Accounting Software for Small Business

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The best small business accounting software saves time and money. Whatever you do, don’t buy the wrong thing. Here’s how to get it right.

Choosing the best small business accounting software may help your company survive. Yes, out of control finances kill many a company every year. How do you know when to order inventory when you really don’t know what your inventory levels are? Is hiring a new employee a good idea? How can you decide? Will it pay to buy a new piece of equipment? Many decisions are easier to make and many decisions are almost automatic if your financial systems are under control. Plus having a smooth running financial system is a sure stress reducer and reducing stress helps with decision making too. Here’s how to get the right system.

Your Needs.

Every industry is different and your company is unique. Think about what you need from an accounting system. Maybe inventory is an important part of your business or maybe not. Do you need a payroll system or not? Before you do much shopping for software, think through what you need in the way of information. That way you’re less likely to be sold something you don’t need. Remember too that some of what you may do now to management your business can be done easier and faster. Maybe you check inventory every morning, but a computerized inventory system could keep inventory levels current all the time. You could check inventory levels less often and save time and money.

Easy To Use.

Buy a puppy and the cost just starts. That’s the way accounting software is too. The initial cost is just the start. Learning how to use the software may be a bigger challenge than you think. Sure it’s nice to talk about all the power a computer system has. But the easier, the better. Buy a system to meet your needs, not one that’s much more complex than you’ll ever need. Is this a proven system? Is there somebody who can help you if you get in trouble? Often times local accounting firms are a resource to help you with problems.

Not Too Complex.

You can often get software in different modules. Get the main accounting system, with general ledger and journals in one package. Then you can add payroll or inventory management or other modules. You can even get industry specific versions like construction company versions or retail versions, just whatever you need. Often the best choice may be an off-the-shelf product. Very seldom does a small business need a custom software product. You want a proven product used by businesses much like yours.

Will It Grow?

Need more computing power as you grow? It’s much easier to move to a more powerful version of the software you have than to buy from a different company. That’s true because usually the more powerful version is designed to look and operate like what you have now. That’s why staying within the Peachtree Software products makes upgrading easier. Same with Quickbooks. Upgrading within Quickbooks is easier than switching from Quickbooks to Peachtree. Be careful of a cheap software system with no upgrade product. You’ll be stuck.

Reduce stress and make better decisions too with the best small business accounting software. The best investment you can make when choosing software is to first decide what you really need. Then buy a system that meets your needs, but that’s as simple to use and upgrade as possible. That’s a sure route to cost and time savings. You will be much less likely to buy more system than you need if you carefully think through your requirements as the very first step when choosing accounting software.

Accounting software is used by accountants to enter many complex financial transactions into the financial books of account and is almost invariably based upon double entry bookkeeping principles. A major advantage to those companies and the finance staff is the extent to which financial information contained in the database can be queried for financial control purposes.

An accountant needs to not only ensure the financial records are accurate but also retrieve any part of the accounting records to answer accounting questions on the accounts, for more details visit to www.viral-toolbar-builder.com provide a legal basis for the transactions and report the financial statements at regular periodic intervals.

The small business has different accounting needs which are better described as bookkeeping than accounting. For non limited companies that do not need to produce a balance sheet then a simple income and expenditure account can be produced much simpler using single entry bookkeeping principles.

Less financial control is often required from small business accounting software as the bookkeeper is often the owner manager who already has an intimate knowledge of each transaction. Books are still required for tax purposes and a solid requirement of preparing a set of financial books for tax purposes is that each entry is supported by third party evidence.

Examples of third party evidence would be sales invoices, purchases invoices and bank statements. Financial transactions where no receipt exists can still be entered in the business books although all transactions not carrying third party evidence could subsequently be disallowed for tax purposes and certainly would be if the amounts entered indicated unusual income or for more details visit to www.software-designers-pro.com expenditure.

Producing an income and expenditure statement using single entry bookkeeping is little more than making two lists of financial transactions. Those lists being one of sales income received from sales invoices or receipts issued to customers and the other of purchase expenditure being from purchase invoices received from suppliers.

To record sales income it would not normally be sufficient to simply add up the total of the invoices as such a summation does not leave an audit trail of the items which have been included. A written list of sales invoices does provide an audit trail.

Sales accounting for a small business accounting purposes can be either a manual list of the sales invoices or by using a spreadsheet package a list can be made on a bookkeeping spreadsheet. Using a spreadsheet for the bookkeeping has advantages as simple formula can be used to add up the column totals.

The essential information to enter for a sales invoice would be the date of the sale, name of the customer, sales invoice number if applicable and optional a brief description of the item sold. In the next column would be the total sales invoice amount. If items like value added tax are required to be accounted for then an additional column would be required to accommodate the vat or sales tax accounting.

