Bookkeeping

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How To Set Up A Tax-Saving Bookkeeping System

Author: Julia Tang

One of the most important, but least understood or appreciated aspects of any business is its bookkeeping or accounting system. And, because very few people know much about the reasons for a bookkeeping system, most people are frightened by the thought of the work involved in setting up such a system, and the drudgery of daily maintenance.

Why bookkeeping is important for your business?

First of all, you can track where the money are from, ane where the money goes to. Find out which ones are the most valuable resources or advertising methods.

Secondly, it is for your Tax purpose. When tax season is coming, if you have a bookkeeping, you need not spend 5 days to dig out all the receipts and sales reports.

There's really nothing complicated to bookkeeping it's as simple as keeping a daily dairy and' or maintaining your personal checkbook. At the bottom line, it's simply a matter of recording your deposits-your incoming monies-and keeping a record of the money you spend.

So, the first thing you need to do is open a business account for your extra income business or endeavors. Generally, this is simply a matter of asking the new accounts teller at a local bank for a business account registration fee, send it in to the appropriate commissioner, and from there, open you a new business account-complete with imprinted checks.

Drop by a local stationery store and pick up a loose leaf notebook, and a supply of paper. We've always picked up a supply of index tabs at the same time--either to separate the months or the accountability sections for each item we sell.

Assuming that you want to make it as simple as possible, while at the same time keeping it as efficient as is necessary-here's what you do and how to do it.

On the first page in your notebook, write on the top line and in the middle of the page: Monday, January 1st, 2004 or whatever day you officially start your business...Then, as your orders come in, if by mail, as you open your mail-jot down starting from the left side of the page, the amount you received-dash-for what-from whom, and their address. The page might look like this:

Monday--- January 1 2004

$ 14 Tapes 100 S.W Fee-Barton 10 Hong Kong Dir #261 10 " " #261 3 Whsle Prt Dir #49 70 Hot Line Lst--Morgan

TOTAL INCOME $207 EXPENSES 0

That's all there is to it, and boiling it all down, it amounts to recording what you receive and what you spend. The next entry, immediately under that first day's entry might look like this:

$207 Deposit 11 Printer-for copies 10 Sec & riches thru R Est #302-Rogers( 75010) 3 Simplified annual M.O bkkp Sys (21104) 10 Money Magnetism-Kline (88033) 36 R.W Fee-Magnuson (10067 6 Manual on Bookselling-#291-Magnuson (10067 15 display Ad- Smith 948089) 22 Ideal Ofc Supplies-printer paper

TOTAL INCOME $80 Expense $33 Deposit $207

And then, carry on with this recording of the money you deposit, receive and spend each day with similar entries for each day of the week-every day Monday Thru Saturday for each week. It's simple uncomplicated, and a positive record of your business activity.

Then at the end of each month, transfer this daily information to one of the low cost bookkeeping registers that your tax consultant or accountant can work from. These people won't work from your daily dairy, ad will not transfer the information you record in it to a formal bookkeeping register without charging you a small fortune. it's not that big of a job, ad if you do it after te close of the business on the last day of the month, it will take at the most a very few minutes. Then, of course, when you're ready to do your taxes, you simply give your bookkeeping register to whoever is going to do your taxes, and you're home free.

The bookkeeping register you'll need can be any simple columnar notebook-All you really need is some sort of notebook with a number of columns marked off, a title written at the top of each column, and a record of te money received for each day relative to the product or service each column represents. Then at the end of each month, you can simply add the totals from each column and you'll instantly know how much money you took in from each of your offers.

Beyond te date column, will be your record of expenses or money spent. Again, you should title each of the columns you'll be entering figures into, and then record your expenditures for items falling into those categories. Then at the end of each month, it's a simple matter to add the total from each column and know exactly where you stand relative to profit or loss-how much you took in compared to how much you spent.

Bookkeeping and/or accounting is a very simple and should not scare you. Just keep it simple, ad up-to-date.

If you want to use advanced software to do the job, you can either use Quicken (www.quicken.com) or Microsoft Money. You can buy them online or from local book store. By using these software, you can even download bankstatements and credit cards statement. Then you can specify which catagories are belong to business expense. It will save you a lot of time.

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Julia Tang publishes Smart Online Business Tips, a fresh
and informative newsletter dedicated to supporting people
like you! To find out the best online business opportunities,
and to discover hundreds more proven and practical internet
marketing secrets, plus FREE internet marketing products
worth over $200, visit: http://www.best-internet-businesses.com
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How to Get The Best Accounting Software For Your Small Business

Author: Ryan Hough

Buying accounting software is a major investment. It's an important decision and you need to be sure of all the facts before you buy.

You certainly wouldn't want to get accounting software and then find a few months later that the software can't handle your growing business.

You also don't want to be fooled into buying low priced software and then finding out that you have to make multiple upgrades to get it to the level you need to effectively run your business.

And worst of all you don't want to get software with little or no support.

Our research lead us to a website that has compared some of the most popular small business accounting packages released in 2005.

Software Prices

The cheapest software cost US $89.99 and the most expensive software cost US $1,499. It was interesting to note that the top 3 ranked websites were not the most expensive and cost between US $250 - US $300.

Software Features

Each accounting software package has been thoroughly analyzed and there is a detailed breakdown showing the features of each. Most packages offer all the most important accounting modules. It was interesting to note that the most expensive software did not offer some of the modules offered by less expensive alternatives. The breakdown is very detailed and you'll be able to see for example if the software offers e-mail invoicing.

Software Support

The most important feature in our opinion is the support. The top 4 accounting packages include toll free support and FAQ's.

Hopefully you now have an idea of what to look for in an accounting software package and how much you should pay. If you would like the link to the website we researched to compile the above information please visit our website.

Ryan Hough is the webmaster of Best Quality Small Business Resources.Com.

Visit the Top Accounting Software Packages Page

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