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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Tracking both raw materials and finished goods inventory [closed]
Generally the period I am interested in in tracking my business is monthly. So when I buy raw materials in quantities that are going to last me more than one month, I book them to a current asset ...
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1answer
44 views
How to accommodate for bills payed on my behalf in book keeping
I track my expenses and assets using an android application. It allows for a system similar to double entry bookkeeping. Where a recorded transaction make appropriate changes in two accounts. (an ...
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1answer
147 views
Is there some generally accepted “standard bookkeeping file format”?
I have my self-coded bookkeeping database and manager. Now I want to make an "export" feature in order to be able to hand my data to the government if they make me do it (if the other option ...
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89 views
How To Record Accrued Income For An Unknown Amount - YouTube Example
The Question
If I wanted to create a YouTube channel for instructional videos, and I wanted to record the income under the accrual method of accounting, what is the GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting ...
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56 views
Can a transaction in double entry bookkeeping have an odd number of entries? [closed]
I'm a software developer, and I'm writing a bookkeeping app for my personal finances and freelance work. It's working pretty well, but one point about double entry bookkeeping confuses me. The ...
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20 views
How much to amortize if purchased sometime mid-year for the tax year an intangible asset?
If my SMLLC purchased an intangible asset (say a domain name for $3000) in the middle of the year (say March X, 2021), assuming we use a 15-year straight-line depreciation, can I amortize the entire ...
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0answers
24 views
UK - Do I need to file final accounts when striking off an empty <12 months old company?
I would like to strike off an empty UK ltd company which is <12 month old and has never done any business and has no employees. My accountant has advised me I don't need to file final accounts ...
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3answers
142 views
How do you pay other countries' sales taxes when selling internationally?
All OECD countries have a broadly based consumption tax of varying rates:
They go under different names, for example, in Australia it's the 'Goods and Services Tax (GST)', and in Denmark it's the '...
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3answers
140 views
What is “negative liquid assets” called?
I technically have $3000 on my bank account. However, I have -$2000 in "liquid assets", as determined by my little software system which I've made.
Basically, it takes the money I have and ...
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0answers
66 views
How should I deal with the fact that currencies change in value in relation to each other when bookkeeping? [closed]
I have made a bookkeeping system for myself. At its core, it consists of a database table with these fields:
timestamp_for_when_it_was_inserted_into_database
...
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1answer
111 views
Recording Personal Loan
If I put $200 of groceries on my credit card for a friend while I'm out shopping, how do I record that transaction? Further, when she pays me back by bank transfer, how do I record that transaction to ...
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1answer
113 views
How to split joint expenses at regular intervals in double-entry bookkeeping?
I am trying to use GnuCash to keep track of the expenses (such as rent and electricity) in a shared apartment. For historical reasons, I pay for all the bills from my personal checking account. At the ...
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0answers
54 views
What account should be debited using double entry accounting for a stock spinoff transaction
I use ledger for tracking my personal finances. I'm trying to record a transaction where a stock I owned spun off shares of another company. (The specific case I'm referring to is when BioTime spun ...
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0answers
52 views
Is me sending some Bitcoin to a Tor service a transaction? Or only when I buy something with those Bitcoin from the Tor service?
I've started recording all my money transactions, be them fiat or Bitcoin.
Now I wonder how to record the following situation:
I have an existing 0.05 BTC in my Bitcoin Core wallet running on my ...
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1answer
71 views
How should I handle charges which are one sum when they are pulled from my bank account, but then later change?
I order groceries including some bananas.
The store charges my bank account with $150, which shows up as -$150 in my bank account.
Some days pass and the delivery takes place. I don't get any bananas ...
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3answers
9k views
Would simplistic date / amount / description bookkeeping “cut it” legally?
I've read many articles and texts over the years about running companies and personal finances. Every time, I sink down in my chair, mentally exhausted from the utterly confusing, cryptic material I'...
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2answers
356 views
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
65 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
71 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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0answers
61 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
57 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
206 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
234 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
...
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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
300 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
112 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
348 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 ...
5
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1answer
300 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
673 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
73 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
128 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 (...
3
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1answer
987 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
129 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
920 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
927 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
196 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
111 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
14k 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
1k 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
629 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
311 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
2k 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
1k 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
82 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
129 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
776 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
139 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 ...
0
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1answer
949 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
2k 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
1k 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 ...
