Basic Accounting

Having trouble managing the plethora of financial accounts you’ve acquired over the years? Tired of sorting through check books and online accounts to figure out which bills you’ve paid and which ones are about to be late? These days it is not uncommon for individuals to be faced with 20 to 30, or even more separate accounts to keep track of. Even with online access to all your bank accounts, credit cards, investment accounts, cell phone, cable, utility bills, mortgage, and auto loans it becomes a task can eat up hours of your time. With everything spread out it can be maddening to wrap your brain around your financial position. Unless you are Warren Buffet, this is where online aggregator accounts can save you the aggravation.

Account aggregation is an accounting method of showing many different types of accounts in one place. Logging into one system can give you a bird’s eye view of your financial situation. These systems utilize “screen scraping” to compile data from each of your accounts and will display them on one page for you to review.

Various types of account aggregation solutions are available. With client based systems you download an application that runs from your computer. This type is more secure because all the financial data is stored on your computer. Server based systems store the data on web servers. While less secure you can access the data from anywhere in the world. Some companies offer a hybrid solution. Mobile systems download the data to a portable USB drive you can plug into a computer anywhere you go. Just don’t lose it!

Some people are concerned about possible security risks of these systems, however it may not be as great as one might suspect. Most financial institutions have rigid procedures in place for transferring money out of an account. In the rare circumstance someone is successfu Read more

Insurance is a necessity in any business. Businesses cover themselves against losses such as fire, theft and unexpected natural disasters. It is with the bookkeeping or accounting that owners get it wrong.

On successful insurance claims, a payment is normally made to the insured. My experience has led me to believe that small businesses have no clue, as to how, to account for insurance settlements. Most businesses reflect the payment as income.

Not only would this be deceptive but also violates International Accounting Standards. Since the transaction has everything to do with assets and nothing to do with income, it should be adjusted against assets. Erroneous accounting for assets might prejudice the business further in future, if similar insurance claims are made.

Insurance companies settle claims on assets, on its book value and not its costs. (And yet the asset was insured on its cost at date of purchase). Whereas this principle might vary from country to country, book value is widely accepted as the norm. Since most small businesses fail to maintain proper fixed assets registers, insurance companies perform “desk top valuations”, or make an “estimate”, on the book value, mostly much lower than its “real” book value. Without proper records, the claimant cannot debunk the assessor’s final conclusions.

Before I loose you in a sea of confusion, let me elaborate. If an asset is on your books at least, without the asset register, but you have no purchase date, and this asset is lost due to theft, no accurate wear and tear can be furnished. Furthermore, if a claim is settled, and reflects as “income”, what happens to the asset that was stolen, but still reflects on your books?

Many reading this article could not care a hoot about the number crunching involved, but please stay with me for a minute. You might not care, bu Read more

Bookkeeping is probably one of the most credited departments of any organization. Whoever starts a business, keeps in mind the fact that his business needs to earn good profit and when profit making is concerned, the accountancy department holds the most importance in any firm. Therefore, it is necessary to include good and competent people to take care of the accountancy department of any firm. However, at times, it does become impossible to find good people and even if one does find anyone, problems remain prevalent. Therefore, in such circumstances, it is best to take the help of a bookkeeping firm in NYC. The positive point about these firms is that they have qualified CPAs, who are given thorough training for their work and know everything about bookkeeping or accountancy.

Accountancy or bookkeeping is a huge thing and it is not the work of a single person. It involves regular based hard work from many people and a single mistake can lead to a huge blinder in the future. Therefore, it is necessary to get hold of good and competent people to do the work of this particular department of any firm. However, taking the help of a bookkeeping firm in NYC can be a good move. The people working in these firms have thorough knowledge about the various kinds of work that are included in this domain and they excel in these work. They know all about the in and out of the accountancy department of any firm and know what needs to be done to help a business earn good profit and avoid any kind of a loss. Therefore, it is a good decision to take the help of such a firm that can provide a business support for their accountancy department.

There are many firms that provide these services; therefore, you need to be careful while selecting any firm. You should make sure that you know everything about the business and even check their record of accomplishm Read more

Accountancy is one of the most important aspects of any business. The main reason for this is because whenever a business is established, the main thing that is kept in mind is to earn good revenue. Earning revenue and expanding a business is not a child’s play and one needs to have adequate amount of experience in this to make this thing happen. Therefore, a business owner always manages to get competent and good people to work in his or her organization, so that the most can be utilized from them and the best can happen to the organization. However, many a times, it becomes really difficult to good hold of the accurate accountancy professional to take care of the tasks of the firm and in such cases the best option that is available for business owners to take the help of an accountant whose base is in New York.

