What are /r/Bookkeeping's favorite Products & Services?

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Let me start out by apologizing for completely butchering the tenses in Italian. I can only hope it's still understandable.

I found a great set of scans of an old italian-english accounting dictionary that should answer your questions here. but let me not leave it at just a link.

To clarify some terms: in English, we refer to passivo and activo as credit and debit. A debit is an increase to an asset or expense, and a credit is an increase to a liability or income. I'm not 100% sure how those match up with passivo and activo, but I believe from context that passivo is credit and activo is debit.

As such risconto activo is called a prepaid expense, and risconto passivo is deferred income.

Rateo activo would be called accrued income, and rateo passivo would be accrued expenses.

I hope that helps!

My recommendation:

1. Get a website. Even if it's one of those Wix things. Get SOMETHING online to establish your presence, explain who you are, and detail what you do. There is a lot more info to this, obviously, but way too much for a reddit comment.

2. Hook your website up to Google. This will help Google know how you should be shown in searches, both general web searches and Google Maps searches.

3. Become a ProAdvisor. If you don't work with QuickBooks, this is optional, but I got a lot of my bookkeeping clients through the Find-A-ProAdvisor site.

4. Network. Networking gets a bad rap as salesy and schmoozy, but if done correctly it is absolutely worth the time. Your Chamber of Commerce can be a start to get your feet wet, but I've never gotten any substantial business from it. You could also try your local BNI, but whether or not that works for you will depend heavily on your personality and work ethic. I personally have a group in my area which is a much more laid back organization which meets for coffee a few times a month and has happy hour once in a while. If you can find something like that, it's a great way to rub shoulders with business owners in your community. Again, there's a LOT more to networking than I could write about here.

5. Move. This sounds like it may not be an option for you right now, or even in the immediate future, but I moved from a small unmarked office above my father-in-law's chiropractic office to an actual office building and got two new clients just from them greeting me as I was moving in and asking what industry I was in. Visibility can be extremely profitable.

Yes, but it will vary by person. When I first started in accounting, it didn't make sense. I really thought I made a bad choice. Then one night I had a dream and overlayed over the dream were T tables, spreadsheets, etc. Literally from then on, it just clicked for me. That was during my classes. They helped a lot, but many can learn on their own too. There are also alternative learning options such as Udemy.com. Getting an entry-level position and learning on the job is even more valuable, especially for the real-world/practical side. MUCH more of bookkeeping is "how the heck did the last idiot do this?" than I expected.

If these are receipts that are going through the biz account, I'm with /u/miami_man 100%, use the bank records.

If these are receipts for reimbursement, I would suggest something like Concur or Tallie to capture the data as it happens.

If you're an outsourced bookkeeper, I would recommend including in your engagement letter that it is not your responsibility to keep track of the receipts. I have a client who has been in business 30+ years and he throws out his receipts after a few months. When I finally had enough $ to hire an attorney to write my EL I made sure this was included in the content. Since this guy is of a similar mind, it might be useful to CYA.

Xero has a certification program, although I'm not familiar with it, this might be helpful: https://www.xero.com/us/advisors/?country=us&service=bookkeeper&region=USCA&view=list Definitely follow Charlie's advice and watch out for bullshit...

Due to this thread I actually stumbled across Akaunting Which is free/open source accounting software.

You can host it yourself, or use their cloud for free and it supports multiple users/companies. Just found it, but it definitely sounds interesting.

I'm not a big fan of excel spreadsheets. You are probably better off using an online accounting system - like Xero, QBO or Wave {free - https://www.waveapps.com/). The system links your bank account to your books which means you don't miss out on expenses - you just need to identify each expense and categorize them each month. At the end of the year, you can print your Profit and Loss Statement and give it to your accountant for tax purposes - you can also use your P&L statement to estimate tax liability throughout the year.
Alternatively, we are in the process of offereing a bookkeeping service for less than $50 per month - what are your thoughts?

Here's the one I was thinking of: https://www.amazon.com/QuickBooks-Online-Practice-Set-Transactions/dp/1794451080/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3HFEN2BS5BOOY&keywords=QuickBooks+Practice+Set%3A&qid=1648070609&sprefix=quickbooks+practice+set+%2Caps%2C196&sr=8-2
QBO also offers training. I'd do both.

I looked into Manager, seems good. I haven't used it though. www.manager.io

Also Wave is fine and free unless you use it to receive payments from your customers waveapps.com

These will give you financial statements and let you reconcile your accounts.

This guide may help you in your business :)

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https://wordpress.com/post/clavebookkeepingservicces.wordpress.com/76

Accounting platform such as Quickbooks, Xero, GoDaddy has the functionality to connect Bank and Paypal but when it comes to inventory management this platform can do the basic so if your looking for more robust inventory management it is better to separate inventory management.

See article here: https://www.3dsellers.com/blog/8-top-ebay-inventory-management-tools-ebay-inventory

I'm a software developer / freelancer (who also does his own bookkeeping), and I had to build my own payment site to handle this situation.

Most of the providers you listed will take an absolutely massive cut from a 15k invoice. I pay $5 per ACH transfer via stripe.com. My limit is currently 15k per individual payment, but it sounds like I could probably get that increased if I needed to now that I have more history with them.

