Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

i would definitely categorize everything so that you know where you money is going. i used to do it on excel but now do it in quickbooks and it`s really great.


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grace kang
founder
www.pinkoliveboutique.com

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Rebelpreneur

Bree, you are correct.  You will forget way to many important things if you wait until the end of the year to compile your records.  It is one of the top ways to wind op over paying your taxes.  It is best to work with an accountant during the year (monthly for me) so that planning in advance can be done as well as keeping good records.  You make up the cost in savings and get a better financial education at the same time.

I keep my accounts in QuickBooks.  One of the nice features is that you can combine accounts with a quick journal entry if the rules change or you can add a new category on the fly.  I am a bookkeeper, but I hire a CPA to handle my year-end taxes.  It`s a lot cheaper to just hand them the requested reports than to have them figure out all of the categories.


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Lily E. Chambers CPS, CQU
"Why hire a mere mortal when you have access to a Goddess"
www.virtualofficegoddess.com

With Budget software you could easily tab your penny and categorize your expenses in different headers. With this you can easily know where your expenses have gone. With the help of Budget software you can see periodically how much money you have left in your budget, it also provides reviews of all accounts in one place, track all your bills and also helps with budget and cash flow management.

You say you are a micro business, but you`ve been in business for years. If you are making a full-time income from your business, you might want to consider getting out of the bookkeeping business and back into business owning. There are inexpensive bookkeeping firms that can keep your books for a fraction of the cost of hiring someone internally, and that can free you up to do other things. Plus some firms even offer a package of services that include tax preparation and unlimited business guidance rather than charging by the hour. Software can help you keep organized, but it can also turn a business owner into a bokkeepr real fast. A profeesional can help you categorize things and help you change with the ever changing tax laws. Use your accountant to their fullest. To simply give them a historical printout and expect them to file your taxes reduces them to a clerk and may actually result in a TAx return that doesn`t properly reflect the true activity of your business. Find someone that will help you make good tax-implicating decisions before its time to fill in the forms, that way you will benefit most from the tax law.

If you have a small company it doesn't matter but when you have different expenses then you really need to calculate your expenses individually

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