Bookkeeping All-in-One For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Bookkeeping All-in-One For Dummies, 2nd Edition

by Lita Epstein, John A. Tracy
Released August 2019
Publisher(s): For Dummies
ISBN: 9781119592907

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Book description

Manage the art of bookkeeping

Do you need to get up and running on bookkeeping basics and the latest tools and technology used in the field? You've come to the right place! Bookkeeping All-In-One For Dummies is your go-to guide for all things bookkeeping. Bringing you accessible information on the new technologies and programs, it cuts through confusing jargon and gives you friendly instruction you can use right away.

Inside, you’ll learn how to keep track of transactions, unravel up-to-date tax information, recognize your assets, and so much more.

  • Covers all the new techniques and programs in the bookkeeping field
  • Shows you how to manage assets and liabilities
  • Explains how to track business transactions accurately with ledgers and journals
  • Helps you make sense of accounting and bookkeeping basics 

Get all the info you need to jumpstart your career as a bookkeeper!

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Introduction
    1. About This Book
    2. Foolish Assumptions
    3. Icons Used in This Book
    4. Beyond the Book
    5. Where to Go From Here
  3. Book 1: Keeping the Books
    1. Chapter 1: Basic Bookkeeping
      1. Bookkeepers: The Record Keepers of the Business World
      2. Delving into Bookkeeping Basics
      3. Recognizing the Importance of an Accurate Paper Trail
      4. Using Bookkeeping’s Tools to Manage Daily Finances
      5. Running Tests for Accuracy
      6. Finally Showing Off Your Financial Success
      7. Wading through Bookkeeping Lingo
      8. Pedaling through the Accounting Cycle
      9. Tackling the Big Decision: Cash-Basis or Accrual Accounting
      10. Seeing Double with Double-Entry Bookkeeping
      11. Differentiating Debits and Credits
    2. Chapter 2: Charting the Accounts
      1. Getting to Know the Chart of Accounts
      2. Starting with the Balance-Sheet Accounts
      3. Tracking the Income-Statement Accounts
      4. Setting Up Your Chart of Accounts
    3. Chapter 3: The General Ledger
      1. Understanding the Eyes and Ears of a Business
      2. Developing Entries for the Ledger
      3. Posting Entries to the Ledger
      4. Adjusting for Ledger Errors
      5. Using Computerized Transactions
    4. Chapter 4: Keeping Journals
      1. Establishing a Transaction’s Point of Entry
      2. When Cash Changes Hands
      3. Managing Sales Like a Pro
      4. Keeping Track of Purchases
      5. Dealing with Transactions That Don’t Fit
      6. Posting Journal Information to Accounts
      7. Simplifying Your Journaling with Computerized Accounting
    5. Chapter 5: Controlling Your Records
      1. Putting Controls on Your Business’s Cash
      2. Keeping the Right Paperwork
      3. Protecting Your Business Against Internal Fraud
      4. Insuring Your Cash through Employee Bonding
    6. Chapter 6: Computer Options for Bookkeeping
      1. Surveying Your Software Options
      2. Setting Up Your Computerized Books
    7. Chapter 7: Financial Statements and Accounting Standards
      1. Reviewing the Basic Content of Financial Statements
      2. Contrasting Profit and Cash Flow from Profit
      3. Gleaning Key Information from Financial Statements
      4. Keeping in Step with Accounting and Financial Reporting Standards
  4. Book 2: Accounting and Financial Reports
    1. Chapter 1: Financial Report Basics
      1. Figuring Out Financial Reporting
      2. Checking Out Types of Reporting
      3. Introducing the Annual Report
      4. Digging Deeper into the Annual Report
      5. Summarizing the Financial Data
    2. Chapter 2: Reporting Profit
      1. Introducing Income Statements
      2. Finding Profit
      3. Getting Particular about Assets and Operating Liabilities
      4. Summing Up the Diverse Financial Effects of Making Profit
      5. Reporting Extraordinary Gains and Losses
      6. Correcting Common Misconceptions about Profit
      7. Importance of Reviewing All Parts of Financial Statements
    3. Chapter 3: Exploring Business Structures
      1. Flying Solo: Sole Proprietorships
      2. Joining Forces: Partnerships
      3. Seeking Protection with Limited Liability Companies
      4. Shielding Your Assets: S and C Corporations
      5. Investigating Private Companies
      6. Understanding Public Companies
      7. Entering a Whole New World: How a Company Goes from Private to Public
    4. Chapter 4: The Balance Sheet: Assets, Liabilities, and Equity
      1. Understanding the Balance Equation
      2. Introducing the Balance Sheet
      3. Ogling Assets
      4. Looking at Liabilities
      5. Navigating the Equity Maze
    5. Chapter 5: The Income Statement
      1. Introducing the Income Statement
      2. Delving into the Tricky Business of Revenue
      3. Acknowledging Expenses
      4. Sorting Out the Profit and Loss Types
      5. Calculating Earnings per Share
    6. Chapter 6: The Statement of Cash Flows
      1. Digging into the Statement of Cash Flows
      2. Checking Out Operating Activities
      3. Investigating Investing Activities
      4. Understanding Financing Activities
      5. Recognizing the Special Line Items
      6. Adding It All Up
    7. Chapter 7: Getting a Financial Report Ready
      1. Recognizing Top Management’s Role
      2. Reviewing the Purposes of Financial Reporting
      3. Keeping Current with Accounting and Financial Reporting Standards