Probably no need to switch products/platforms (Wave vs. Intuit/Other) as there as plenty of OCR programs that will convert PDF to CSV/Text. Makeuseof lists a few, for example...

Use the right software for the job. Consider features, price, support, user community, and ease of use.

I use an online database called Ninox. There are many others. Using a database helps you make custom features and reports.

If you need a solution to help with your personal bookkeeping (eg you’re an independent contractor for your startup in the early stages), then you can give Benji a try: https://www.betterwithbenji.com

If you’re looking for a solution for your startup then consider Xero as most accountants prefer to work with such a solution: https://www.xero.com/ca/

You could use Wave instead of Xero, but if you’ll be dealing with an accountant, they’d like want you to be able to use Xero (or Quickbooks, but I’m personally not a fan of anything Intuit owns as [I don’t trust them](www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-fight-to-stop-americans-from-filing-their-taxes-for-free/)

It was released the end of last year. I anticipate somewhere around the end of this year that they’ll begin charging for it. Here’s the Xero Projects info page. You can also check YouTube for videos of people using it (as with all videos, some are helpful, some not so much). Either way, Xero offers a 30 day trial. Worst case, you don’t like it, cancel, and you’ve only invested a bit of your time. Feel free to send me a message with any questions.

Xero has a partner program for bookkeepers that you may want to check out. You’ll still need to have an account per organisation however.

When you say 'rented', you mean, monthly subscription? Yes, the move to Software as a Service (SaaS) has many benefits and many drawbacks. I'm both an aggressive consumer who doesn't like recurring fees and a SaaS founder that loves recurring revenue. (Yes, sometimes I hate myself!)

GNUcash is fine but not very friendly and the code is not up to par (IMO).

I started test driving Akaunting and it's pretty good. I had my developer review the code and he didn't find any serious issues. Another guy poted a code review on Youtube and his only concerns were a matter of style or technique (i.e. opinion). I haven't given it a full test myself, but I hope it can be useful to U.S. small businesses.

My only concern is that the main developers are not American (they're Turkish if you're curious), so there may be significant differences in how certain functions are performed compared to U.S. accounting practices. That's the only thing that really worries me about it.

https://www.waveapps.com/

I think for the mobile version you get to use the receipt for your purchases and invoicing for well your sales..personally i use the desktop version to keep track of accounting, not using the mobile app.

You are halfway there. I would recommend Wave accounting (Free - https://www.waveapps.com/) - start using the system and see if it's the right fit. You really only need a profit and loss statement {as a small biz owner}. I wouldn't add your personal bank account {for legal reasons} and it could confuse your accountant at the end of the year.

You could use the open source tool ledger-cli to track your business transactions and clients. The best thing about this tool is that everything is stored in plaintext, which makes it future proof. The main disadvantage is that you have to use the command line to use it.

If you need an iOS or Mac app, which does pretty much the same, you can use Finances. (Disclaimer: I’m the developer of the app.)

Wow sorry that you are dealing with this...take it from a almost 50 year old who stayed waaayyyy too long in bad jobs because I was loyal and dedicated and didn't want to leave the owner high and dry even though it was a bad situation. - If you're in this dead in job or working for a boss that doesn't value you, please take my advice! I learned the hard way..if the job is affecting your health, your relationships and you don't even like the job..just leave! There are plenty of good jobs and decent bosses out there that will value all that you bring even if you are young and still learning, attitude and work ethic go a very long way.

If you are interested in learning bookkeeping, I really like Veronica Wasek's 5MD academy on teachable.com - she has some paid courses but a few are free. Also, you can sign up as a QuickBooks online (QBO) pro advisor, get a free Accountant QBO Advanced account and start doing your own books to get familiar with the software and watch all the training videos they have. You can even get certified at no cost and you'll learn a lot from doing your own bookkeeping (I'm just talking about tracking your checking account, credit card spending ,etc. and learning the workflow). Please don't waste time learning their ancient and dysfunctional ways...sure you may pick up some basic concepts but your time would be better spent learning something concrete and current that you can take to another employer. I wish you all the BEST!

Zapier: https://zapier.com/home
Let's say you use Xero and Google Calendar.

When a new bill (invoice) is created in Xero you can automatically add a reminder to your calendar, with a rule. You can link thousands of different software applications together with rules.

Many companies appreciate work that is done locally. Transparency is key if you outsource.

I use Quire to keep track of my clients and tasks.

If the list is just for yourself, you can use the same list and set different tasks with the dates and description for each person. I start with a main task for the person and add the information in the subtasks.

If you need to share the list with your clients, you can start different lists and put down all the information.

Quire is a free task management software so I think you can give it a try, won't hurt.

All Things Excel is a helpful app. Ios and android links below.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/all-things-excel/id1530712843

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.theanilpaudel.allexcelformulas

T540, T550, or T560, are the 15" "thin" series, which have a 10-key pad. The T440, T450, etc. are 14". Get a solid state drive. IPS screen is bonus.

Here's a refurbished T560 with 8GB RAM, SSD and a high resolution screen on Amazon for under $500

Read more about the models on /r/ThinkPad

These are pretty easy to find since they are very popular corporate laptops that get sold after a few years. We have about several of them around the house all bought used and they are great.