# book keeping



## doug96 (Mar 2, 2005)

what do most guys use for bookeeping, i have a new blacktop/plow business ,and dont know how to keep books, is there a free ledger sheet on line i could download or copy,


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## Peopleeater (Jan 8, 2005)

*Ledger*

What type of ledger are you looking for? I may be able to help with some generic ledgers that I had when I was in Accounting class? Would take me a while to find though, as all my school stuff has been packed away now for about 3 years.

I use an accountant. He gave us payroll ledger, and other than that, I use Quicken and just create a checking account for the business. Then I can just run a report and bring that to the accountant. I just bring all the stuff to the accountant, and they do my quarterly reports, unemployment, state and fed tax stuff, etc., etc. I am going to get Quickbooks when I start doing my summer work again as I am hoping that this will make it somewhat easier, and maybe will be able to cut down on stuff with accountant. Peachtree also makes accounting software, I believe. But quickbooks is what my accountant uses, so will just be able to create backups and give them that.

Paperwork is a PITA!!

Hope this helps some.

Jeff


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## pbeering (Jan 13, 2003)

Go buy Quickbooks and then hire an accountant to help you set it up. You can pick up the software at Costco, Sams, or online.

Take the time and spend the money to set it up in the beginning. It has many tools just for contracting. You can track customers, invoices, banking, credit cards, inventory, and a whole lot more.


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## Peopleeater (Jan 8, 2005)

*Accountant and lawyer.*

Make sure to go to accountant right away. What I learned after I started my bus. is that you should talk to a lawyer and accountant BEFORE you start a business. I think he mentioned that 5 times while doingtaxes last year. He told me to incorporate. The lawyer didn't do much for me though. He thought I was multi- million dollar trucking co. (I wish).

Get quickbooks, and an accountant, and a lawyer while you're at it.

Jeff


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## home rescue (Oct 25, 2003)

If it's just aledger you want to keep track of receipts and daily incomes you can go to staples or office max and get a mledger book, you can also keep track of employees payroll in there and it gives dates when the different taxes are do, this is what I do then I take the up to date ledger book to him to verify and to his thing. It is published by dome, has their name on it and the ledger title is simplified monthy book keeping. Works for me.


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## doug96 (Mar 2, 2005)

*books*

i was looking to do my taxes and dont really know how to list income/expensis and taxes, like fuel,, is it by the month, or 1 total for season?

REPAIRS to truck and equiptment nearly wiped me out, i would like to deduct this some how, 
i am a sole propriator so i may not be able to itemize not to sure.

i have a sprial notebook where i wrote down all income , materials, gas , repairs .. by the day added up by month and state sales tax added up ,

foolishly VERY foolishly i dove right in buying DBA , used equiptment , insurance ,, never knowing the scoop on taxes and bookeeping . i was baiscly counting on paying taxes at the end of year and not quarterly.

between repairs and the weather rainning on and ruining my work and having to go back and redo it out of pocket about 20 times i had no money left for taxes

also are bank account statements required?
i am going to a accountant saturday he is really gona know i am a ******


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## pbeering (Jan 13, 2003)

You have some work to do. Go fetch some file folders and take over the dining room table

1. Collect all the receipts and bank statements.
2. Organize the bank statements by date and put in a folder.
3. Seperate all the expenses:
A. Vehicle - purchase, fuel, repair, insurance, license plates
B. Equipment - plow, snowblower, salt spreader, computer, etc.
C. Postage, shipping, printing and office supplies
D. Professional services - lawyer, accountant
E. Communications - cellphone, pager
E. Other expenses directly related to plowing

Going forward, you should put all the expenses you can on a single credit card. Makes year end much simpler.

Do all this before you see your accountant. You pay the same hourly rate to have him sort through the above. You might also want to have your bank move your statement date to month end (if it isn't there already)

While you are with the accountant talk over the various business entities: S corporation, Limited Liability Corp, Proprietorship (what I think you are now) and also have him go over depreciation with you.

This is not as bad as it seems. Brew a pot of coffee, turn on some soft music, and dive in!


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## Peopleeater (Jan 8, 2005)

*Perfectly said except..*

My accountant told me that credit cards and IRS don't see eye to eye. He didn't really explain it, and I don't think it makes sense, but I am not an accountant. He said for proof in an audit that they could hassle you. I use em too. Maybe I just misunderstood? I got my appointment with mine for personal and business coming up. I guess it's time for some coffee and soft music?

Jeff

You could also start reading on the net about differences in the above mentioned corporations. You may want to stay sole proprietor cause it is easier, but the tax benefits are supposed to be better with Corps. Maybe you will be better off in sole proprietor situation? I did the same thing last year with starting trucking business. Waiting til years end. I think you might not like the Social Security tax self-employment tax. I know I didn't!


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## pbeering (Jan 13, 2003)

The usual issue with credit cards is mixing business and personal transactions. The smartest thing is to have one for the business and to only use it for business transactions.

The IRS has no issue. I have a card for each of the businesses and for my law practice. Most of the recurring charges drop right onto the card. Fabulous paper trail. Takes about 10 minutes to load the credit card detail into Quickbooks.


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## flykelley (Dec 29, 2003)

I useQuick Book's Simple Start about $70.00 at Sam's Club. Pretty easy to use,though it does take some time getting use to moving around inside of Quick Books.

