Your accounting

Article published on 29 September 2014

Understanding the basic accounting principles is an important facet of being in financial control of your business.

Hiring someone to take care of the accounting side of things, or handing the function to an accounting company is not a rarity in the business realm at all. It is in fact one of the more sensible decisions one can make and even more so if ones time is in short supply.

Managing the company's books is a time consuming exercise and if accounting is not your strong point, it is best left to someone in the know.

However, a basic knowledge of accounting will definitely stand you in good stead, especially on occasion when you are called upon to make a decision that will impact the finances of the company.

You won't be required in the accounting office permanently

Once the basic running principles of your business are in place and your business is operational you can leave all the aspects of accounting to someone with more knowledge and experience in the field. Your accounting department or the firm you choose to manage your books will have knowledge of all the accounting principles and also the legal requirements to which a company must adhere financially.

The standard running of your accounts should reflect;

Income (Revenue from sales of services and goods at the set prices)
Credit allowed

and

Expenses:

Purchases, including creditors reconciliation
Wages and Salaries
Taxes (paye, uif, vat)
Financial obligations such as loans and any other credit which may have been grante to the company

You will be aware of the financial wellbeing of your company without having to manually do the accounting yourself. An efficient accounting company will be able to keep you informed of the cycle of income over expenditure and also be able to indicate profits and loss.

Monitoring of your assets and income over your liabilities will require accuracy, and growth will require a long term plan. The company that you choose to fulfil the financial function of your company should be able to provide you with service as a matter of course.

Article published on 2 April 2014

What does an accountant do?

There are a few schools of thought when it comes to accounting professionals and what they do. There is the old remarks where accountants are referred to as bean counters and then there is the other school of thought where the whole accounting process leaves one stumped.

Bean counter in all likelihood refers to the person who would be in charge of produce. As far back as biblical times wealth was measured by crops, thus a bean counter was employed to keep track of wealth.

Things have certainly evolved since then and with the advent of money and buying and selling on credit new ways were devised to keep track. All transactions which take place will follow certain procedures and the records need to be kept.

How good are your accounting skills?

There are those amongst us for whom accounting will forever remain a mystery, knowing the difference between a debit and a credit or how to do a balance sheet and completing reconciliations for debtors and for creditors are best left to some one else.

Hiring someone to take care of all your accounting needs is indeed a smart move, and outsourcing the task is equally clever.

Just imagine how you can benefit from the help!

Accuracy – You would hate to think you had money but didn't or the other way around.

Knowledge – You don't have to wonder what to do with all the information.

Timesaving – Doing your books can be rather tedious and time consuming, but for someone who is passionate about accounting it will be a breeze and you can spend your time growing your business.

Procedure – Certain processes and documents need to be completed and submitted to the receiver of revenue by certain times, this will be done efficiently and correctly.

What do accounting firms do that you don't have to

Manage your ledger
Keep track of income and expenditure
Control the cashbook
Complete VAT submissions
Keep a handle on PAYE
Reconciliation of both debtors and creditors
Complete journals