FreeAgent Central - Financial Management

I have not long got all my tax shenanigans out of the way for this year.. Well when i say ‘I’, i mean i pay a guy to trawl through a shoebox of paperwork and make sense of my financial dealings at the end of the tax year.

I am scared of such matters, but after talking with my friend Giles @kyomedia I am feeling like technology is finally simplifying the right parts of peoples lives and may well be un-complicating areas I have previously feared to tread.

Giles informed me that In September this year, a new online UK book keeping service launched. If you don’t like doing your accounts or have problems with invoicing or tax returns, take a look at FreeAgent. In the past he has tried using Quickbooks, Simplybooks, Freshbooks, Excel and even the dreaded Sage. (All of which make me want to go live in a cave.)

He says FreeAgent allows him to keep a track of his time, mileage and expenses. He can even upload copies of receipts or create a login for his accountant etc. He started with downloading and importing his statements from his online bank account and it was no drama at all to categorise the income and expenses.

Normally when Giles recommends something, I am all over it like a rash. He is certainly the early adopter when it comes to professional tools. I just can’t seem to find my business gland on this one.. A little office confidence to make me take the plunge.. There’s a good chance that I’ll still be chucking receipts and printouts of my bank details into a box this time next year. I am sure this is down to my formaphobia.. Still. I am doubly enthused by Giles’s enthusiasm as I’ve felt this kind of intuitive accounting has been a long time coming.

Giles sent me a referral code that gives both the user and himself a 10% discount. Feel free to use it if you are going down this path. There’s also a free 30 day trial.

On the whole It’s not that cheap but comparable to other boxed software and by the sounds of it, good value.

Giles then went on to tell me that he was not just sending me the link for the discount – He really thinks the service is excellent. Here is the link..

http://www.freeagentcentral.com?referrer=2q1pb929

Should you click it and give it a go, please let me know how you get on. Every time I throw a receipt into a box I do wish i had a little more control over my finances. Maybe the time has come.

PM in the AM

Thomson Reuters is hosted a NewsMaker event on the present economic crisis and in addition to it’s regular text, streaming video and picture coverage, they opened up their doors and minds to social media.

In addition to making live and edited video content available worldwide over the web, myself (@Documentally) and Mike Atherton (@sizemore) were given unprecedented access to the event and asked to utilise some of our favorite social media apps in order to facilitate conversations around the day.

In addition to the following places I will no doubt attempt to blog what else we did as soon as i know what exactly what it was.

Documentally on Twitter.. Phreadz.. 12Seconds.. Qik.. Plurk.. and Seesmic

Sizemore on Twitter.. 12Seconds.. and Seesmic

Bicester Village - Shopping and the credit crunch

Today I visited Bicester Village in Oxfordshire.

I was primarily there to grab some cheap shoes and a shirt but whilst browsing the stores it was suggested (via twitter) by @Lauradee that i should interview a few people regarding the credit crunch. So I did.

All went well (I even manged to treat myself to a few items) until I was heading back to the car and a polite plainclothes security guard stopped me to ask why I was filming.