Hot answers tagged bookkeeping
9
You need to hire an accountant. Even though you made no money and owe no taxes, your business still has to file a tax return. In addition, there will probably be loses your first year and your accountant will show you how to carry those loses forward into future years to lower your taxes when you do begin to make money.
8
QuickBooks is still the de facto standard for small business bookkeeping. What you really need is to keep records in the format your accountant wants them in.
This means you you should hire a qualified accountant before you do anything else on the financial side. A good CPA will help you think through many of these questions and save you from a number of ...
7
The way to do this is to fill out a business expense report and get reimburse from your company. I know it sounds a little corporate but that is the cleanest way to do it since you want to account for the expenses in the business.
Doing it the other way is problematic. From an accounting point of view, that would technically co-mingle your company money and ...
6
I agree with Keith on hiring an accountant.
Quickbooks is the de facto standard but difficult to use if you don't understand well some accounting terms. How many know what a "Chart of Accounts" is?
Have a look at FreshBooks.
I tried it last month and is working very well..
You can send an estimate to customers, have then approve it, track your time and ...
6
Bookkeeping software (like Quickbooks) is complimentary to an accountant, not an alternative.
Your business has financial, tax, and possibly payroll responsibilities. A qualified CPA will help you setup and maintain the appropriate financial records your business will need to meet all of these obligations.
You can read, research and learn to do all of ...
5
Your accounting needs are pretty simple since you aren't sending invoices, receiving payments on invoices and are the only person who needs to get paid.
Essentially all you need to track is money in and money out, some people do this in an Excel sheet or Google doc when small. When it comes down to taxes it's important to know what money spent is tax ...
4
Definitely start with the CPA to get the Chart correct and organized, then use a bookkeeper for the data entry.
Since the new bookkeeper will still be getting used to what goes where, especially if the old books and new books have different account lists, have another entry called "Uncategorized" and encourage its use. Then you and the bookkeeper can go ...
3
Yes you correct - Log it under an expense named 'R&D'.
It's an expense of course - we can't consider these purchases as assets because you don't intend to sell them. Even if you did the app stores wouldn't allow you to by their license or terms of service agreement. (See Apple's conditions under the heading "Licensed Application End User License ...
3
In general, I would suggest at least having a bookkeeper. The primary responsibilities of a bookkeeper are to ensure that your financial data is accurate and current at all times. Also, the role of bookkeeping should not be reduced to just data entry. A good bookkeeper will have a strong working knowledge of the chart of accounts, debits and credits, journal ...
3
I would definitely hire someone. I started out doing my own taxes using a program, but had to amend my filing due to a rules enacted by my state legislators that was retro-active.
Besides having to always file a Federal return, you may also have to deal with local and state issues. It gets even more difficult if you are operating as a "foreign" corporation.
...
3
Whatever you choose, here's my advice (as a business owner and a no-longer-practicing CPA): keep it simple. Select a short list of expense and revenue accounts to begin with, and resist the temptation to add more and more detail by having more and more sub-accounts. Even with decent small business booking software like QuickBooks, it's a lot of work if you ...
2
Here are some additional expense accounts that maybe useful to you. I am assuming you are going to be selling some type of SaaS, software or IT services. If you are, you will want to keep track of your direct cost for producing your product as your gross profit margin is a key number to keep track of.
Auto expense
Dues and subscriptions
Filing fees
...
2
I followed what were the categories used for tax filings. In some cases I broke those down further if it made sense to track specifically.
For many years I managed rental property and I carried over what practices I used there.
For me the issue is two things:
What do you need to track for taxes and other compliance
What makes sense for you to track ...
2
From a practical standpoint, the 'chart of accounts' is only as useful as the information it displays. For example: Category 'Office Supplies' reflects only the number that is entered there, but if you want to track how much you spend on 'Staples' or 'mechanical pencil lead replacements' you would simply have to create a sub-category or separate expense ...
2
What you described is what we do at my company (< 15 people). It works pretty well. Our bookkeeper comes to our place every 2 weeks to do the book. We also use TriNet to do payroll. If you are a small firm, you can also look into PayCycle (now Intuit) for payroll.
We use an independent guy who is fantastic but AccountTemps could also help you out. Since ...
