Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Accounting 101

Some of you would be surprised to know that I am a seasoned accounting and finance professional. Since I was 18 years old, I have earned my living counting "beans" as they say in the accounting world.

I've worked for major corporations like Pitney Bowes, Lenox China and ConocoPhillips, so my background is extensive. Accounting is second nature to me. So when it came time for me to setup my system for tracking income and expenses for my business, it came naturally.

Industry friends of mine have been after me for months to do a post about how to easily track the financial transactions of a small business and I just haven't been able to nail down where to start. I know that many of you struggle with it and so I'd like you to help me, help YOU!

Tell me in the comments section, what your problems and challenges are with accounting as it relates to your business. I'll address your answers in a subsequent post.

Thanks!

Aspire to Plan!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

So great Wendy! I always hear the same from people too... struggling to get their accounting done. I'm a huge fan of Quickbooks... but I think for upstarts, a good old excel sheet to track income and expenses is the best start. Love your thoughts on this!

Erica said...

What are some of the best financial/accounting habits to get into early in starting a small business? Should we try to do accounting ourselves? What method of accounting works best for most people?

Jennifer Ramirez-Jasiczek said...

what easy and inexpensive software do you like for small business. I've used quickbooks for years but am getting away from it. I just want something simpler. Right now using my microsoft money for business, but really want something else, but don't know what it is.Keep up the good work!

Brandi- Glitz and Glamour said...

I would just love to see a sample spreadsheet that applies to home-based planning businesses. So many times I see samples for those with office space & I wonder what equipment I can legally write off since I'm operating from home.

Also, for those of us who don't have full-time employees but have an assistant or two who work per wedding/event I definitely need to create a better system of keeping track of that for tax purposes.

Anonymous said...

I like what Erica said about establishing good habits from the start. In the early stages of business, I think it's more about "organizing" and "systemizing" than it is about "accounting".

Unknown said...

Thank you all for the GREAT comments. You've given me a lot to write about and I think I know EXACTLY where to go with the blog post now.

Stay tuned!

Unknown said...

If it's not too late, I'm interested in strategies to organize accounting also. I'm currently using Excel but I do my accounting so sporatically that it feels disorganized.

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