Help needed: Preparing Books for non trading limited company.

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drop-d

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Hi Guys,

Im really stuck in a pickle, I run a non profit making website for unsigned musicians ( http://www.drop-d.ie ) and my second AR is due the 13th of January.

Thing is we havent spent a penny or earned a penny in the year. Its about promoting peolpe not really about earning.

I've been to a few of the formation agents and they will do it for me but on average the cost is about €350!

On top of that i need to prepare my own books! thing is HOW do i prepare books if there is nothing to go in to them??

Any help would be greatly appreciated as time is running out, and we can hardle afford to pay the filing fee's let alone a fine!

Thanks
Rob
 
Re: Need Big Help

On a more general issue why use a limited company for this operation rather than running it on some other (e.g. sole trader) basis and avoiding the cost and hassle of annual returns and other reporting?
 
Re: Need Big Help

Well this is what was advised, dunno! its a music pulication open to liable issues etc! seperate entity etc.
Eventually we will, hopefully, make money by aligning ourselves with a media group, but for the moment + foreseable future we will continue to work on the quality of our publication.
 
Re: Need Big Help

If you haven't earned a penny and consequently don't have the money to cover the accounting/filing charges then it would look like the operation is simply not viable as a limited company. Do you not have any income at all from the artists that use the service or advertisers etc.? What was the original plan for covering reporting/filing and other incidental expenses that might arise during the business year?
 
Re: Need Big Help

Hi Drop-d,

If you haven't spent a penny or earned a penny in the year, A friend of mine who registered a company for contracting reasons but subsequently became a permanent employee and never used the company has been in the same predicament so I'll try and get some information from him. As far as I can recall, the outcome was that he was fined for filing late but the ARD itself was relatively simple.
 
Re: Need Big Help

clubman: the idea is to earn money! tho not just yet. My problem is more the exuberant rates being charged when i have not been earning (i.e. no books to cook! what exactly am i being charged €500) and secondly being asked to prepare my books regardless when i have no info to put into them? (any idea's here?)

ivorystraws: sounds great any help you could get me would be greatly appreciated
 
Re: Need Big Help

Part of the clearly stated reporting requirements for limited companies is to file annual accounts so that's why you have to do that. As for the fee for preparing them you should shop around. The fact that a company has little or no financial activity in a particular financial year is neither here nor there in relation to the preparation of accounts and the requirement that they be filed.

Presumably your business plan set aside a budget for running the company during the initial years until it was built up into a money generating operation?
 
Re: Need Big Help

Clubman no offense....... but what exactly are you talking about! You have been going on about my business plan, the viability of the venture, corporate law, etc when all i asked is how i will complete my books with nothing to report! and stated i was kinda shocked at the varying prices being quoted.

Money is not an issue for me clubman, value for money however is!

For your ease i have highlight below the key points i need help with (not corporate governance or how to prepare a business plan you might note) please if you are going to reply further, focus on them huh!

drop-d said:
Hi Guys,

Im really stuck in a pickle, I run a non profit making website for unsigned musicians ( http://www.drop-d.ie ) and my second AR is due the 13th of January.

Thing is we havent spent a penny or earned a penny in the year. Its about promoting peolpe not really about earning.

I've been to a few of the formation agents and they will do it for me but on average the cost is about €350!

On top of that i need to prepare my own books! thing is HOW do i prepare books if there is nothing to go in to them??

Any help would be greatly appreciated as time is running out, and we can hardle afford to pay the filing fee's let alone a fine!

Thanks
Rob
Click to expand...
 
Re: Need Big Help

Hi Drop-d,

As far as creating the books is concerned. You need to create a balance sheet showing 0 in both columns accommpanied by a letter explaining that the company had not traded. This should be signed by the director\secretary and the other company director. This can be confirmed by simply emailing the CRO.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Ivorystraws.
 
Re: Need Big Help

drop-d said:
Clubman no offense....... but what exactly are you talking about! You have been going on about my business plan, the viability of the venture, corporate law, etc when all i asked is how i will complete my books with nothing to report! and stated i was kinda shocked at the varying prices being quoted.
Click to expand...
I did suggest that you shop around. If you don't want to take my suggestions on board but want to moan about my posts then so be it.

For your ease i have highlight below the key points i need help with (not corporate governance or how to prepare a business plan you might note) please if you are going to reply further, focus on them huh!
Click to expand...
Thanks - I was able to read them the first time around. Good luck with your business. Sounds like you'll need it.
 
drop-d

You were very badly advised to set up a limited company. You should now get rid of it IMMEDIATELY. You can, in theory, do so by following the relevant steps on the cro.ie website [broken link removed] However this will cost you money (including the cost of an advertisement in a daily national newspaper) and you may have to spend additional money on professional advice unless you are sure what you are doing.

By the way, 350 euro is not at all exhorbitant for the service you describe above. If you miss the 13 January deadline (now less than a month away) you will face costs many times in excess of that figure plus possible hassle from the ODCE www.odce.ie
 
Hi Drop-d,

I can obtain a copy of an ARD for you for a company which has not traded. I can have it faxed to you if you require, absolutely no problems.

Hope this is of some use.

Cheers,
Ivorystraws.
 
hey all,

thanks for the replies,
ubi: that was an option but i need a ltd for down the line, when i do begin trading.
ivory: that sounds solid to me, any chance you could email it (i sent you my address in pm) tbh i dont use fax.
 
Hi Dro-d,

Totally understand your situation and that's no problems, I'll scan it in and send it on along with some CRO recommendations on submission of an ARD for a non-trading company.

Hope it all works out for you, best of luck.

Cheers,
Ivorystraws.
 
ubi: that was an option but i need a ltd for down the line, when i do begin trading.
Click to expand...

Strange as it seems, it would probably be cheaper and much less hassle for you to get rid of the company now and pay for a new one later than to keep your company 'alive' while inactive.
 
gotcha, but we should see money by march so we'll hold tough.

But ya, bout 600 to wind up, and bout 100 to setup,
 
drop-d said:
gotcha, but we should see money by march so we'll hold tough.
Click to expand...
If you are expecting income (profits?) imminently then presumably you could get a loan on the basis of this to cover your current running costs?
 
Well thats the thing really,

We have 12 on the ezine team and they all are working for free. (for their own interests...PR student or journalism etc.)

No running costs really, we get all the gig tickets and albums we want, we just write about it.

Current running costs are only a business 2003 hosted site, (i did all the DB's, design, +software my self) + the LTD company associated fees (ARD included)

Less than a grand for 18 months id say.

Thing is we had plans but we found issues with them at implementation, so we are completely changing our approach + business + primary activity.... it was either that or dissolve.

We started in bricks and mortar - 9 months ago changed to online presense - now we are refocusing to primarily go down a third route whilst still keeping the ezine.

Initial plan was to charge for advertising on our site, charge for listing in our directory, and run promotional events throughout ireland.

We did "earn" in terms of accepting checks, but this was more market research to determine the best approach to earning revenue. (none of the checks were cashed as it was not feasible to continue to put in the associated effort... ROI was in negative relative to time invested)

So the main focus we decided was to focus on the quality of the publication, and look to another source of revenue.

not sure i answered your question? Was there a question?
Am sure i rambled!

:)
oh ya, sorry, no no need for a loan, i would only need 150 to file including the books completed by myself..ala ivorystraws ( ;) )
 
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