All posts by Darren Taylor

Darren is a Marketing Manager specialising in Digital Marketing

27 reasons why communication in the workplace fails

It can be hard to get everyone on the same page at work with so many different personalities, priorities, and preferences. Our guide to the things that can go wrong when communicating with colleagues— and how to fix them —...

/ 6th July 2015

Meet Sheila, Clear Books’ graphic designer!

Who are you? Hello! I’m Sheila, or you can call me Shu. What does your role at Clear Books entail? I’m a graphic designer, so most of the time I’m making our publications, marketing website and application look consistent with...

/ 30th June 2015

Improvements to our Payroll application

We’ve made some significant improvements to the design and features of our Payroll application, which are now available for you to use! What does it do? The new design allows you to specify custom and arbitrary payments and deductions when...

/ 24th June 2015

Should I register my business for VAT?

Before you read on, please note that if your business’s turnover (sales) in the last 12 months was more than £82,000, then you have a legal obligation to register your business for VAT. You can register online here. If your...

/ 23rd June 2015

Feature update: European VAT now supported in Clear Books

We’re pleased to announce that Clear Books users can now benefit from VAT schemes with pre-populated VAT rates for all EU countries. This means if you are registered for VAT in any EU country, you can simply set up a...

/ 23rd June 2015

14 Top Time-Saving Apps

At Clear Books, our reason for being is to save small businesses time, so we’ve put together a list of some of our favourite time-saving apps for you to try out! 1. Wunderlist  Wunderlist, which has recently been bought by...

/ 22nd June 2015

Job opportunities: come and work at Clear Books!

Are you or someone you know looking for an exciting new role? We’ve got three positions available as part of our support team: customer support accountant, support analyst (full-time), and support analyst (placement). Take a look at the job descriptions...

/ 18th June 2015

14 Tips for Getting Ahead During a Summer Slowdown

Are you anticipating a quiet summer for your business as all your customers and contacts head off on holiday? To keep your momentum going, we’ve put together 14 ways that you can use this time as an opportunity to refresh...

/ 18th June 2015

The ups and downs of working with family

In an article for smallbusiness.co.uk, Clear Books COO Lizzie Fouracre writes about her experiences of working with 2 of her siblings at Clear Books. Lizzie’s brother Tim is the founder and CEO of Clear Books, and another brother, John, leads...

/ 17th June 2015

Considering cloud accounting? Read Tim’s tips & advice for choosing a provider

In an article published on Fresh Business Thinking, Clear Books CEO Tim Fouracre explains why businesses might consider cloud accounting and offers some advice and tips to those looking for a provider. Take a look at the article here: Counting...

/ 15th June 2015

Take a look at our brand new dividends tool

If you’re a limited company with shareholders, you’ll love our new dividends tool. You can now easily manage your shares and shareholders, making the process of creating dividends as automated and simple as possible. What does it do? It’s now...

/ 10th June 2015

New feature updates

Last month we asked you to vote for your favourite of 5 customer feature suggestions in our community forum. The winner, which will now be worked on by our team and then released as a full feature, was 'changes to...

/ 8th June 2015

Happy World Environment Day

We’re celebrating World Environment Day at Clear Books today! World Environment Day is a UN initiative aimed at encouraging worldwide awareness and action for the environment. It’s an issue very close to our hearts here at Clear Books. As well...

/ 5th June 2015

Scheduled Clear Books maintenance in early hours of 5th June

We will be performing necessary maintenance in the early hours of Friday morning, between the following times: Start time: 00:00 BST Friday 5th June End time: 02:00 BST Friday 5th June This will involve downtime, so Clear Books should be...

/ 4th June 2015

Small Business Tips: 11 Ways To Be a Better Presenter

Even if you don't necessarily like it, there's no getting away from the fact that good presenting skills are essential for any entrepreneur or business owner. Our article outlines some quick tips to improve your business presentations. Let us know...

/ 3rd June 2015

Clear Books hamper helps youth cancer charity Trekstock

Back in March, we held a competition to win a Fortnum & Mason hamper and the lucky winner was Malcolm Richards from Professional Fee Protection Ltd. Malcolm, at the suggestion of his daughter, very kindly donated the hamper to youth...

