Questions tagged [bookkeeping]
Bookkeeping is the process of recording business data in a prescribed format. It often forms the first step in the accounting procedures of a company.
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Okay to cancel “Loans to Shareholders” against “Retained Earnings”?
Let's say there's an S Corporation with a single shareholder, a $200 balance in "Loans to Shareholders", and a $300 balance in Retained Earnings. Is it okay to cancel the shareholder's debt by ...
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2answers
59 views
How do I bookkeep an Ecommerce website?
I have a multi vendor e-commerce website where I sell goods from 3rd party vendors. When an item is sold on my website, the money is stored in my bank account. Monthly, I transfer money earned to the ...
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1answer
58 views
Which software is suitable to track my investment portolio [closed]
Nowadays I am using google spreadsheet to track my portfolio. Is there some better software for this? Another problem is that some parts of my portfolio are highly volatile (but I want to keep those ...
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53 views
How do I set up the books for LLC taxed as a C-Corp?
Most resources online for bookeeping for LLCs immediately repeat a myth about C-Corp taxation subjecting you to double-taxation, declare that nobody would set up their single-member LLC as anything ...
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1answer
52 views
Recording rental deposit return minus cleaning fees
This is a question about Double-Entry Bookkeeping. I am having a hard time correctly recording the fact that due to shared cleaning fees I owe the subleasee less than the deposit he gave me.
These ...
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1answer
118 views
How do I properly account for interest charged on a loan in GnuCash?
I've just started accounting and entering initial balances for my personal finances with GNUcash and I'm curious about the proper way to account for interest charged on student loans and credit cards.
...
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1answer
224 views
How to interpret equity
I understand Equity to be "Net Worth", as calculated by Assets - Liabilities. I also understand the "Expanded Fundamental Accounting Equation" to be
Assets + Expenses = Liabilities + Equity + Income
...
52
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5answers
19k views
Handling waitress unclaimed pay from three years ago
Each week our boss gives us payslips with our hours worked and we can cash them right at the place of work. Pretty simple. You get a receipt for your hours worked for the week and a slip to turn into ...
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4answers
292 views
How to keep track of revenue and expenses of a small business that I rarely visit?
I'm a programmer looking to invest some money into opening a very very small restaurant which will be run by my friend (who's a professional restaurant manager) with occasional help from family ...
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1answer
92 views
How to account for transferring money from a USD account to a GBP account?
I am using ZipBooks online software for my bookkeeping, however I do not know how to approach the following situation.
I have 2 bank accounts; one in USD, the other in GBP, and I am transferring $...
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3answers
261 views
In double-entry book keeping, how should I track planned expenses
So, I'm working on getting a bit better at managing my household finances and am currently working to learn double-entry bookkeeping.
One thing I need to separate out and track a little better is ...
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0answers
172 views
Accrual accounting: how to implement prepaid tax
I am trying to put my personal finances in order and I figured that accrual accounting fits my needs for keeping a better track of my records. I am new to accrual accounting and while I think that I ...
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1answer
410 views
Xero - How to reconcile a transaction when the period has been locked
I use Xero for my consultancy company's book-keeping. My accounts from a couple of months ago are locked (due to submitting a VAT (UK sales tax) return). I have an unreconciled bank transaction within ...
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1answer
72 views
How to account for transactions which may have multiple causes?
Say I have a transaction from my bank in a foreign currency (say a taxi) which causes me to incur a "foreign currency transaction fee" (e.g. 2% of the transaction).
One way to look at this cost is ...
3
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1answer
108 views
How to get visibility into contributions to assets
I'm using double entry with Assets, Expenses, Income, Liabilities, and Equity.
To illustrate my question with easy round numbers: Income one month is 10k; 5k goes into an asset like a 401k account (...
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1answer
754 views
Journal entry for savings of multiple family members
I'm recording family-related transactions in a journal. My question is regarding a cash deposit (asset debit).
For example, my family earned $300 at a garage sale. I deposit that entire amount into ...
