Synopses & Reviews
The easy way to get a handle on bookkeepingAccurate and complete bookkeeping is crucial to investors, financial institutions, and various employees in businesses, and Bookkeeping Kit For Dummies provides the easy and painless way to master this critical skill. You'll get clear and concise information along with plenty of practice opportunities and examples to hone your bookkeeping skills.
Brush up on basics — get an overview of how bookkeeping works, understand terminology unique to bookkeeping, and set up your company's books
Keep a paper trail — find out how to enter your financial transactions in the books, post transactions to your General Ledger, and track all the details in your journals
Roll out the dough — track your day-to-day business operations, set up and manage employee payroll, and make sense of government paperwork that comes with new hires
All good things come to an end — delve into the process for closing out an accounting period, whether at the end of a month or the end of a year
Report your results — discover how to use all the information in your books to prepare reports that show how well your company did during the month, quarter, or year
Bonus CD Includes: Bookkeeping forms, working papers, tax forms, resources, and spreadsheets
Please see the CD appendix for details and complete system requirements.
Open the book and find:
Tips for developing a goodinternal control system for managing your books
The importance of an accurate paper trail
How to test the balance of your books
Year-end government reports and IRS forms
Ledgers, journals, and computer options
How to protect your business against internal fraud
Ways to stay on top of inventory, supplies, and bills
Lots of practice exercises
Synopsis
The easy way to get a handle on bookkeepingAccurate and complete bookkeeping is crucial to any business owner, but it's also important to those who work with the business, such as investors, financial institutions, and employees. Bookkeeping For Dummies provides the easy and painless way to master this critical skill.
You'll get clear and concise information on keeping track of transactions, figuring out balance sheets, keeping ledgers or journals, creating financial statements, and operating accounts for businesses, along with practices and examples to hone your skills. Plus, the bonus CD includes samples of bookkeeping forms, working papers, letters, resources, and spreadsheets.
- Keeping track of transactions
- Figuring out the balance sheet
- Keeping a ledger and journal
- Creating financial statements
- Operating accounts for businesses
- Recognizing assets and liabilities
- Up-to-date tax information
- Changes in small business regulations
- Additional and complementary examples
- Demonstration problems
- True/false and multiple-choice questions and scenarios
Whether you're a professional or a student looking to expand your skills, Bookkeeping Kit For Dummies is a one-stop resource for anyone interested in this ever-growing occupation.
About the Author
Lita Epstein, MBA, designs online courses about reading financial reports, investing, and taxes. She's the author of Reading Financial Reports For Dummies and also writes periodically for AOL's Daily Finance.
Table of Contents
Introduction 1Part I: Basic Bookkeeping: Why You Need It 7
Chapter 1: So You Want to Do the Books 9
Chapter 2: Getting Down to Bookkeeping Basics 17
Chapter 3: Outlining Your Financial Road Map with a Chart of Accounts 39
Part II: Keeping a Paper Trail 55
Chapter 4: The General Ledger: A One-Stop Summary of Your Business Transactions 57
Chapter 5: Keeping Journals 81
Chapter 6: Computer Options for Your Bookkeeping 111
Chapter 7: Controlling Your Books, Your Records, and Your Money 121
Part III: Tracking Day-to-Day Business Operations with Your Books 139
Chapter 8: Buying and Tracking Your Purchases 141
Chapter 9: Counting Your Sales 159
Chapter 10: Employee Payroll and Benefits 191
Chapter 11: Employer-Paid Taxes and Government Payroll Reporting 213
Part IV: Preparing the Books for Year's (Or Month's) End 227
Chapter 12: Depreciating Your Assets 229
Chapter 13: Paying and Collecting Interest 243
Chapter 14: Proving Out the Cash 261
Chapter 15: Closing the Journals 277
Chapter 16: Checking Your Accuracy by Trial and (Hopefully No) Error 289
Chapter 17: Adjusting the Books 301
Part V: Reporting Results and Starting Over 317
Chapter 18: Developing a Balance Sheet 319
Chapter 19: Producing an Income Statement 337
Chapter 20: Completing Year-End Payroll and Reports 355
Chapter 21: Satisfying the Tax Man 365
Chapter 22: Prepping the Books for a New Accounting Cycle 373
Part VI: The Part of Tens 379
Chapter 23: Ten Ways to Manage Your Business Cash with Your Books...............381
Chapter 24: The Ten (Plus One) Most Important Accounts for Any Bookkeeper 385
Part VII: Appendixes 389
Appendix A: Glossary 391
Appendix B: About the CD 395
Index 403