All posts by Darren Taylor

Darren is a Marketing Manager specialising in Digital Marketing

6 Ways to Motivate Your Team (Without Shouting)

Has this ever happened to you? You spend a lot of time and energy hiring great people for your company, only to find out that a few months, or even years later, they seem to have lost their spark. No...

/ 3rd April 2017

March 2017 Product Updates

What’s in preview Payroll Adds a new report for non monthly payrolls or mixed payrolls to provide a breakdown of the monthly amount owed to HMRC similar to the old P32. Amount owed to HMRC is hyperlinked to provide a...

/ 27th March 2017

How to Use Social Media to Market Your Small Business

We’ve worked with a lot of small business owners over the years, and we’ve found that they tend to fall into two camps: those who love social media and can’t imagine running their businesses without it, and those who just...

/ 22nd March 2017
There are alternatives to using spreadsheets for bookkeeping

How Do Accountants Use Spreadsheets (And What You Should Be Using Instead)

Some things just naturally seem to go together: peanut butter and jelly, night and day, and of course, accountants and spreadsheets. The second you picture an accountant, chances are you think of them crunching numbers in a complicated Excel document....

/ 20th March 2017

We Have a Brand New Video!

We're pleased to announce that we have released a brand new animated video. Our mission has always been to deliver clear & simple accounting software to empower small businesses to get on with what they do best. This new video highlights...

/ 17th March 2017
small business linkedin

Why Small Businesses NEED a LinkedIn Profile

Why You and Your Business Need a LinkedIn Profile It seems like there’s always a new social media channel coming out — and between managing employees, keeping up with your blog, and of course, the actual work of providing your...

/ 10th March 2017

Clear Books Partner Open Day – March 2017 Registration is Open!

Few people know Clear Books better than our Accountant Partners, and whilst we’ve always tried to make changes to the product that benefit our users, it’s probably fair to say that we’ve not always given our partners the opportunity to...

/ 8th March 2017

What is Mindfulness and Why is it Important to Small Businesses?

Even as recently as a decade ago, the idea of mindfulness and corporate wellness might have seemed, well, a little woo woo. But with hugely successful companies like Google, GM, and Goldman Sachs incorporating it into their operations, it’s become...

/ 2nd March 2017

Product Updates – February 2017

What’s in preview Credit notes Adds functionality to list credit notes under ‘recent invoices’ on the bank import. Adds functionality to allocate a payment against a credit note on the bank import tool. Adds functionality to allow a payment to...

/ 27th February 2017

7 Reasons Why Small Businesses Fail

Starting a business can be one of the most exciting — not to mention rewarding — things you can do. But it’s important to go into the process with open eyes. The reality is, almost all of small businesses fail...

/ 24th February 2017

Certified Partner Spotlight – Tony Kelly of A G Kelly Ltd

Today we have a chat with Tony Kelly of A G Kelly Ltd. Let's see how he runs a successful accounting practice using Clear Books.   Who are you and what is it you do? We are a firm of...

/ 16th February 2017

Certified Partner Spotlight – Specialist Accounting Services and Alpha Payrolls

Today we speak to Maria Wells of Specialist Accounting Services and Alpha Payrolls to see how she runs a successful practice.   What is it you do? We provide all aspects of Bookkeeping. VAT Returns, cash flow, Management Accounts, Tax Returns...

/ 13th February 2017

5 Books Small Business Owners & Entrepreneurs Should Read

One thing nobody tells you when you start a business is that the growth of the business is directly related to your growth as a person. But when you’ve got your head down in the (often all consuming) process of...

/ 10th February 2017

4 things your accounting practice should consider when moving to the cloud

There are loads of good reasons to switch to a cloud based accounting system for your accounting practice — using one can save you time, you can get great value for money, your information is secure, you’re constantly getting the latest...

/ 8th February 2017

7 Reasons Why Your Small Business Should Have an Active Blog

It seems like there’s always a million things to do when you’re running a small business … and somehow, writing that next blog just doesn’t seem to make your priority list. After all, how much good can a blog do,...

