Bookkeeping Essentials

The handy problem-solver with helpful information for today's busy bookkeepers

Bookkeeping Essentials: How to Succeed as a Bookkeeper is the handy problem-solver that gives today's busy bookkeepers and accountants the helpful information they need in a quick-reference format. Whether in public practice or private industry, professionals will always have this reliable reference tool at their fingertips.

• Packed with practical techniques and rules of thumb for analyzing, evaluating, and solving the day-to-day problems every accountant faces
• Helps bookkeepers and accountants quickly pinpoint what to look for, what to watch out for, what to do, and how to do it
• Offers hundreds of explanations supported by a multitude of examples, tables, charts, and ratios

Filled with dozens of accounting best practices, Bookkeeping Essentials is a powerful companion for the ever-changing world of today's accountant and bookkeeper.

Preface ix

Part One The Basics of Bookkeeping 1

Chapter 1 Bookkeeping Basics 3

Chapter 2 Chart of Accounts 15

Chapter 3 General Ledger and Subledgers 29

Part Two Daily Activities 37

Chapter 4 Payroll 39

Chapter 5 Purchasing and Payments 79

Chapter 6 Billing and Collections 99

Chapter 7 Cash Management 121

Chapter 8 Inventory 135

Chapter 9 Fixed Assets 155

Chapter 10 Debt Accounting 169

Part Three Creating Financial statements 173

Chapter 11 The Trial Balance 175

Chapter 12 Closing the Books 185

Chapter 13 Balance Sheet 193

Chapter 14 Income Statement 205

Part Four Controls 219

Chapter 15 Budgeting 221

Chapter 16 Control Systems 247

Part Five Other Topics 265

Chapter 17 Record Keeping 267

Chapter 18 Cost Reduction Opportunities 277

Appendices 297

Appendix A Journal Entries 299

Appendix B Beginning Bookkeeper Checklist 317

Glossary 321

About the Author 327

Index 329

Steven M. Bragg, CPA, has been the chief financial officer or controller of four companies, as well as a consulting manager at Ernst & Young and an auditor at Deloitte. He is the author of over forty books primarily targeted toward controllers and their needs. Bragg received a master's degree in finance from Bentley College, an MBA from Babson College, and a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Maine. Get quick answers to all your bookkeeping questions

Presenting a question and answer format for the most common problems arising from the multitude of areas a bookkeeper may address during the working day, Bookkeeping Essentials: How to Succeed as a Bookkeeper provides complete, easy-to-navigate coverage with concise explanations and hundreds of supporting examples.

This reliable reference goes anywhere you go—to a client's office, on a business trip, or to an important lunch meeting—covering topics you'll be encountering constantly, such as:

• What a journal entry is and where you record it

• Calculating payroll, buying from suppliers, handling cash receipts, and tracking inventory

• How to create financial statements

• How to ensure your transactions are as error-free as possible

• Reducing expenses

• And much more!

Packed with checklists, samples, and worked-out solutions to a wide variety of typical situations, Bookkeeping Essentials is the handy problem-solver that gives you the helpful information you want right now, in the quick-reference format you need.