Accounting Guide Library
Accounting guide library
The accounting fundamentals and month-to-month workflows a business owner actually needs — each one short enough to read in five minutes and use the same day.
Accounting basics
Debits and credits, explained without the jargon
What debits and credits actually mean, why every entry has two sides, and how to tell in seconds whether an entry increases or decreases an account.
3 questions answered
Accounting basics
Cash vs accrual accounting: which one should you use?
The real difference between cash and accrual accounting, when each is required, and why many small businesses manage on one and file on the other.
3 questions answered
Reports
How to read a profit and loss statement
A line-by-line walkthrough of the profit and loss statement and the four checks that catch most bookkeeping errors in under five minutes.
3 questions answered
Setup
Building a chart of accounts you will actually use
How to structure a chart of accounts so your reports answer real questions — without ending up with two hundred accounts nobody understands.
3 questions answered
Bookkeeping workflows
Bank reconciliation, step by step
How to reconcile a bank account every month: match the statement, chase the differences, and prove the ending balance is real before you close the books.
3 questions answered
Bookkeeping workflows
The accounts receivable workflow that gets you paid
How to invoice, apply payments and chase overdue customers on a schedule, so receivables stay under 45 days and cash arrives when you expect it.
3 questions answered
Bookkeeping workflows
A bill-pay workflow you can run in 20 minutes a week
How to capture bills, get approval, schedule payments and keep vendor records clean without paying anything twice or missing a due date.
3 questions answered
Bookkeeping workflows
How to reconcile business credit cards cleanly
Why credit cards break more books than bank accounts, how to record charges and payments correctly, and how to close a card statement every month.
3 questions answered
Bookkeeping workflows
Recording payroll so your labor cost is actually right
How gross wages, employer taxes and withholdings post to your books, and why the total that left your bank is never your true labor cost.
3 questions answered
Bookkeeping workflows
Sales tax bookkeeping: collect it, hold it, remit it
Why sales tax you collect is never your revenue, how to record it as a liability, and how to reconcile what you collected against what you filed.
3 questions answered
Bookkeeping workflows
Fixed assets and depreciation without the headache
When a purchase is an asset instead of an expense, how depreciation spreads that cost over time, and how to keep a fixed asset schedule your CPA can use.
3 questions answered
Bookkeeping workflows
Inventory and cost of goods sold, step by step
How inventory sits on the balance sheet until it sells, what belongs in cost of goods sold, and how to count and adjust so your margin is believable.
3 questions answered
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