Small Business Bookkeeping & Accounting

Small Business
Bookkeeping & Accounting

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MAP OF THE TERRITORY -- WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

Here's the map of the territory to be covered: What you need in your business are documents called financial statements, which will tell you so much about how you're doing that it will amaze and excite you. Your goal is accurate financial statements, and the entire rest of this document is a step-by-step discussion of how to get there. We hope to keep it interesting by telling you what to do, and why you are doing it. You can change your experience with bookkeeping/accounting from dreariness to adventure by making one simple change: instead of resisting everything except the absolute basic must-do's, let yourself get interested in the relationships between the numbers. You may never be driven to run to your books at midnight to make the latest entries, but you will be more motivated to do the work, and you will enjoy it more because you will understand what you're doing.

The first part of this lesson will provide you with the basic information that you need to know to set up your accounting system. The second part walks you through the basics of bookkeeping -- category by category to help you better understand those mysterious things called "your books."

Once you've mastered the basics of keeping your books and preparing accurate financial statements -- the fun begins when you start to use them to manage your business and help you make sound financial decisions... no more waiting for the bank statement to see if you have any money... no more "surprises" at the end of the year when your accountant finishes your books.