Good Luck Mike


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## doug96 (Mar 2, 2005)

*you guys are really great*

one thing obout this site i love , a multitude , a bank , of ,knowledge, and experience.

well i laid out all reciepts, about 1000 of them , put them in stacks by month ,printed out a 2004 calender and wrote down each transaction on the day i did them. then added all of it up.by month and year.
i left out all bank activity though.
i used a bank card for 95% of all transactions, my statements don't add up even close to my reciepts, many many more income/expense transactions on bank statement
1\2 as many in reciepts


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## Vaughn Schultz (Nov 18, 2004)

www.1040accountants.com Take a look at this web site it has a lot of helpful things to read. 

But really you need to buy quick books, The top ten reasons to buy Quick Books; http://www.1040accountants.com/qbhome.html


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## pbeering (Jan 13, 2003)

Divide the stuff into expenses and income.

Sounds like you have the expenses underway. Tabulate them as suggested above.

Take the credit card receipts and organize them then highlight the business transactions. You can get your missing statements online. Make a note beside each entry as to what it was. ie. Home Depot - plow parts or whatever. Don't panic over not having the point-of-sale receipts. 

Do the same thing for your income:

1. Snow removal
2. Salting
3. Sealcoating
4. Whatever else you do

This assumes you deposit all the income into the bank - A good practice. 

Brew more coffee, more soft music!


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## Peopleeater (Jan 8, 2005)

*So much for...*

On top of the semi truck breaking (mildly I hope), my taxes are all screwed up. I have no idea where I went wrong, so instead of just having to do the last 1/4, I now have to go back and redo the whole year. We were going to tax appt. tonight, but now are waiting another week. I also was going to quit trucking today, but will lose the 4000 I just spent on plates. Can't get a refund or even a pro-rated adjustment. Once you buy em, they are yours. I didn't even look at the truck, but am hoping it is just low on coolant. I just had head gasket fixed, and only used it 3 1/2 days since.

Now I have a hole in the wall to fix too. (first time I have ever lost it to that degree!)

It isn't looking like this will be a good year.

On the plus side, I am going out to buy Quickbooks in the AM, so at least when I redo all of the year over again, it will seem like the first time.

Was thinking about making up #s and saying.....nevermind.

At least I didn't break anything in my hand, as we dropped my health ins.

I am almost ready to work at McDonalds the way I feel right now.

But, giving it a rest tonight, so may just have to 

I also decided to shut truck down??? or at least until taxes are done, and the low paying job I was on is over. My broker can go to ........!

Jeff


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## GiantsTackle64 (Apr 5, 2005)

*Fyi - Llc*

(Limited Liability Company) Not to be a stickler. :salute:



pbeering said:


> While you are with the accountant talk over the various business entities: S corporation, Limited Liability Corp, Proprietorship (what I think you are now) and also have him go over depreciation with you.
> 
> This is not as bad as it seems. Brew a pot of coffee, turn on some soft music, and dive in!


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## hickslawns (Dec 18, 2004)

One suggestion which might help is to find a good accountant first, then purchase Quickbooks or Peachtree or one of those programs for your business. My accountant doesn't use Quickbooks, so other than the ease of sending invoices and tallying year end income, it is useless for expenses. Sure, I input the receipts and print out a copy for the accountant, but then they have to re-input them into their program. So find out from your accountant what program(s) they use before buying. This may be easier! If I used my accountant's program, I could just burn a copy of my files on CD and drop it off, thus saving my accountant time and me some money. Best of luck, and don't give up just yet. You will be surprised how much those receipts add up to. Depreciation, fuel, cell phones, payroll, expenses for jobs, advertising, repairs. . .the list goes on. It all adds up, and after this year, your accountant can give you a good heads up on what to pay quarterly, etc. Best of luck!


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## SkykingHD (Jan 31, 2002)

*job is not finished till paper work is done*

There are 2 problems with book keeping. One is you have to learn how to keep books. Accounting is not the same as truck driving or snow plowing. Different skills are required. The second is organization. Many people have a problem keeping organized. You have to keep books so you can comply with the IRS laws. Easy to talk about but hard to do day after day.

You bid on work, drive rig, repair rig, plan preventive maintenance, act as a pr man, bid with people that don't have a clue on what it costs to run a company, collect over due accounts and now you have to keep track of all expenses.

The running a business end of running a business is time consuming and you must wear many different hats.

All I want to do is own my own company so I can keep all the money is a misleading statement. You work for every penny.

Dave


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## sonjaab (Jul 29, 2001)

GUYS.......Bookkeeping is a MAJOR factor in your business today!

Not doing it right or not knowing the "tricks" needed nowadaze...
Your SUNK !

Its HARD enough running a day to day operation not to mention
keeping up with the books !

A good bookeeper along with a sharp accountant is your BEST
INVESTMENT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have BOTH.............Worth every penny !.............geo


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## Dwan (Mar 24, 2004)

99% of all business that fail is because of bad bookeeping/management not because the people couldn't do the job but because they didn't know there overhead to help set there pricing.
I hace been using Quick Books for 13 years now and it work real well for me.

Operating the equipment is the easy part keeping a good set of books is the hard part. If you know how to keep the books then you can run most any business.


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