When we talk about taking the help of an accountant New York, we mean to outsource the services of an accountancy professional who works in a reputed accountancy firm in New York. Outsourcing services is an old concept and this concept has been a hit throughout ages. Therefore, in today’s world also, people prefer taking the help of outsourcing services to solve the problems of his or her organization. There are specific departments in all the organizations and each person is responsible for each department. Therefore, it is very important to get hold of good people to manage departments. The accountancy department of any firm is a valuable department and this is only because this department has the capability of turning a loss making firm into a profit making firm and vice versa. An accountant New York is capable of turning a loss making firm into a profit making organization and also has the capability of helping a business expand in size and get renowned in the market.

There are many firms in New York who have specialized CPAs Read more

CIMA training courses in accounts are a comprehensive and highly effective way to gain a head start in today’s competitive business world. With CIMA training under your belt, you’ll find yourself with a firm grasp of modern business accounting and the skills you need to succeed in it.

Part of the appeal of CIMA training courses is the fact that you can take your course through distance learning, which means that there’s no need to disrupt your current work or family life as you gain the crucial skills you’ll need in your future career.

CIMA Training in Accountancy

CIMA is the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, a long-established professional body that specialises in the establishment and development of accountants and accounting techniques with a particular focus on accounting for business. With an unwavering commitment to excellence in all aspects of accountancy, CIMA is widely respected throughout the business community, and its’ qualifications are recognised throughout the world.

The primary qualification you’ll receive through CIMA training in accounts is the CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting which will give you a thorough grounding in business practices from an accounting perspective. The specific areas you will cover are:

• Management accounting
• Financial accounting
• Business mathematics
• Business economics
• Ethics, corporate governance and business law

The entire course can be studied on a distance learning basis, allowing you to work through your training course in accounts at your own pace and in your own time.

Benefits of CIMA Training

CIMA training not only gives you the knowledge and skills you need to compete effectively in today’s complex business world, but it also gives you the backing of a hugely in Read more

Have you ever wondered why there are so many bookkeepers and accountants out there and how they can ALL be making money? No, it’s not because they charge so much. It is because most small business owners don’t know even the basics of accounting.

Most small business owners start with an idea on how they can make money working for themselves instead of working for a boss. They love the idea of being able to set their own work hours and of being in control of their own financial future. Let’s face it, who want to work 40+ hours a week to make someone else rich?

So, they have this idea about how they can work for themselves, doing something they either enjoy doing or they know how to do well.

Okay, if you are smart enough to start your own business, then you are smart enough to know how to write an invoice and a receipt. You also know to keep all the receipts for money you have spent. For many small business owners, this is where their record keeping ends. They shove it all into a box or an envelope and toddle off down to their account or bookkeeper to let them sort it. Most will then not give it a second thought until the bill comes in from the accountant.

If you use this system, you may want to be sitting down before you open the bill. On the other hand, you will probably fall off your chair when you see how much the bill is anyway, so it is merely a choice of how far you want to fall as to whether you sit or stand.

Seriously though, if you want to save yourself some money, but don’t want to learn it all, there are a few simple things you can do.

Most stationery stores have accounting books that you can buy to record your business transactions. You know, those books that have heaps of columns that you never knew before why anyone would use them. Well, now’s your chance to show everyone just how smart you a Read more

Cash is King, so they say, but cash is also a double- edged sword. It is the lifeblood of your business, but can also become a curse. Be vigilant, and take extra care when dealing and accounting for your cash.

Dealing with check receipts or credit card transfers is very simple. A wide array of accounting software is available on the market, which offers a seamless integration from your credit card settlements and bank deposits statements into your accounting records.

To date, no such software exists for cash, save for, point of sale terminals records (which overlooks cash outside the system) the business owner’s information on a spreadsheet or manual records. Millions go missing on a daily basis in most small businesses, due to theft, losses and sheer negligence by the owner. Constant “drawings”, from cash on hand, by the owner also contributes to this cash “gap”.

In a nutshell, the cash gap, is that variance between cash received (debtors, cash sales, advances) less cash banked and transferred to the recorded cash float or cash on hand. In most cases, the business owner bears most of the responsibility for this sad state of affairs.
The nifty accounting software, that builds accounting records in seconds, only reveal a part of the story. Cash invariably gets under reported in small business accounting.

