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BookSmart: UK Bookkeeping with Xero and QuickBooks
New
101 students

BookSmart: UK Bookkeeping with Xero and QuickBooks

Do your own books in 30 minutes a week: bank feeds, VAT, Making Tax Digital, payroll and year end, the UK way
Created byNargas Forster
Last updated 10/2026
English

What you'll learn

  • Set up Xero or QuickBooks properly, with bank feeds, payment apps and a tidy chart of accounts
  • Reconcile your bank in a 30-minute weekly routine so nothing is missed
  • Choose the right VAT scheme and file VAT returns under Making Tax Digital
  • Hand your accountant a clean year-end pack and avoid HMRC penalties
  • Run payroll, auto-enrolment pensions and pay yourself the right way
  • Invoice clearly and chase late payers with a simple 3-step process
  • Close each month in about an hour and read your profit and loss and balance sheet
  • Decide when to outsource, and how to choose and brief a bookkeeper

Course content

9 sections • 36 lectures • 1h 30m total length

  • Xero or QuickBooks: how to choose3:01
  • Sole trader or limited company: what changes in your books3:29
  • Your chart of accounts: keep it simple3:01
  • Bank feeds and payment apps2:46
  • Receipts and a filing habit that sticks2:36

Requirements

  • A UK business (sole trader or limited company), or one you're about to start
  • No accounting knowledge needed. A Xero or QuickBooks free trial is enough to follow along

Description

This course contains the use of artificial intelligence.

Running a UK business and doing your own books? This course shows you exactly how to keep clean, compliant records in Xero or QuickBooks, without an accounting background and without it eating your weekends.

It's taught by a finance director with over 20 years in finance and operations, including 18 years running the finance of a business I owned. I'm a Xero Certified Specialist and QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor, and I keep the books for UK small businesses today. This is the course I wish every new client had done first.

Everything is UK-specific: VAT and Making Tax Digital, PAYE and auto-enrolment, Self Assessment, Corporation Tax and Companies House deadlines. Module 1 shows the set-up on screen, and every lesson gives you the exact menu steps for both Xero and QuickBooks where they differ.

What the course covers

  • Setting up your software, bank feeds and chart of accounts

  • A 30-minute weekly routine that keeps everything reconciled

  • Invoicing and getting paid on time

  • VAT schemes and Making Tax Digital

  • Payroll, pensions and paying yourself

  • Month-end in an hour, and a clean year-end handover

  • Knowing when to stop doing it yourself

Each module comes with a practical download: a set-up checklist, a weekly routine card, chaser email scripts, a VAT scheme decision sheet, a payroll calendar, a month-end pack, a year-end handover pack for your accountant and an outsourcing scorecard.

This course is general guidance for UK businesses, not tax, legal or accounting advice for your specific situation. It is independent and not endorsed by Xero or Intuit.

Who this course is for:

  • UK sole traders and company directors doing their own bookkeeping
  • New business owners setting up Xero or QuickBooks for the first time
  • Owners who are behind on their books and want a simple routine to stay on top
  • Freelancers who have just registered for VAT or taken on their first employee

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