Bookkeeping Essentials For Dummies

Foreword xi Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Foolish Assumptions 2 Icons Used in This Book 2 Where to Go from Here 3 Chapter 1: Getting Started 5 Deciding What Software to Use 6 Designing a System to Fit You 6 Getting organised 6 Keeping track of expenses and supplier bills 7 Recording money in 8 Getting Technical 8 Understanding GST 8 Working with payroll 9 Reconcile often, reconcile well 10 Developing an Attitude 10 Convince yourself this stuff matters 11 Quit counting sheep 11 Do your job well 12 Getting Skilled Up 12 Keeping your qualifications up to date 13 Joining an association 13 Signing up to a course 13 Chapter 2: Working with Accounting Software 15 Getting into Gear 15 Laying essential foundations 16 Understanding basic terms 16 Working in the cloud 17 Matching Software to the Job in Hand 18 Starting up a new business 19 Getting ready to grow 19 Making stuff and buying stuff 20 Catering for bigger business or non-profits 21 Chapter 3: Building Your Accounts 23 Classifying Accounts 24 Building Your Profit & Loss Accounts 24 Analysing income streams 25 Separating cost of sales accounts 25 Cataloguing expenses 26 Dealing with personal expenses 28 Seeing Where the Money’s Made 29 Itemising Balance Sheet Accounts 30 Adding up the assets 31 Listing liabilities 33 Accounting for equity 34 Your Final Chart of Accounts 35 Chapter 4: Creating Order Out of Chaos 37 Devising a Recordkeeping System 38 Getting your hands on the right info 38 Receiving bills electronically 40 Filing stuff so you can find it again 40 Developing a Bookkeeping Calendar 41 Keeping track of deadlines 41 Deciding what to keep and how long for 43 Helping Others to Help You 44 Chapter 5: Recording Expenses and Supplier Payments 45 Working with a Micro Business 46 Automating data entry with bank feeds 47 Entering transactions one by one 48 Recording Expenses for a Small Business 50 Deciding whether to record supplier bills 52 Bookkeeping for a Larger Business 53 Managing supplier orders and invoices 53 Making supplier payments 55 Dealing with EFTPOS and credit card transactions 56 Allocating Everything Correctly 56 Selecting the right account 56 Getting things right: five top tips 59 Chapter 6: Recording Receipts and Sales 61 Keeping Track of Sales and Payments 62 Recording customer sales 62 Entering customer payments 64 Working on a Cash Basis 66 Bookkeeping for Other Kinds of Income 68 Recording miscellaneous receipts 68 Dazzling everyone with your brilliance 69 Bringing Home the Bacon 70 Chapter 7: Understanding GST 73 Coughing Up the Difference 74 Picking a reporting method 74 Reporting for duty 75 Calculating GST 76 Figuring What’s Taxed and What’s Not 77 Move it, groove it, tax it 77 Transactions with no GST 78 Understanding Tax Codes 79 Creating a list of tax codes 80 Linking accounts to tax codes 81 Staying Out of Trouble 82 Avoiding traps for the unwary 82 Keeping personal matters separate 83 Completing Your Business Activity Statement 84 Playing in form 84 Meeting your deadlines 85 Chapter 8: Paying Employees 87 Hiring a New Employee 87 Step One: Complete a tax file declaration 88 Step Two: Supply a Fair Work Statement 89 Step Three: Cover against mishaps 89 Step Four: Subscribe to super 89 Step Five: Ensure your software is up to speed 91 Checking Minimum Pay and Conditions 91 Getting to Pay Day 93 Paying folks their dues 93 Checking timesheets are accurate 96 Taxing pay (no mercy shown) 96 Dealing with deductions 98 Calculating superannuation 98 Submitting to Single Touch Payroll 100 Taking Leave 101 Calculating leave on a percentage basis 101 Calculating hours per pay period 102 Paying Tax and Super 104 Reporting and paying PAYG tax 104 Paying superannuation 105 Watch out for payroll tax 105 Establishing a Schedule 106 Chapter 9: Reconciling Accounts 109 Getting Started 110 Deciding what bank accounts to reconcile 110 Calculating your true bank balance 110 Recording your opening bank balance using accounting software 112 Doing Your First Reconciliation 113 Reconciling accounts when you’re not using bank feeds 114 Reconciling accounts when you have bank feeds 116 Keeping Proof that You’ve Done the Deed 117 Troubleshooting Tricks 118 Balancing Other Kinds of Accounts 120 Chapter 10: Understanding Financial Reports 121 Cash versus Accrual — What’s the Difference? 122 Telling the Story with Profit & Loss 123 Putting income under the microscope 124 Weighing up gross profit 125 Watching expenses, dollar for dollar 125 Painting a Picture with the Balance Sheet 126 Sketching assets, black as ink 127 Drawing liabilities, red as blood 128 Sculpting equity, cast in gold 129 Understanding the Relationship between Profit and Cash 130 Why there’s profit but no cash 130 Why there’s cash but no profit 131 Scrutinising Results 132 Chapter 11: Starting a New Financial Year 135 Finalising the Old Year 136 Out with the old year… in with the new 136 Generating end-of-year reports 138 Protecting against accidents 139 Communicating with Your Accountant 140 Sharing your accounting data 140 Matching the accountant’s figures against your own 141 Bridging the communication gap 142 Starting a New Year 143 Understanding what happens when you start a new year 143 Archiving data 144 Chapter 12: Ten (Or More) Tips for Contract Bookkeepers 145 Register as a BAS Agent 146 Get Skilled Up 147 Cover Yourself with Insurance 147 Join a Professional Association 148 Act Honestly and Independently 148 Avoid Conflicts of Interest 149 Behave Professionally 151 Take Reasonable Care 152 Write an Engagement Letter 154 Know Your Limits 155 Protect Client Data 156 Chapter 13: Ten (Actually Seven) Tips for Speed 157 Get Connected with Bank Feeds 157 Create Bank Rules to Allocate Transactions Automatically 158 Create Recurring Transactions 159 Integrate Everything 160 Keep Personal Stuff Separate 160 Set Up Your Accounting Software Properly 161 Make Customer Payments Easy 161 Index 163