Chapter 1
Keeping the Books
IN THIS CHAPTER
Getting a bird’s-eye view of accounts and transactions
Establishing your accounting system
Closing out at the end of a period
Individuals can get along quite well without much bookkeeping, but the exact opposite is true for a business. In addition to facilitating day-to-day operations, a company’s bookkeeping system serves as the source of information for preparing its periodic financial statements, tax returns, and reports to managers. The accuracy of these reports is critical to the business’s survival. As a result, business managers have to be sure that their company’s bookkeeping and accounting system is dependable and up to snuff.
In this chapter, you’ll see what bookkeepers and accountants do, mainly so that you have a clear idea of what it takes to be sure that the information coming out of the accounting system is complete, timely, and accurate.
Analyzing the Effect of Business Transactions
This section walks you through the basics of bookkeeping, including the rule of debits and credits and why proper debiting and crediting keeps the financial statements in balance. You also discover the five steps for entering transactions ...
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