Even the most advanced point of sale terminal, will not address a cash management problem, if the business owners hands are continuously in the till. Of course the owner can do as he/she please, but then he/ she should refrain from seeking advice if discipline is lacking.

Surely, the owner is entitled to the cash in the business? Yes, but then I will respectfully suggest, that the owner set a decent salary for himself/ herself. Pay yourself, as if you were an employee of the business. It is dangerous to mix personal expe Read more

Accounting is the system a company uses to measure its financial performance. Some even call it a separate language you can use to communicate and understand all financial operations of any given business. Transactions are recorded and classified into categories such as sales, purchases, assets and liabilities. This helps a company determine past performance, present condition and future calculations. There are three kinds of financial statements that give a company an idea of its position:

Balance Sheet

A balance sheet is a snapshot of the resources of a company, or its liabilities and equities.

Income Statement

An income statement is actually the breakdown of a company’s operating activities. It lists the firm’s revenue and expenses and the difference between them to show the income or loss over a period. It covers only the proceeds from goods and services.

Cash Flow Statement

A cash flow statement shows information about the company’s cash inflows and outflows over a period of time. Unlike the income statement, this report shows cash transactions only.

To help you with the different topics and terms here is a list of terms and their meanings:

1. Ledger: A group of accounts.
2. General Equation for Accounting: Assets equals Liabilities plus Owner’s Equity.
3. Assets: These are items owned by the business that have some value.
4. Liabilities: The debts of the business i.e. what it owes.
5. Owner’s Equity: Net value of the business.
6. Expenses: Running costs of the business.
7. Credit: Amount logged on the right side of a T-account.
8. Debit: Amount logged on the left side of a T-account.
9. T-Account: A tool used to show the relationships between accounts and also to show debits and credit Read more
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Odd as it may seem, as a financial concept the term bottom-line has only been around for about forty years or so. It’s genesis as a word (an adjective, really) was the result of the growing need to establish the ultimate benchmark for profitability in the post-World War II advanced corporate economy. That is to say, to find out more than a company’s profit and loss through simple financial accounting. With the complexities introduced through a more mechanized, large scale, robotic global economy in the 1950’s and 1960’s, as well as mandates from stockholders for more stringent (i.e., realistic) profits reporting during this time, a new way of assessing profit was born. It was called, cost accounting.

Cost accounting differs from financial accounting insofar as it is largely a much more formal mechanism by which costs of products or services are determined and controlled for efficiencies. This is achieved by the gathering of all operational costs, then classifying them systematically to ascertain their appropriateness as expenditures. With this information, management is able to make decisions that remove inefficiencies in production cost and, therefore, enhance the bottom-line profits. Good cost accounting can not only aid in controlling costs, but can also help in a wide array of manufacturing operations. In this sense, the seven great objectives of cost accounting in manufacturing are:

1. Determining Costs: Of course, the overall objective of cost accounting is find out what your products and/or jobs cost you to make or provide.
2. Control: Improving efficiency by controlling and reducing costs. To control the budget through classification and analysis is to control the costs.
3. Information: Knowing raw material stock levels, Read more
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With involvement of major construction companies in the global real estate industry, real estate market is expending with a faster pace. In fact, at present real estate industry is one of the biggest industries of global market; however, few years back things ware not so simple for real estate business owners, as this industry was itself striving to make its position. Present real estate industry is not only running a full-fledged business but also inviting sapling real estate businesses to join its widespread market. Every year n numbers of small real estate businesses are entering into that challenging world of construction and sale of housing property; however, very few of them are getting the desired level of success. There can be many reasons behind their failure such as, unavailability of necessary resources, inappropriate usage of available resources and improper management of accounting data. Undoubtedly, real estate accounting is one of the most complicated business tasks, as it includes, a wide range of rapid transactions. Accounting for this industry is such a task that requires accuracy and extra attention of the person who is performing it therefore, real estate business owner must be extra vigilant about accuracy and proper management of his or her accounting data.

For sapling business owners of this industry, it is must to understand the importance of perfectly managed accounting system, as growth of their business depends on how they use their financial and accounting resources. Since real estate accounting is more complex than accounting for any other industry, a real estate business owner must check out the efficiency level of his or her accounting staff. In fact, a slight mistake can cause big loss to that business and can also restrict its growth. Business owners, who do not get proper time to check out every aspect of the Read more