2
Bookkeeping is something no company should ignore. As a matter of fact, it's an area that can't be ignored for too long without major financial repercussions. To get a sense of why this is so, we need to look at what it means to keep the books and how this works and the impact this has on the operations of a company. This is not self promotion by any means ...
2
If you are in the US you need an accountant first. Interview several and pick one you are comforatable with. Once you have an accountant, your accountant will specify what software you need. The software you use to keep your records and check book has to be compatible with the system your accountant uses. (Otherwise you pay your accountant to convert your ...
2
I've found Xero to be excellent, but it may be that it has a more Australian/NZ/UK bias than you might like - well worth checking out; I have no financial qualifications, but with a little guidance from my accountant, I can handle most activities very easily. Billing via PDF over email is especially straightforward - handy if you're doing consulting work to ...
2
You might benefit from:
Micro-ISV: From Vision to Reality by Bob Walsh
Eric Sink on the Business of Software
some introductory accounting books or an accounting course
You should also know that starting and operating a company is not just a very different skillset, but a rather different frame of mind, from programming. You can certainly learn all the ...
2
I would invest in Quickbooks or some other accounting software and enter your expenses/income every week. Once you do that, then create monthly folders that you but the receipts in. That way, you have an accurate accounting already in Quickbooks or whatever that you can give to your accountant.
You can either scan the source documents or have a physical ...
2
I'd also suggest from what Jason mentioned to talk with a CPA that has consulted in your business area and with your business model that you have setup. This is only important if the model that you are perusing is anything more complicated than a cash basis for revenue recognition or a possible complicated cost structure.
On a start-up JV I was working ...
2
The sooner you start the better. I use a free online accounting program called Wave Accounting but there are many others. You connect your bank account and credit card so it will automatically download the transactions which will save you a lot of time. Then, you code each transaction to the correct account and you can generate your financial statement using ...
2
I'm adding my reply a bit late, but agree generally with the advice you received: consider using Wave, Excel or any other method, but start now; think about the other expenses you've incurred (e.g. office supplies, utilities) for your business.
While it may be daunting to offer your on-line banking information to Wave, or any other Cloud-based accounting ...
1
Most Bookkeeper are qualified to be accountants. I would suggest you look for a bookkeeper first. Quickbooks is a software that generates financial reports (set up the chart of accounts proper). A bookkeeper can read and analyze financial reports and in turn provide you feedback. If you are lucky with the right bookkeeper, he/she may file your taxes for a ...
1
You probably don't need an accountant for a small business. Bookkeeping might be beneficial, depends on how good you are doing it on your own, and how much time you have to spend on it. A good tax adviser is a must before you do anything though, but it doesn't have to be an on-going retainer.
But it really depends on the type of business. If its a software ...
1
For simple Book-keeping purpose,
Create - Paypal Account under Bank category. Then you record your daily, weekly , monthly or quartely as your choice in there. Do not post individual transaction but use summary of your desire frequency.
1) When you record your sales from paypal
Debit - Paypal Account
Credit - Sales
2) When you record your paypal ...
1
I would suggest FirstEdge or AccountEdge rather than QB. Your CPA just needs reports, it doesn't matter what software you use if you can provide your CPA with the P&L, Balance Sheet, and (in our case) the general ledger for the year (to provide more information). In business it is important that you understand double entry accounting as a prerequisite, ...
1
I am not a Quickbooks person, but I have prepared quite a few business tax returns (corporations, partnerships, etc.). Only about 2 or 3 of my clients in 25 years have ever done their own depreciation. Most of the time, people put the equipment they buy somewhere on the profit and loss statement and I move it to an asset account and figure the ...
1
As in the previous response, I would not recommend that you record a salary until you can get paid that salary in real time. As for other costs that you have paid out of pocket but need to be reimbursed, I recommend you create an employee reimbursement form and list out all out of pocket costs including mileage from the use of your personal car for business ...
1
What I would do (FYI: I am not an accountant)
capital expenditure (I presume you are referring to items you have bought for the company) - submit expense claims to the value
consultancy fee
if you are a director, it's tricky and would need to speak to an accountant to be sure but I suspect your best bet is do nothing and pay yourself through ...
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