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1answer
125 views
What are the must know topics for personal accounting? [closed]
I'm 18 years old; last year I finished high school. I attended a school oriented in accounting, and even though I didn't care much about it at the time, now I realize how important is to know how to ...
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1answer
718 views
How do you set up current year bookkeeping based on previous year balance sheet and profit and loss items?
I'm setting up this year's accounting ledger for a sole proprietorship. It used to be done by CPAs in the past but I decided it's time to bite the bullet and start doing it myself.
All is going well,...
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3answers
753 views
Double-entry bookkeeping: When selling an asset, does the money come from, Equity or Income?
I use a double-entry system (ledger) to manage my personal finances. I have set it up so that the only entries in my Equity are my opening balances.
If I sell an asset (e.g. laptop) whose value I ...
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1answer
177 views
Best Practices for Managing Paper Receipts
I'm curious to get some input from the community on best practices for managing paper receipts, whether personal receipts or business-related receipts. For example...
What are the arguments for ...
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1answer
99 views
What is S/P in “Tax Deduction S/P”? [closed]
This may be an unusual question, but I have a plugboard labeled "Tax Deduction S/P" for an IBM 402 accounting machine from the 1950s. This must have been used to process records on punched cards to ...
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6answers
12k views
How to account for startup costs for an LLC from personal money?
If I start a business (LLC, specifically) and incur some of the startup costs with my own money, how do I account for this in the bookkeeping once the LLC's bank account is up and running?
For ...
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2answers
902 views
Link bank transactions for credit card payments in GnuCash?
Using GnuCash. I download activity from my bank and from my credit card. I've imported my bank activity and that will have entries such as
Date | Description | Withdrawal
1/1/2017 | ...
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1answer
185 views
Bookkeeping accounts for rent-to-own property
I own a house which I'm renting to tenants. We've entered a long-term rent-to-own contract, where the principle portion of each mortgage payment becomes potential equity for the tenant. How do I ...
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1answer
301 views
What's the best way to account for a risky investment - As an asset or an expense?
We normally account for investments as a separate account in assets:
Assets:Banks:Bank ABC => Assets:Risky Investments:Investment XYZ
which is consistent with the fact of having an asset that ...
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2answers
1k views
Paying extra toward installment loans - is it a prepayment or paying ahead?
If someone has an installment loan with equal, fully amortizing payments, and the borrower pays extra each month, how does the creditor decide whether to apply the extra as a prepayment to principal ...
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3answers
742 views
Accounting equation: does income really decrease equity?
I am new to using double-entry bookkeeping for personal finances.
GnuCash uses a variant of the accounting equation that has five variables, and which seems to be known colloquially as an "expanded" ...
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1answer
74 views
Reinvesting earnings increases the book value of equity?
I'm reading this text about elementary concepts in finance. It keeps repeating an example where a company reinvests part of its profits (earnings), and claims that this increases the book value of ...
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1answer
126 views
How to categorize shared income?
I'm a total bookkeeping noob. My LLC has an agreement with another LLC where we split income coming from a particular source. As it happens the income comes to my business's bank account and then I ...
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1answer
702 views
Double-entry bookkeeping: How to account for non-monetary taxable benefits received from employer?
I'm trying to keep detailed books for my personal finances. One thing I haven't figured out how to represent is various non-monetary taxable benefits that I get at work. For example, a gift or a meal.
...
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1answer
135 views
Book keeping setup for real property depreciation
I have a rental property. I'd like to set up my books such that:
the cost basis depreciable value of the house is reflected in an account,
the annual depreciation is recorded sensibly,
the initial ...
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1answer
549 views
Transferring money from One business checking to another business checking
How do I classify in Quickbooks a cash transfer from one business checking account to another business checking account that are linked together. 2 separate businesses.
My husband and I are the only ...
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2answers
1k views
End of financial year: closing transactions
What book-keeping practice is best to keep each year's transactions balanced within that year?
This question seeks specifically an answer that benefits from the consensus of the accumulated wisdom of ...
