USA Small Business Accounting

[Coy Martin]

Hello,

I am here specifically to inquire about small business accounting. I thought it was going to be a piece of cake but there are a lot of aspects when it comes down to it. I own a small woman's clothing boutique and I am basically trying to figure out to best and easiest way to keep track of everything in excel (I am not big enough yet to purchase an accounting or bookkeeping software). I am needing some suggestions or templates on the best practices for this specific type of small business.

I have spreadsheets that I have been using that I basically keep track of weekly sales that also calculates our my sales tax and I just have another section for all expenses including inventory purchases. This was the best way I could come up with for the time being. As I am going on now I am encountering many questions like, if the business uses a product or takes a product for the owner, how does that get expended out? Does it just go as another expenses in the expense section? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[DTA93433]

I would reconsider the idea of not using some accounting software. Mainly because trying to keep track of COGS (Cost of Goods Sold) for your inventory can be nearly impossible to do using spreadsheets alone. When you do have a sale, which inventory item(s) do you remove from inventory and what cost-flow assumption (FIFO, LIFO, Weighted-Average) are you using? Sales tax issues are another issue if you are dealing with interstate sales. (Full disclosure: I am a certified Quickbooks pro advisor. I use it in my own company and have been recommending it to my clients for years.) But whatever software you choose, hire a professional to setup your books initially. Having it correctly the first time more than pays for itself when it comes time to filing your taxes. Especially in regards to setting up your inventory items, you want to be calculating correctly your COGS. No need for anyone to be paying more in taxes than what they actually owe. Not setting up your books correctly could cost you come April 15th!