Bookkeeping for Dummies, 3rd Edition

Chapter 7

Recording Expenses and Supplier Payments

IN THIS CHAPTER

Creating systems so you can find everything easily

Choosing a method to suit your madness

Finding a home for every transaction

Dealing with cash and out-of-pocket expenses

Your role as a bookkeeper varies enormously depending on whether you’re doing the books for a business that’s just getting started, or whether you’re working for a larger business with many employees and lots of suppliers.

Part of being a good bookkeeper is being able to judge what system works best in each situation. I’m not talking about software choices here — rather, I’m referring to the way you organise information and record transactions. Do you want to keep things simple and just record transactions when they appear in the bank account? Or do you need to record purchase orders, keep track of how much is owed to suppliers, and much more besides?

In this chapter, I show how the process of recording expenses and supplier payments varies depending on the size of the business. I also talk about bank feeds, and explain how bank feeds combined ...