What is an Annual Return?

An annual return (AR01) is a document that all businesses are required to submit to Companies House each year. It details general information about a company, such as its ownership, capital position and management. The annual return has been replaced by the confirmation statement (CS01) since 30 June 2016.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

CHAPS-an abbreviation for Clearing House Automated Payment System-is a same-day bank-to-bank payment system. It is typically used for large, one-time payments, as the transfers are relatively expensive to process. There are no upper or lower limits to the amount that can be transferred.

BACS, or Bankers' Automated Clearing Services enables payments to be made electronically from one bank to another. The transfer method handles all debit and credit card transactions, has an upper limit of £250,000 per transfer and is mainly used for low-value transactions. BACS payments take three working days to clear.

As a self-employed person or small business owner, getting a good grasp of accounting fundamentals can feel like an uphill task.

As accountants who specialise in small business needs, we're familiar with the challenges that you face-and have put together a series of articles to help you easily understand the basics of accounting.

We've touched on key accounting terms & concepts and the differences between bookkeeping and accounting. Below, we'll dive in to explain what debits and credits mean in accounting.

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.

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.

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

Written-down value, otherwise known as the book value or net book value is the value of an asset after accounting for depreciation or amortisation. It represents the present worth of an asset from an accounting perspective.

Payment terms indicate when payments should be made and how. These terms are usually included in the invoices generated by companies and sent to customers.

Statutory Paternity Pay is the amount of money that must by law be paid to the father of a new baby while he is away from his job.

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.

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.

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.

Taxable turnover is the turnover on which the seller is liable to pay tax.