Tips For The Accounting-Impaired Small Business

 by: Fiona Gilford

Perhaps if you lived on "Mysteria Lane", you could take your small business accounting system and toss it into a trunk and bury it in your backyard. Perhaps, you could also fire your accounting firm and record a message on your phone saying you'll call back once you strike gold. However, you can't approach your small business accounting in this manner in real life. Many resources are out there to help you establishes a working accounting system that doesn't require big buck outsourcing. After some basic instruction and tutorials, you often find many of these duties can be carried out in-house in a very successful manner.

Not every businessperson is adept at performing accounting and bookkeeping duties. Many small business people find these duties as confusing as learning a foreign language or putting together a bike. However, with a little instruction and tutorials, many of these same people find that they can perform many of the basic tasks associated with accounting. For the record, accounting deals with accounts such as expenses and income while bookkeeping has to with entering and balancing books. Although an accounting-impaired small business might be tempted to outsource all duties, the cost associated with this isn't practical for most small businesses. While at first many people find the language of accounting somewhat confusing, many of the simpler functions like invoices and checkbook balancing in time become second nature.

Accounting software for a small business is programmed to walk a beginner through the simpler duties of accounting and bookkeeping, leaving the owner more time to concentrate on other parts of the business. Some of these simpler everyday duties that are worth pursuing in house on a software program are below:

• Classes and tutorials: Take advantage of these so that you don't fumble through terms and operations. Some manufacturers of these software programs offer classes for a very minimal fee or even for free. Depending on the size of your business, many accounting professional will come into your business and help you get off on the right foot.

• General accounting: Many software programs are available to track and store your business affairs in a separate location from your personal accounting activities. These include Microsoft Money, Microsoft Small Business Accounting and QuickBooks. From transfers to deposits, your entries can be used to create budget analysis reports to other informative reports. To let you know when your spending is exceeding your budget, a smart reminder pops up. Rather than using pen and paper to store your accounting information, software suggests appropriate file names and locations. This organizational system comes in very handy at tax times. Additionally, you can print out checks and pay bills online through a dedicated credit card. Make sure you personally sign any checks that your print out.

• Payroll: Employee payroll can be done in house with Microsoft Small Business Accounting 2005 (up to 25 employees) and QuickBooks Pro. These programs also track employee work time and job expenses.

• Job Management: Creating quotes, developing sales receipts and invoices, comparing actual expenses with estimated expenses, and breaking down job expenditures can be performed through many accounting software programs for small businesses.

Not all accounting and bookkeeping task are everyday duties