of under or over spending. Obviously this means it should be able to accept bank feeds.

Can anyone offer any recommendations? As it's a new venture, I still haven't chosen an accounting package so would prefer a software that I can use for both my business and the client account.

Any guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[MrRight]

suggest client funds are maintained in a separate bank account if possible.

cheap software like xero which is cloud based is easy to use. sage have a similar cloud based offering

 

[DuFFmAn]

Hi Mrright

If course the client account will be in a different bank account. The problem I am finding is finding a suitable software to help me manage that account.

The problem with the likes of Xero etc is that money going in and out on projects is counted as turnover of the business and then gets dragged in to the company P&L which is something I can't have.

 

[MrRight]

proper fund accounting systems cost thousands of pounds. If you can do it all in excel , that usually works.
on any system, you can allocate the projects as fixed or current assets, you dont have to run everything into the p&l . ofcourse it depends on what the projects are too. What matters is how well you set up your chart of accounts, with different codes for different aspects of the project. Again all this can be set up in excel too...

 

[Benzowner]

From memory, and it's a long time since I did the books, most account packages allow you to set up multiple bank accounts. If then clients funds come in, they would only need be entered into the vatious accounts as client loans/deposits and should therefore not affect any profit and loss. You would need only to keep records of your clients "deposits" and "withdrawals" When I did the books at my business for example, we used a factoring company and could call monies down from them at any time. It was entered into the bank, but P & L's were based solely on sales and purchases.

 

[richard]

On quickbooks you can do a 'make deposit' into a bank account that then shows up as an unallocated credit on the customer's account. It only becomes turnover (i.e in the P&L) when you generate an invoice (and of course you then allocate some/all of the credit on the account to that invoice)

Richard

 

[Riva811]

I don't think the issue is how you mange the bank account but how you manage the projects. I suggest you keep a track on financials on a weekly basis and have some spending projections upfront

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