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1answer
924 views
Handling expenses for corporate tax in GnuCash
I am very new to the whole concept of book-keeping (Read GnuCash help - that's it) at the moment and was wondering if I could get some pointers in here.
I am running a micro limited company (One ...
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1answer
80 views
Would I need to keep track of 1099s?
I run a small business and am looking to pay some people to assist with sales as contractors. They would be paid via something like paypal, google or square. Do I still need to file a 1099 for each ...
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1answer
447 views
correct usage of “R” field, esp. with respect to credit card account type
Using GnuCash to track where my money goes and what comes in. I have as assets my bank account and "cash in wallet", and many expense accounts for food, gas, water, electricity, clothes, transport/...
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1answer
510 views
GnuCash, how do I book loan from credit card, being paid back with salary? [duplicate]
I am doing double-entry bookkeeping with GnuCash to track my personal finances.
Sometimes I spent money on expenses which my employer is supposed to spent, and I later get reimbursed. For example, I ...
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1answer
486 views
How to double-entry bookkeep money incoming from sold items?
I started doing double-entry bookkeeping with GnuCash to keep track of my personal finances, down to the penny. I have as assets my bank account and "cash in wallet", and many expense accounts for ...
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1answer
49 views
If I start a company and put in £100, what account should that be filed under? [closed]
If I start a company, become its director, and put in £100, what account should that be filed under?
I imagine the account should be an income type account. But I do not know what to call it. It's ...
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1answer
505 views
gnucash - Record several years data
Currently I am using GnuCash to record my personal expenses.
I am using it since the last year, so in my master book I have records belonging to the years 2013 and 2014.
Is that the correct way to ...
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2answers
1k views
In double entry book-keeping, how should I record writing of a check?
Say I write a check (in British English, a cheque) to pay money to some supplier out of my business's current account. I post the check.
As far as I'm concerned, the company has spent that money and ...
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2answers
231 views
How to record (accepting and later returning) other peoples' money? What's the correct terminology for that? // GnuCash
How to record (accepting and later returning) other peoples' money in GnuCash?
I assume it would not be recorded as income / expense, respectively.
Liabilities also seems unlikely.
Equities? Maybe...
...
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1answer
106 views
How to account for transferring money to an investment account?
I have recently been asked to look after the books temporarily for a small not for profit sports club in Christchurch New Zealand.
I noticed that they had entered transferring of money from the ...
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1answer
12k views
What account should passport renewal expenses go into?
I am trying to appropriately name an account for these types of "official" fees. The fee doesn't really relate to a particular project, nor a normal type of expense.
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1answer
207 views
What would be the appropriate account for written off loans to friends and family?
In the past I have lent some money to friends and family, which I have not gotten back. I don't want to ask them for the cash, but I do want to clean up my accounts.
How would I record this in my ...
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2answers
3k views
Which date to record for a transaction?
I need to record a transaction in a journal.
If I take the date of the paper receipt, this might be different to the date on my bank statement.
Which one should I use? Should I use one, and then ...
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2answers
1k views
How to record a transaction with more than one purpose?
Suppose I pay with my credit card, £15 at a store, where £10 is for stationery used for my business meeting which is a claimable expense, and £5 is for my lunch which is a personal expense.
I think ...
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2answers
154 views
Double-entry bookkeeping conundrum - how to log built-in fees?
So today I was trying to figure out how to do some double-entry bookkeeping for one of my projects. The service is similar to a bank teller - it accepts money on one end, charges some fees, and gives ...
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1answer
1k views
How do I do double-entry bookkeeping for separately-managed investment accounts?
Double-entry bookkeeping is new to me but is something I'm trying to apply to our personal finances. The area I am struggling with is how to deal with our investments. We have a mix of Canadian RRSP ...
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5answers
11k views
Double-entry accounting: how to keep track of mortgage installments as expenses?
Context: I am new to double-entry accounting, I use GnuCash for my personal family bookkeeping. At the moment, the main goal for me is to keep track of incomes/expenses of our family over time. For ...
