Understanding Basic Bookkeeping 101 : Tutorial For Business Owners

For small bookkeeping 101 owners seeking tax deductions, having accurate records of financial transactions can help in tax preparation. Under single-entry, journal entries are recorded once, as either an expense or income. If you’re just starting out, are doing your books on your own and are still in the hobby stage, single-entry is probably right for you.

• We’ll show you examples of how to record a transaction as both a credit and debit later on.
• With records in good shape and neatly organised, you know exactly what is stored where so you save a lot of valuable time.
• Analyzing them can reveal your startup’s strengths, weaknesses, and growth opportunities.
• When it comes to the traditional method, business owners will have to consider whether or not they want to hire an in-house bookkeeper or an external accounting firm.
• This book seems aimed at larger, more complex organizations than ours.

For example, if you prepare and post an invoice in the amount of $150 to John Brown for consulting, you’ll need to record that information in a journal entry. The insights you get from your bookkeeping will help you reap the rewards of your business for years to come. With this insight, you could hit pause on less profitable services, and focus on freelance coaching to make more money. Your low overhead means your deductions are limited (there’s only so much a laptop and work desk can deduct…), so make sure you set aside enough money for tax season. It may be time to delegate, so you can focus on doing what you love. I don’t know about you, but Bench actually makes bookkeeping feel less intimidating.

Make sure your transactions are categorized

The best part is that you will not require any prior knowledge or an accounting degree to get started. How you go about doing your books is up to you, but even if you don’t use a 3rd party bookkeeping service you must keep solid records of business transactions. 1) Single Entry – This system of bookkeeping involves making an entry for every single financial transaction your business conducts. Bookkeeping is the foundation of all financial records. Without good bookkeeping, you will not have good financial statements. And without proper financial statements, you cannot make sound business decisions. But bookkeeping mistakes are costly and threaten success.

Bookkeeping is the process of recording your business’s financial transactions so that you know exactly how much you’re making and where your money is going. Our bookkeepers here at Bench can do your books for you entirely online. We’ll also give you simple software to produce financial statements, keep track of your daily expenses, and help make tax time a breeze. The way you categorize transactions will depend on your business and industry. Generally speaking, your transactions fall into five account types—assets, liabilities, equity, revenue, and expenses. Individual line items are then broken down into subcategories called accounts. In our ice cream shop example, some accounts in your ledger might be “revenue-ice cream sales”, “expenses-ice cream ingredients”, etc.

Should you use accounting software for your bookkeeping?

Especially if your accountant ends up telling you you’ve been using them incorrectly for the past year. Getting your books together and producing financial statements is the only way to gauge the financial health of your small business. It’s time-consuming to keep up with multiple ledgers and maintain accuracy, so if your plans include growing your business, you’ll need to use accounting software. If you just started your own business, DIY with spreadsheets or invest in bookkeeping software like Bench, Freshbooks, or Xero. Block a date in your calendar every month and commit to it.

To get approval from the bank, you’d need to present all your financials. This tends to be an overwhelming process, so hire a qualified bookkeeper to handle this for you. If you just launched your business and you don’t have a lot of transactions, I recommend you to do bookkeeping on spreadsheets. NerdWallet strives to keep its information accurate and up to date.

Set up your general ledger

You also have to decide, as a new business owner, if you are going to use single-entry or double-entry bookkeeping. Single-entry bookkeeping is much like keeping your check register. You record transactions as you pay bills and make deposits into your company account. It only works if your company is relatively small with a low volume of transactions. However, managing your own bookkeeping means you’re in charge of keeping your finances in order, storing records and creating necessary statements. Using accounting software simplifies many bookkeeping processes, but you’ll still need the tech-based skills to run and streamline your business’s software.

• Most accounting software has a monthly subscription cost that may not seem worth it to a bootstrapped startup.
• You can also consult professional bookkeeping communities, accounting blogs or industry forums for available professionals.
• If you want to outsource your small-business bookkeeping, there are several ways to find experienced bookkeepers.
• As a professional bookkeeper and aspiring accountant, this book covered a part of bookkeeping that I was largely unfamiliar with (bookkeeping for a non-profit).

If you don’t keep accurate daily records, then it’s a lot more difficult for you to track the financial condition of your business. Rather than facing a major surprise when the taxman comes knocking, it’s a good idea that you budget for tax as you go along so you don’t have to pay a big chunk at once. This is the financial statement which presents a summary of your financial activity over a certain period of time. After working out the revenue earned, the costs of goods sold and the expenses, it works out your net profit or loss. A balance sheet is a detailed report which breaks down the financial situation of your business. In this report, you’ll find aspects such as assets, liabilities and the capital of your business. The point of a balance sheet helps to show what your business owns and owes.

How to find bookkeeping help for small businesses

In this episode I explain what a bank reconciliation is and how important it is to keep a check on your bank balances. If you don’t, not only could you lose out on thousands of dollars in potential deductions—you could also lose compliance with the IRS.