Understand basic accounting terms, including accounts payable and receivable, balance sheet and income statement.

Ask a friend who is a bookkeeper or business owner to explain the fundamentals of basic record keeping, the credit you receive or extend to other businesses, payroll concerns and taxes.

Sign up for a computer course in bookkeeping using Quick Books or Peach tree, two of the most popular accounting software packages for businesses.

Consult your accountant or tax preparer for answers to specific questions regarding your bookkeeping. Your accountant may want to work closely with you as you set up your accounts, particularly if you plan on using accounting software.

Advance your knowledge by earning the Certified Bookkeeper Designation awarded by the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers. Certification requires two years of bookkeeping experience, passing three tests and agreeing to comply with a code of ethics.

As a small business owner, are financial concerns weighing you down? If so, a bookkeeper could be a great answer to help you stay on top of the paperwork – but there are a few important things to know before you rush out to find one.

The extra burden of preparing and lodging Business Activity Statements (BAS) has been progressively outsourced to a new emerging bookkeeping service group. Most medium size businesses that are required to prepare a BAS are now likely to employ an accounts person or engage an external bookkeeper to do the work.

Demand for accounting support services has grown enormously and there’s been an influx of inexperienced, incompetent practitioners offering their services. The result has been a high incidence of errors and omissions in BAS and often the additional cost of reworking reports.

The federal government has responded by passing the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 that will introduce a registration regime for self employed bookkeepers offering BAS preparation and lodgment services – BAS agents – based upon prescribed qualifications and experience standards and adherence to a Code of Professional Conduct.

The new legislation also makes the concession that by engaging a BAS agent (or tax agent) and providing them with all the relevant information to enable the preparation and lodgment of a return, notice or statement with the ATO on time or for making an unintentional, false or misleading statement, taxpayers won't be liable for an administrative penalty for late lodgment resulting from their agent’s failure to take reasonable care.

The new legislation acknowledges how important it is to have a competent, experienced practitioner compiling reports for the preparation and lodgment of BAS and financial reports for the preparation of income tax returns, and the necessity for practitioners to observe a code of conduct relating to their relationship with their clients.

The small business accounting solution that will work best depends on the individual business. Choosing a free general ledger template will often work best for businesses with at least one employee who has accounting or bookkeeping experience. An employee that already understands the concepts of bookkeeping will have no difficulty using a general ledger template, or filling in and referring to a sample chart of accounts.

Quick Books software, on the other hand, might be a better choice for a small business without any employees familiar with accounting. These businesses benefit from not only the help files available with the software, but also from the online support that is often available. In very small businesses, an owner may perform administrative and accounting functions with little to no experience. In this situation, Quick Books classes are beneficial as well.

 

Quick Books Software

Quick Books software is available in various price ranges, ranging from free to hundreds of dollars. This type of accounting software provides bookkeeping and accounting support for small businesses by consolidating all transactions in one database.

Online Accounting Support

Online accounting support, together with phone support, is offered by most types of Quick Books software programs at a monthly cost. This type of accounting support is extremely helpful to small business owners who are attempting to learn about the accounting process rather than hire additional employees.

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