Bookkeeping for UK Limited Companies — Outsourcing to India

What bookkeeping does a UK limited company need each month?

Running a UK limited company creates a regular cycle of bookkeeping obligations that most directors underestimate when they first incorporate. Beyond the year-end accounts and corporation tax return, there is a steady stream of monthly and quarterly work that needs doing accurately and on time.

The core recurring obligations for a UK Ltd company include:

• Monthly bank reconciliation — matching every transaction in your accounting software to your bank statement
• Sales invoice processing — recording customer invoices, chasing overdue payments, and maintaining accounts receivable
• Purchase invoice coding — categorising supplier bills and expenses into the correct nominal codes
• Quarterly VAT returns — preparing and submitting MTD-compliant VAT returns to HMRC every three months
• Monthly payroll — PAYE calculations, RTI submissions, payslips, and auto-enrolment pension deductions for any employees or directors on salary
• Director loan account tracking — recording any money the director takes out or puts in outside of salary and dividends
• Year-end statutory accounts — preparing the balance sheet, profit and loss account, and notes for Companies House filing

An Indian bookkeeping service handles all the monthly and quarterly tasks. Your UK accountant then only needs to review clean, reconciled accounts for the annual corporation tax return — a much faster and cheaper engagement for them.

What an Indian CA firm handles for your UK limited company

The division of work is clear and consistent across most UK Ltd company engagements.

For most small UK limited companies, this means the Indian CA firm handles 80–90% of the annual bookkeeping workload. The UK accountant's role reduces to a quarterly review and year-end sign-off, which is significantly cheaper than having them handle everything.

Corporation tax and Companies House — what stays UK-side

Two tasks always remain with a UK-based accountant: the CT600 corporation tax return filed with HMRC, and the statutory accounts filed at Companies House. Both require an authorised UK agent in practice, and both carry legal responsibilities under the Companies Act 2006 and the Taxes Management Act 1970.

What changes when you use an Indian CA firm is the quality and completeness of the data the UK accountant receives. Instead of spending billable time reconciling your bank statements and chasing missing receipts, they receive a complete, reconciled set of accounts. Most UK accountants reduce their annual fee by 30–50% when the underlying bookkeeping is already done to a professional standard.

If you need tax preparation support alongside bookkeeping, our Indian team can prepare the corporation tax computation and supporting schedules, leaving only the final HMRC submission and Companies House filing for your UK agent.

Cost comparison: UK accountant vs Indian CA firm

The table below reflects typical 2026 market rates for UK limited companies at different sizes and complexity levels.

Indian CA firms charge £6–£15 per hour equivalent versus £35–£70 per hour for UK bookkeepers. For a small limited company generating 150–200 transactions per month, the monthly bookkeeping takes 8–12 hours — a cost difference of roughly £400–£600 per month in your favour.

Director loan accounts — a common Ltd company issue

Director loan accounts (DLAs) are one of the most frequently mismanaged areas in small UK limited company bookkeeping. Every time a director takes money from the company that is not salary or a declared dividend, it is a director's loan. If the DLA is overdrawn (you owe the company money) at the year-end date, Section 455 tax applies — currently 33.75% of the outstanding balance, repayable when you repay the loan.

An Indian CA firm tracking your DLA monthly means you know where you stand before the year-end, not after. If a Section 455 charge is building up, we flag it in advance so you can declare a dividend or repay the loan before your accounting year closes. This is a common tax saving opportunity that gets missed when bookkeeping is done only annually.

How to set up shared access in Xero or Sage

Getting started takes under 20 minutes:

1. Xero: Go to Settings > Users > Invite a User. Select "Adviser" access level. Enter the Indian CA firm's email address. They receive an invitation and can access your organisation without you sharing your own credentials.
2. Sage Accounting (cloud): Go to Settings > User Management > Invite a User. Assign "Accountant" or "Full Access" role. The Indian team accesses via their own Sage login.
3. QuickBooks Online: Go to My Accountant > Invite Accountant. Enter the email address. The Indian team accepts the invitation and appears as an accountant user in your QBO account.
4. Bank feed: Connect your UK bank account via Open Banking within the software. Transactions pull in automatically each business day — no manual uploading of bank statements.
5. Opening balances: If you are migrating from another accountant, we handle the opening balance migration and chart of accounts setup as part of onboarding.

Once access is set up, the Indian team begins coding transactions from the first bank feed date. Monthly reconciliation reports are delivered by the 5th of the following month, with VAT return figures ready 2 weeks before each quarterly deadline.

Frequently asked questions