A further small complication might be if at the discretion of the small business owner additional information was required from the bookkeeping records to indicate the totals of the different types of products and services then additional columns could be incorporated to enter the net sales figures in these columns.

There it is then, a simple list of sales invoices to satisfy the sales accounting requirements for a small business where a balance sheet is not required.

On the expenditure side of the business the bookkeeping can also be a simple list of the purchase invoices and receipts showing the amount spent. The list should also produce an audit trail by showing the date of the purchase invoice, name of the supplier, purchase invoice for identification purposes and the total amount spent.

Usually tax returns are the main purpose of producing small business accounts and invariably some analysis is required to show what the expenses have been spent on. That is not difficult to achieve and as with the sales accounting the owner manager can add additional standard columns to the bookkeeping spreadsheet.

The expenditure analysis columns do not need to be a different column for each type of expenditure. It is better to set up and group the analysis columns in general headings which can accommodate all the expenses.

Such columns may include stock, other direct costs, premises costs, general administrative costs, transport and delivery costs, repairs and maintenance, traveling and hotel costs, motor costs, bank and legal costs and other expenses. It is better not to enter too many items under a general heading of other expenses as this is more likely to be investigated as the type of expense has not been precisely identified.

One important column to also include is for asset purchases as fixed assets usually have different tax rules applying to the claim of the expense against tax and should be separated from other expenditure.

Having set up two bookkeeping spreadsheets the task is then to produce the income and expenditure account by collecting the totals of each of the analysis columns. The sales total is the sales turnover from which is deducted the totals of each of the expenditure classification totals with the result being the net profit and loss of the business.

Where stock is bought and sold a further adjustment may be required to account for the difference between opening and closing stock. This is done by taking a physical stock check and valuing the stock at the start and end of the financial period.

On the income and expenditure account adjust the stock purchases figure by adding the value of the opening stock and deducting the value of the closing stock. The result is not the stock purchases total as shown in the bookkeeping spreadsheets but the cost of the goods which have been sold to produce the sales turnover being reported.

Simple bookkeeping for a small business accounting purposes can be two lists of sales and purchases supported with sales invoices and purchases invoices

Starting a small business out of your home, offering products or services like business consulting, photography, selling on the web or a MLM? You are now faced with tracking all your expenses and revenues for your business and you certainly don’t have the money yet to engage a bookkeeper or accountant. If your business is a sole proprietorship, whether it be a Canadian Proprietorship or a US-based Proprietorship, you do not require an accountant to submit your company financials (books) to the IRS (USA) or Revenue Canada). Your business revenue and losses are reported as part of your annual personal income tax. For this small business start-up, you won’t need to buy fancy accounting software, like Quick Books or AccPac to track your business.

Only as part of incorporating Bizfare Enterprise Inc in 2005 was it a requirement to engage an accountant. My accountant did insist on using Quick Books software for my business accounting. Up until then using a simple spreadsheet template served my business accounting needs for over ten years. This simple spreadsheet accounting stood the test of multiple audits by Revenue Canada (CRA and Revenue Canada Goods and Services Tax. Both the hardcopy columnar pad and an electronic spreadsheet version of my financial books were accepted by Revenue Canada. (BTW the audits disclosed more ways for me to claim back additional taxes for the previous three years! Now that’s my type of audit!)

In your new start-up business venture, you likely will generate somewhere between 10 to 30 accounting transactions per month. These transactions would be items like Expense, Revenue (sales), Liability (Loan) type transactions and Sales Tax (Federal + State/Provincial) Collection/Deductions. These transactions are further broken down into various Business Accounts. All the Accounts you set up for your business is called a Chart of Accounts. Recording your business financial transactions (Journal Entries) can be executed with pen and ink on an accounting columnar pad or electronically with your computer using a spreadsheet program (MS Excel, Open Office, Star Office).

Whether you employ electronic or hardcopy media, you need to develop a simple Journal template to create your Business Synoptic Journal. This Synoptic Journal format has the advantage of allowing you a complete view of all your individual journal entry transactions against all your various Business Accounts. Creating this Synoptic Journal is easier to do than you think and requires no prior accounting or bookkeeping knowledge.

TIP #1: You could further reduce the accounting line items (Journal Entries) by consolidating like items such as ‘all the Sales for the month’ and ‘all parking receipts for the month’ into one totaled line item for the month.

Where do you start to identify the various Business Accounts required for your Synoptic Journal?

