Bookkeeping whilst waiting for your business bank account

If you’re waiting for your business bank account to be opened you can use your personal bank account temporarily. This practice is not recommended but can be used in extreme cases.

Wondering if you can use our accountancy software for bookkeeping? Find out more about our online bookkeeping in this overview.

Step 1 – Mark up your personal statements

You need to keep a record of the business transactions that appear on your personal statement. We recommend that you print out copies of your personal bank statements and highlight any transactions that are related to your business. These transactions then need to be entered into the Bookkeeping area of inniAccounts.

Step 2 – Record your transactions in inniAccounts

Expenses

For any outgoings from your company, highlight them on your bank statement and record them in the Bookkeeping area by using Enter New Transaction > Enter Other Outgoings.

Don’t use the Quick Entry area to record personally incurred expenses on this occasion as this will complicate the process. Once your business account is in place then the Quick Entry area can be used to record / reclaim expenses that are paid for using personal money.

Income

Raise invoices using inniAccounts and when the payment is received in your personal account, mark the pending payment as paid in your Bookkeeping area. Make sure the dates and amounts you record when confirming the transaction match what is shown on your bank statement.

Mileage claims

If you are using a personal vehicle for business use, you can record the business mileage in your mileage log in the Quick Entry area. When you next create a payslip the mileage claims will be reimbursed. Processing your payslip is explained below.

Payslips / Dividends

Payslips and dividends can be created in inniAccounts but the cash will already be in your personal account.

You could complete a transfer for the exact amounts to say a savings account to allow you to clearly mark the transaction on your statement. This isn’t absolutely necessary for reasons you’ll see in a moment but if you don’t make a transfer to another account, it is worth making a note on your personal bank statement of the sums you will have effectively received.

Taxes

If you need to make a payment to HMRC for VAT or PAYE, follow the process in inniAccounts and make the appropriate payment from your personal account. When the payment has been made, mark the pending payment as paid in your books and enter the date and amount exactly as it appears on your personal bank statement.

Step 3 – Migrate to your business bank account

When your business account is ready you can migrate from your personal account to your business account. You should do this as soon as your business account is open.

Before you can complete this step, make sure that all transactions on your personal bank statement are entered into your inniAccounts books to the current date.

It is important that all the transactions listed on your personal statement are matched in your books, i.e. they show a green tick to the left. In doing so the matched transactions are counted in the rolling balance on the right hand side of your books (see below).

With all your transactions matched you will have a balance shown in your inniAccounts books, this would be the balance of your business account had it been used from the outset.

The final step is to transfer this balance from your personal to your business bank account. By transferring this exact amount to your business bank account, its opening balance will match the balance of your books and hence they are reconciled. Going forwards all payments can be processed from your business account.

Don’t forget, keep hold of the personal statements with the business transactions highlighted for your records.