Here at Hive, we have designed the way we operate to make the process of completing your accounts and/or tax return(s) as efficient as possible. This ultimately benefits both you and us by minimising the number of times we need to request information from you and increasing how quickly we can complete the accounts.

Bookkeeping review
We start with the bookkeeping review. Even if you do not utilise the bookkeeping service we offer, we will complete a review of your Xero account before the year-end. This helps us to identify any issues that you may need to know about in advance, like bank feeds not being active or transactions that haven’t been reconciled, etc.

Gathering Information
Next comes the part that we call ‘gathering’. This starts with us sending you a Xero Ask checklist to fill out and attach a lot of the information we need to make a start on the accounts or tax returns.

The Xero Ask checklist is a great way for people to know what they need to send and where they need to send it. It is available to all clients, doesn’t require a Xero subscription and, best of all, it doesn’t require you to do it all in one go. So, if you only have 5 minutes here and there it can be picked up and put down when you need to.

We will then review the checklist and all the information attached and compare it with the Xero bookkeeping and the previous year’s files to see if there is anything else we need from you. This is usually where we identify things that may need a bit more information and is often the longest part of the whole accounts process. Here are a few things we request and why we need them:

• Closing bank statement – To check the closing position of the Xero bank balance is correct
• Loan/HP statement – To check the closing balance of the loans is correct and account for the interest charged for the year
• Payroll information – To confirm that the payments made to staff are correct and to account for any adjustments
• Money owed and money due – To account for the suppliers that are owed money, the patients that owe money to the business or patients that may pay in advance
• Invoices for large purchases – This helps us identify what capital allowances the business may be entitled to claim
• Front of desk sales report – to make sure the sales figures are accurate.

Preparation
This is where we collate all the information we have and enter it into our accounting software. We then have to make any accounting adjustments such as, adjusting for the patients who pay in advance, patients who have a balance owing at the end of the year, expenses that may cover part of the next accounting period, etc.

Review
Then comes the review stage. We understand how important it is to have quality accounts that reflect the business’ position. This is why we have a two-stage review process to ensure the accounts are correct.

Send
Lastly, this is where we send the accounts or tax returns to you. If you are happy with them, you can then sign them and we will submit them to HMRC and/or Companies House. Sometimes clients will remember additional things that need adding, in which case this is a perfect opportunity to let us know. We will make the changes and then send them back again to be signed.