Bookkeeping for Dummies, 3rd Edition Book

Do you need to get up and running on bookkeeping basics and the latest tools and technology used in the field? Bookkeeping All-In-One For Dummiesis your go-to guide for all things bookkeeping. Bringing you accessible information on the new technologies and programs, it cuts through confusing jargon and gives you friendly instruction you can use right away. Lita was the content director for a financial services Web site, MostChoice.com, and managed the Web site, Investing for Women.

Bookkeeping, when done properly, gives you an excellent gauge of how well you’re doing. If you’re just starting a business, you may be your own bookkeeper for a while until you can afford to hire one, so think of this chapter as your to-do https://kelleysbookkeeping.com/ list. Checkitout.eps This icon points you to documents and forms you can find on the book’s accompanying CD. If you are reading this text in an electronic format, please go to the table of contents for access to the additional content.

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You also have to worry about collecting payroll taxes and paying employer taxes. And if you pay employee benefits, you have yet another layer of record keeping to deal with. I talk more about how to use the bookkeeping system for tracking sales, discounts, and returns in Chapter 9, where you can also find exercises to practice using your bookkeeping system. For example, almost every company has a Cash Receipts journal in which to keep the detail for all incoming cash and a Cash Disbursements journal in which to keep the detail for all outgoing cash.

After you prove out your cash , you can check that you’ve recorded everything else in your books just as precisely. Review the accounts for any glaring errors and then test whether or not they’re in balance by doing a trial balance. The first step in testing out your books includes proving that your cash transactions are accurately recorded. This process involves checking a number of difference transactions and elements, including the cash taken in on a daily basis by your cashiers and the accuracy of your checking account. I talk about all the steps necessary to take to prove out your cash in Chapter 14. You need to know where exactly those transactions fit into the larger bookkeeping system.

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Whether you’re a business owner keeping the books yourself or an employee keeping the books for a small business owner, your job is critical for the smooth financial operation of the company. Accurate and complete bookkeeping is crucial to any business owner, but it’s also important to those who work with the business, such as investors, financial institutions, and employees. provides the easy and painless way to master this critical skill. I may be rating this a little higher than it deserves, as I haven’t found anything in this category I’m completely satisfied with. I ended up going to another book to reread the section on journals and accounts, which eventually clarified that point.

Tip.eps In addition to increasing accuracy and cutting the time you take to do your bookkeeping, computerized accounting also makes designing reports easier. Your computerized accounting system stores detailed information about every transaction, so you can group that detail in any way that may assist your decision making. Many companies today use computerized accounting systems to keep their books. You should consider using one of these systems rather than trying to keep your books on paper.