What is an Annual Return?

Statutory Paternity Pay is the amount of money that must by law be paid to the mother of a new baby while she is away from her job.

Rechargeable expenses are expenses that are incurred during the performance of your work that you can recharge or recover from your client or agency.

An asset is any resource that is owned by a company. There are two main types of assets: current assets and non-current assets. Current assets are expected to be consumed within a year, while non-current assets are expected to be held for longer than a year.

A balance sheet is a financial statement that provides a snapshot of the financial condition of a company, showing how much it owns (assets), owes (liabilities) and the amount that is left over for its owners (owners' equity) at a specific point in time. It is typically completed at the end of a month or a financial year.

A taxable supply is any supply made in the UK which is not exempt from VAT.

An aged debtors report shows a list of customers (debtors) who owe your business money, as well as the amount owed at any given time.

Retained profits, or retained earnings are profits that a firm has earned to date (after deducting dividends or other distributions paid out to investors) and are retained in the company's accounts. In a balance sheet, retained profits are included under the owner's equity section.

The profit and loss account (P&L) is a financial report that shows the revenue, expenses and profit or loss of your company over a specific accounting period.

This period can be a month, a quarter or a year. A P&L is also commonly referred to by other terms, such as the income statement, statement of operations, financial results statement and earnings statement.

For small business owners and contractors who have just started out, staying on top of your business finances and documents can be daunting.

Here's where our article comes in, so you can quickly get a grip on the basics.

Your first set of accounts is due 21 months after the date you registered with Companies House. Your accounts for the subsequent financial years are due nine months from your financial year end. Do note that if you change the accounting reference period, the filing time may be reduced.

Different deadlines apply for public companies.

Employment Allowance enables eligible employers to reduce their National Insurance bill by up to £4,000 each year.

HMRC's resource provides further details on checking if you're eligible, how and when to make a claim and what to do after you've made a claim.

Through the agent authorisation process, a client is able to authorise an agent to deal with HMRC on their behalf. Further information is available on the HMRC website.

A creditor is an individual, company or entity that has provided goods or services to a business and is owed money. In the balance sheet, a creditor may be listed under the current liabilities or long-term liabilities section.

The Accounting Reference Date (ARD) is the date on which a company's financial year ends, and when it has to submit its annual accounts.

The term ‘debtor' refers to an individual or company that owes money, or is in debt to an individual or organisation. An example would be a customer that has purchased a product or service from your business. In the balance sheet, debtors are listed under the current assets section.

The Partnership Statement (SA800(PS)) is used to record details of your earnings from sources other than trading and professional income indicated on your SA800 Partnership Tax Return.

Interim accounts are accounts prepared during the tax year to show the current financial position of a company.

An invoice number is a unique number that is assigned to each invoice. This number is one of the most important elements of every invoice. Its role is to identify transactions, so it needs to be unique. Invoice number can contain only numbers or letters and numbers. It may contain date of issue, name of project or task.

It is the amount of money that must by law, be paid to an adoptive parent when he or she takes time off to adopt a child, or have a child through a surrogacy arrangement.

An aged creditors report shows who your business owes money to, as well as the amount owed at any given time.