/ 29th May 2015

Clear Books CFO named one of the brightest young talents in business!

We’re delighted to announce that Clear Books CFO Suzy Kerton has been named as ‘one of the 35 brightest talents, under 35, in business’ by Accountancy Age and Financial Director! The ‘35 under 35’ list is an annual recognition of...

/ 20th May 2015

Come to Tick and Bash – a free social event for accountants and bookkeepers

Are you an accountant and bookkeeper who enjoys meeting others in your industry? Do you like free drinks?? If so, come along this Thursday to Tick and Bash, Clear Books’ social event for accountants and bookkeepers! There are no sales...

/ 20th May 2015

Free Business Podcast Series: Meet Blogtacular!

In our latest podcast, we spoke to Clear Books customer Kat Molesworth, co-founder of Blogtacular,  a conference for creative bloggers where businesses can learn about the power of business blogging. Kat talks about how her entrepreneurial spirit, as well as her...

/ 14th May 2015

Clear Books Netherlands (Online Boekhoudsoftware) is here!

We’re delighted to announce the official launch of Clear Books NL! Back in December we launched a beta version  while we continued to make improvements to the navigation and dashboard, as well as finishing translations and getting feedback from customers. We already have our first...

/ 5th May 2015

POLL: Vote for your favourite feature idea

Last month we asked you to vote for your favourite of 5 customer feature suggestions in our community forum. The winner, which will now be worked on by our team and then released as a full feature, was ‘Allocating payments...

/ 30th April 2015

Small Business Infographic: Where do ideas come from?

Our customers often ask us how we prioritise which features or improvements to work on. The below infographic shows the process we go through, from deciding which idea to focus on, to design and development, and finally to a feature’s...

/ 29th April 2015

Meet the Clear Books team: Lead designer Michelle Choi

Who are you? I’m Michelle. Some call me by my surname Choi or Choizilla. What does your role at Clear Books entail? I’m the design team leader, so my responsibilities mainly revolve around looking after the designers and front end...

/ 28th April 2015

SME Advice: 6 important legal aspects of starting your business

Double-check if you’ve put all the legal basics into place for your business with our latest guide. [slideshare id=47201271&doc=whitepaper-legal-aspect-setting-up-business-150420103833-conversion-gate01&type=d]   If you liked this guide, check out our must-reads page - packed with an archive of online white papers, colourful...

/ 28th April 2015

Free Business Podcast Series – Be inspired by entrepreneurs!

If you haven’t already, do have a listen to our new podcasts. So far, we've interviewed five interesting and diverse Clear Books customers about why they became entrepreneurs, what challenges they faced along the way and their top tips for success....

/ 27th April 2015

General Election 2015: what do business owners want?

We surveyed a selection of our customers to get a snapshot of what small business owners are hoping for from the General Election 2015. More than half of respondents said they thought the Conservatives best represented small businesses: a statistic...

/ 27th April 2015

Introduction to Bookkeeping and Clear Books Workshop — Wednesday 27th May

As you might have seen, we recently ran a Clear Books Clinic for our customers to learn more about how to make the most of their Clear Books account. Some attendees suggested that the next one should be even more...

/ 23rd April 2015

Small Business Advice: Why you should hire an apprentice!

Could your business benefit from taking on an apprentice? According to recent figures, the number of people starting an apprenticeship grew from 279,000 in 2009/10, to 440,000 in 2013/14. More and more young people are considering an apprenticeship to be...

/ 23rd April 2015

Final Accounts: Threat or opportunity

Following some feedback on Final Accounts, I’ve put a few words together to indicate how we can counter some accountants’ fears that Final Accounts poses a threat to their business. As many accountants and bookkeepers see cloud accounting itself as...

/ 22nd April 2015

Accountant Networking Event | 21st May 2015 – Tick & Bash!

It’s time for another of our free quarterly networking events for accountants! Come along to our favourite pub Doggett's Coat and Badge in Blackfriars after work on Thursday 21st May to chat and mingle with fellow accountants and bookkeepers over...

/ 20th April 2015