/ 6th February 2017

How to Choose an Accounting Practice for Your Small Business

So you’ve come a long way from keeping a hodge podge of receipts in a box under your desk. You know that you need to take your accounting to the next level by working with an accountant, but do you...

/ 3rd February 2017

Partner Spotlight – Stephanie Pettitt of Equation Accounting

Today we catch up with one of our certified partners, Stephanie. Let's see what makes her practice "Equation Accounting" a successful accounting practice. 1. Who are you and what is it you do? I’m Stephanie Pettitt, Managing Director of Equation...

/ 2nd February 2017

MTD consultation documents – The results!

On 31 January 2017 the Government published the responses to the six consultation documents on Making Tax Digital (MTD) and incorporated links to draft primary legislation, for this year’s Finance Bill. There was an unprecedented 3,000 responses directly to the...

/ 1st February 2017

Development priorities for the year

Much of the last 12- 18 months have seen the development team focussed on “back end” improvements, with the move to a new hosted environment and changes to the look and feel of the product to improve responsiveness and make...

/ 30th January 2017

New starter spotlight – Ian and Michal

As we continue to grow our product and service, we are delighted to welcome 2 new starters into the Clear Books team. Meet Ian Stewart and Michal Olejarski. Ian Stewart With our partner programme expanding we have hired an additional...

/ 26th January 2017

VAT MOSS what next? Changes to VAT on cross border online sales

On 1 December 2016 the European Commission released its proposals for changes in the way VAT is applied to cross-border online sales within and into the EU. The current situation Since 1 January 2015 any business (whether VAT registered or...

/ 18th January 2017

Certified Partner Spotlight – Maitland Limited Chartered Accountants

Clear Books interviews Andy Maitland of Maitland Limited Chartered Accountants. It's always great to catch up with our partners to learn what makes their practice successful. Name & Company Andy Maitland, Maitland Limited Chartered Accountants Who are you and what...

/ 12th January 2017

A chat with Martyn Keates of Keates & Co.

Today we have another catch up with one of our certified partners Martyn Keates, principal of Keates & Co. let's take a look at how he runs his successful accounting practice based in Camberley and Fleet. Who are you and what...

/ 12th January 2017

A chat with Jane Swain of Lymm Tax Services

Today we have a chat with one of our newly certified partners Jane Swain of Lymm Tax Services. Let's take a look at how she runs her successful  practice using Clear Books. So what do you and your practice do? Chartered Accountant...

/ 11th January 2017

Changes to VAT Flat Rate Scheme (FRS)

In his Autumn Statement of November 2016 the Chancellor announced changes to the FRS designed to combat perceived abuse; predominantly by labour only agency workers.  It will however affect many other service sector businesses. The announcement was followed by HMRC...

/ 11th January 2017

Product Update – December 2016

Aside from the performance and hosting projects, we’ve also been busy addressing a number of issues raised by customers and partners. Dividends Fixed a rounding error on the dividends report Search Improved the search functionality to look for entire strings...

/ 15th December 2016

What we’ll be working on from January 2017

Many of you will be aware that we have a product roadmap that covers planned product improvements and enhancements over the next one to two years, and we review this twice a month to check that the priorities are still...

/ 15th December 2016

Top 3 Reasons Why You Should Always Chase for Payment – From The Liquidation Advice Centre

Are you constantly chasing your customers for payment? Chasing for payment can be awkward and time consuming.  Whether it’s a brand new customer that you’re trying to build a relationship with, or a long standing customer that you speak to...

/ 29th November 2016

Clear Books a year on… An explanation on change management and where we’re at

If you are curious to read about a major change process we have been through please check out Tim’s quarterly investor updates. The summary is that we’ve returned to our roots to make our core business solid. The benefit to...

/ 29th November 2016

Update to invoicing on Clear Books

We are delighted to announce a new a design update to our invoicing module. We improved the layout of the invoicing tool to better follow our intuitive style guide. The only additional feature is the customer/supplier selector, which was previously...

/ 28th November 2016