Two bags and a rule!

If your attitude is that you wish you could just stuff all your bits of paper into a big bag and forget about it then this is the page for you.

No doubt accountants over the years have tried and tried to develop ever more simple accounts systems to try and help people whose paperwork is, shall we say, less well organised than it could be! There is actually nothing wrong with these systems, it is the accountants, who with typically well-organised minds who have failed to see that the problem lies with people. Very little in the human psyche is in love with doing the books. This is especially so of the sort of creative person who would start and run their own business. It is also true of those who prefer to think on their feet as, creative people do. Finally, it even becomes an irritation when people get busy doing what they originally set out to do - running and enjoying their businesses.

At Discountants we understand this, so we have decided to lament these flaws in human evolution but go with the flow anyway!

First bag

The first bag you can call the 'day bag' It had better be a little bit more substantial than a carrier bag but it does need to be at least that big so that it doesn't overflow and lose your bits of paper. A bag with a pull cord top like your old PE kit bags from schooldays is good. Basically, if it is paperwork that has to do with money of any sort, simply stuff it in the bag.

Second bag

This is just another bag, like the first one, maybe bigger if you can get it. Pullcord bags are the best in practice. You can call this bag your 'year bag'.

Now you will notice that your day bag gradually fills and whilst paperwork is current you will need to go in there and pull some of it out from time to time. Obviously, the more there is in there, the harder it becomes to find stuff in the clutter. You would do better to move some of the stuff from the day bag into your year bag.

When you're ready

Simply transfer the stuff from the day bag to the year bag. As you go through it, you will know which pieces should stay in the day bag because there might still be some action on them. However, for every piece you do copy over, you should register it with our DO software. DO is short for 'Discountants Online' and it is a very nifty and incredibly quick to use little window on your computer. It was created by us and our clients get exclusive use of it and best of all it is free!

The window in DO simply asks what kind of piece of paper it is, invoice, bank statement etc. It also asks for the date and the amount. that's it.

When you have finished transferring bits of paper from your day bag to your year bag, DO will send a (highly encrypted) email to us at our offices. If you simply keep doing this from time to time as you go through the year, you will end up with all your data already emailed to us and a single bag full of paperwork. All, we need to do for your year end is process the data you've already sent. All you need to do is store the bag as your year-end archive!

Ah but...

...cry the sceptics, even a simple system is still a system but that isn't the problem. The problem is developing enough enthusiasm to stick with the system. This is where DO is unique because it uses emails to 'talk' to people. Clearly, it knows when you send in your day bag data. It knows how often you like to do it and how much stuff (roughly speaking) you send over a period of time. Now, if the submissions become less frequent or rather sparse then it wakes up and emails you a reminder. Still no action? Another email... and so on and so on with increasing regularity. We call this process eNagging!... and most of our users appreciate it. However, as we all know too much nagging switches us off, so eventually DO emails us at Discountants and we give you a call to see if everything is OK.

So we have a simple system and a way to make sure it gets used.

OK 2 bags but what is the rule?

The rule is that you must always use your paying in book for paying in cheques at the bank and write on the slip who has paid you! In practice if you use the paying in slips on the counter at the bank, the counterfoils you are left with are so small it is just too easy to lose them. Then we get problems with credits on your bank statements and that might mean you paying extra tax on income, which was actually a refund from faulty goods (say) Urgh!