If you currently work for a company or government, secure of one of their employee expense forms. Look at each of the areas identified as expenses – meals, mileage, hotel accommodations, taxi, car rental, telephone & cell phone, air fare, office supplies, etc. This is an excellent place to identify the various Business Expense Accounts you need to set up for your business accounting books. To complete your business Chart of Accounts, include a Business Bank Account, Sales, COGS (Cost of Goods Sold), Sales Tax Collection, Marketing Expense and others as required. Each of these Accounts will be a listed as a title across the top of each column of your Synoptic Journal. Each row (line item) will be the individual journal transactions entered by you. The journal transactions are grouped and summarized for each business month; usually, January through December.

So your Synoptic Journal would look something like this Sample Synoptic Journal at http://picasaweb.google.com/carl.chesal/BookkeepingTemplate.

The column headings might be in this order (from left to right):

DATE | DESCRIPTION | BANK DEPOSITS | BANK WITHDRAWALS | SALES REVENUE | COGS | SALES TAX COLLECTED & REMITTED | OFFICE SUPPLIES EXPENSE | EXPENSE #2 | EXPENSE #3 | ETC

TIP #2: Unless your business is Incorporated or an LLC, you don’t need to go through the expense of opening a business account with your bank. Usually Business accounts charge a higher monthly fee, charge for printing checks (cheques) and don’t offer any interest on your monthly account balance. Instead, open a separate personal bank account (maybe savings). This will show the ‘taxman’ that you are keeping the business separate from your personal banking. Remember you are a sole proprietor and all your business income (and losses) are to be applied directly to your personal income tax submission ( a s per IRS and CRA).

To save you time and make is very simple, I have already created a simple spreadsheet Synoptic Journal template that performs all the calculations for each month and rolls up the 12 business months so it can easily be included in your annual personal income tax preparation. This Synoptic Journal template has Debit/Credit checks and balances, tracks sales taxes, mileage and totals each account for your entire fiscal year. If you want this FREE Bookkeeping template, you can get it at Communicate Innovate. With a few key strokes, which will help identify yourself, I will gladly send you this FREE Synoptic Journal Template and also any future Small Business Tips.

TIP #3: One Rule of Accounting is that every time you record a journal entry (line item which applies the transaction against the appropriate business accounts) the Debits and Credits MUST REMAIN EQUAL at ALL Times. This Debit Equals Credit calculator is built into this FREE Bookkeeping Template. When you have completed entering a line item (journal transaction), check to ensure that the amount the the Debit cell equals the amount in the Credit cell. If they are not equal, you have not entered the amounts properly in your journal transaction. Correct the problem before entering your next journal entry.

You are now equipped to capture your business financial books with some simple accounting software. Happy bookkeeping! And Happy Selling!

Business is a great thing for many people. The men and women who are out there braving the world in starting their own business are the ones that are sure to make it happen. They have shown that they are not willing to sit in someone else’s office and make them rich.

However, there is much to the idea of business that has to be tackled and in doing so they are making the change for the better. They are working to make sure that every little detail is being produced in the right way. However, there are times when people are starting to make things a bit too complicated in the idea of small business.

This is usually in the area of the accounting practices that the company has and they are showing that they are not getting what they need in this place. They are making things a lot harder then they need too overall. Accounting for a small business should be simple. This is something that a good many people tend to forget about.

They are simply out there working in a way that will help them develop the skills and such to keep all of their money straight but in the end they are doing it the hard way. Instead of doing that there is the idea that they should make a change and encourage a better understanding of the entire process.

This will show you that you have the right developed process in hand and that they are going to get all that they can. From this one place they have made sure that they are getting all that is positive in this world. Working in this method will allow you to challenge what you know and then move you to the next level from that point and then forward.

Software
The easiest way to keep the accounting straight for your small business is through the software programs. This is something that you have to learn to deal with because they are very easy to use. The newest programs out there will actually help you develop the skill set and so on that will encourage a better sense of life.

More and more there is going to be a target for the whole deal that is working to produce the results. This is the matter at hand when you are dealing with accounting practices because of the fact that you have the chance to really make a difference in the way that things are working. All in all you should always go with the simple method through the software systems to encourage a better outcome.

Taxes
When you are dealing with the taxes you can see that the accounting software is going to be the best as well. With the tax issues always changing you can see that getting to the right point will be easier with the idea of the accounting software because it shows you how much you are going to have to pay and so on. This will encourage a better understanding of the entire process and then move you on.

• Easily create professional-looking invoices, estimates & sales receipts
• Stay organized with your customer, vendor and sales information in one place
• Automatically track tax-related income and expenses so tax time is a snap
• Easy to setup, learn & use…no accounting knowledge necessary

Product Description
QuickBooks Simple Start is the easiest way to track sales and expenses. All your finance information is organized in one place, so you can easily stay on top of your business and be ready for tax time.Amazon.com
QuickBooks Simple Start combines bookkeeping software with essential tools for your business. It’s the simplest way to track sales and expenses. Simple to get started. Click to enlarge. No account… More >>