FreeAgent Central: Money Management for UK Freelancers

Freeagentcentral.com can help you de-mystify the pain of accounting and give you all the tools you need to cover all aspects of it in one place. Say goodbye to spread-sheets dotted around all parts of your system and pull all the relevant data together in a one–stop application that covers the whole finance cycle.

Estimates are a good place to start and freeagent’s estimate generator lets you create professional documents branded with your own logo that can be saved as a PDF or emailed from within freeagent.  Estimates can then be tracked for status allowing you to plan workload schedules. Once accepted and the work completed a simple click will convert the estimate into an invoice.

Time tracking for on-going projects is easy and timeslips can be added daily or weekly. This not only gives you a picture of how your time and any other team member’s time is being spent but shows the amount of any unbilled time on a project. This time can then be automatically turned into an invoice.

The billing and credit control function is very comprehensive. With a range of invoice templates to choose from you can raise invoices in a number of languages and currencies. If you invoice in a foreign currency the system will automatically track exchange rate gains and losses.

You can also set up automatic email reminders for overdue accounts ensuring you stay on top of credit control. The system also has a useful ‘traffic light’ code on the invoice list showing red for overdue, orange for within terms and green for paid.

At the core of freeagent’s accounting function is the information taken from uploaded on-line bank statements. Once a statement is uploaded the onus is on the user to explain each transaction as a deposit or withdrawal and with this completed the system will provide real time accounts. The accounting function provides profit and loss figures and balance sheets which can be shared with your accountant.

From a tax angle the system seems to have it all covered with business and personal tax projections geared to a reminder service. Perhaps the one weaker element is the ability to handle PAYE and NI beyond the most straightforward arrangements. Having said that the details from any other PAYE service can be imported to freeagent and the numbers crunched accordingly.

Conclusion
For the freelancer, contractor and small business it’s difficult to see what else would be needed to provide a very good all round finance package from start to finish.