      4. Making Sure That Disclosure Is Adequate
      5. Putting a Spin on the Numbers (Short of Cooking the Books)
      6. Going Public or Keeping Things Private
      7. Dealing with Information Overload
      8. Statement of Changes in Owners’ Equity
    8. Chapter 8: Accounting Alternatives
      1. Setting the Stage
      2. Taking Financial Statements with a Grain of Salt
      3. Explaining the Differences
      4. Calculating Cost of Goods Sold Expense and Inventory Cost
      5. Recording Depreciation Expense
      6. Scanning Revenue and Expense Horizons
  5. Book 3: Day-to-Day Bookkeeping
    1. Chapter 1: Buying and Tracking Your Purchases
      1. Keeping Track of Inventory
      2. Practice: Working with Inventory and Calculating Cost of Goods Sold
      3. Buying and Monitoring Supplies
      4. Staying on Top of Your Bills
      5. Practice: Calculating Discounts
      6. Answers to Practice Questions
    2. Chapter 2: Counting Your Sales
      1. Collecting on Cash Sales
      2. Practice: Recording Sales
      3. Selling on Credit
      4. Practice: Sales on Store (Direct) Credit
      5. Proving Out the Cash Register
      6. Practice: Proving Out
      7. Tracking Sales Discounts
      8. Practice: Recording Discounts
      9. Recording Sales Returns and Allowances
      10. Practice: Tracking Sales Returns and Allowances
      11. Monitoring Accounts Receivable
      12. Practice: Aging Summary
      13. Accepting Your Losses
      14. Answers to Practice Questions
    3. Chapter 3: Employee Payroll and Benefits
      1. Setting the Stage for Staffing: Making Payroll Decisions
      2. Collecting Employee Taxes
      3. Determining Net Pay
      4. Practice: Payroll Tax Calculations
      5. Surveying Your Benefits Options
      6. Preparing Payroll and Posting It in the Books
      7. Practice: Payroll Preparation
      8. Finishing the Job
      9. Depositing Employee Taxes
      10. Outsourcing Payroll and Benefits Work
      11. Answers to Practice Questions
    4. Chapter 4: Employer-Paid Taxes and Government Payroll Reporting
      1. Paying Employer Taxes on Social Security and Medicare
      2. Completing Unemployment Reports and Paying Unemployment Taxes
      3. Practice: Calculating FUTA Tax
      4. Carrying Workers’ Compensation Insurance
      5. Maintaining Employee Records
      6. Answers to Practice Questions
  6. Book 4: Preparing for Year’s End
    1. Chapter 1: Depreciating Your Assets
      1. Defining Depreciation
      2. Reducing the Value of Assets
      3. Tackling Taxes and Depreciation
      4. Setting Up Depreciation Schedules
      5. Recording Depreciation Expenses
    2. Chapter 2: Paying and Collecting Interest
      1. Deciphering Types of Interest
      2. Handling Interest Income
      3. Delving into Loans and Interest Expenses
    3. Chapter 3: Proving Out the Cash
      1. Why Prove Out the Books?
      2. Making Sure Ending Cash Is Right
      3. Closing the Cash Journals
      4. Using a Temporary Posting Journal
      5. Reconciling Bank Accounts
      6. Posting Adjustments and Corrections
    4. Chapter 4: Closing the Journals
      1. Prepping to Close: Checking for Accuracy and Tallying Things Up
      2. Posting to the General Ledger
      3. Checking Out Computerized Journal Records
    5. Chapter 5: Checking Your Accuracy
      1. Working with a Trial Balance
      2. Testing Your Balance with Computerized Accounting Systems
      3. Developing a Financial Statement Worksheet
      4. Replacing Worksheets with Computerized Reports
    6. Chapter 6: Adjusting the Books
      1. Adjusting All the Right Areas
      2. Testing an Adjusted Trial Balance
      3. Changing Your Chart of Accounts
  7. Book 5: Accounting and Managing Your Business
    1. Chapter 1: Managing Profit
      1. Helping Managers: The Fourth Vital Task of Accounting
      2. Internal Profit Reporting
      3. Presenting a Profit Analysis Template
      4. Answering Critical Profit Questions
      5. Taking a Closer Look at the Lines in the Profit Template
      6. Using the Profit Template for Decision-Making Analysis
      7. Tucking Away Some Valuable Lessons
      8. Closing with a Boozy Example
    2. Chapter 2: Budgeting
      1. Exploring the Reasons for Budgeting
      2. Recognizing Additional Benefits of Budgeting
      3. Deciding Whether Budgeting Is Worth Its Costs
      4. Realizing That Not Everyone Budgets
      5. Watching Budgeting in Action
      6. Considering Capital Expenditures and Other Cash Needs
      7. Using Computer Accounting to Make Budgeting More Effective
    3. Chapter 3: Cost Accounting
      1. Looking Down the Road to the Destination of Costs
      2. Are Costs Really That Important?
      3. Becoming More Familiar with Costs
      4. Assembling the Product Cost of Manufacturers
      5. Puffing Profit by Excessive Production
    4. Chapter 4: Filing and Paying Business Taxes
      1. Finding the Right Business Type
      2. Tackling Tax Reporting for Sole Proprietors
      3. Filing Tax Forms for Partnerships
      4. Paying Corporate Taxes
      5. Taking Care of Sales Tax Obligations
    5. Chapter 5: Prepping the Books for a New Accounting Cycle
      1. Finalizing the General Ledger
      2. Conducting Special Year-End Bookkeeping Tasks
      3. Starting the Cycle Anew
  8. Index
  9. About the Authors
  10. Advertisement Page
  11. Connect with Dummies
  12. End User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: Bookkeeping All-in-One For Dummies, 2nd Edition
  • Author(s): Lita Epstein, John A. Tracy
  • Release date: August 2019
  • Publisher(s): For Dummies
  • ISBN: 9781119592907