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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Duluth MN
    Posts
    3,863

    Chart of Accounts

    Ok, so I finally am getting my butt in gear and getting quickbooks set up. For now, I've been working on a cash basis, and have not had a real need for accounting software. I bought QB2003Pro a while back, but have not yet set it up for my business.

    Can anyone suggest a chart of accounts to use? I went through the wizard, but I dont think that I need a lot of those accounts, and I dont really want to pay $2-300 for an accountant to go through and set up my quickbooks for me.

    I know how to use quickbooks, I just am unsure of how I should set up my chart of accounts. Thats the funny thing about my accounting classes in college, they teach me how to do the books, but not set them up...

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Location
    Atlanta
    Posts
    1,170
    I set up expense accounts for hosting related items, like colocation fees, technical support, license fees, and the like.

    Then a series of income accounts for shared hosting plans, dedicated plans, colocation plans, tech support work, etc.

    You can make it as simple or a comprehensive as you like. My advice would be to set your company up in QuickBooks as a general service business and then add to your default chart of accounts as appropriate until you're comfortable with the level of detail provided.

    For best results, hire an accountant that specializes in QB for a few hours to help you get it all set up correctly. The advice a good QB accountant can offer is worth it's weight in gold.

    Brandon

  3. #3
    We started from scratch and basically setup accounts as we ran into needing them.
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  4. #4
    Greetings Aaron:

    While an accountant would be the best route to go considering you are in it for the long term; and even if it was $300, that's $300 over the life of your business.

    With that stated, you might want to consider correlating income accounts with a cost of sales account on a line item basis.

    One of our early mistakes we made back in 1996 was having an income item -- Hosting, and a cost item Hosting.

    Then when we branched off into shared, VPS, dedicated, and managed dedicated, it was harder to determine trends within each business line.

    For each income and expense, asset and liability, you should ask yourself wether you would want to know individual trends down the road or not (please note you keep the detail items -- paper work, receipts, invoices, etc. by law for determined periods of time; but rebuilding data is not fun).

    Lastly, keep in mind some one has to do the data entry, report writing, and maintenance. Don't go over board on line items you may never trend.

    Thank you.
    ---
    Peter M. Abraham
    LinkedIn Profile

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Posts
    175
    Originally posted by daveman
    We started from scratch and basically setup accounts as we ran into needing them.
    This is the way that I am going about things, but I am a one man show, so my accounting procedures are not complex.

    I also agree with the other poster that said a 200-300 is pretty low, considering that it is basically a one time cost.

    My advice, if you can afford the 200-300, go for it.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
    Posts
    714
    I am also just getting started, I bought QB 2004 Pro. So far, I have expense accounts such as:

    dedicated server fees
    payment processing fees (sub accounts for 2checkout, visa/mc/amex merchant accounts, paypal)
    advertising
    bank fees
    office supplies (sub accounts for equipment then misc items)
    domain name fees
    software fees


    my income accounts are pretty general, web hosting income, server management income, and one other for related services


    I haven't figured out yet the best way to keep track of credit card sales. for now, I am treating all credit card sales as web hosting income, and am doing batch sales receipts. So, at the end of the month, I write a sales receipt for credit card sales minus any refunds. then i make a bill for all of the fees i paid during the month for processing those sales. i started reading on a QB forum that i might should put the sales into an undeposited funds account, then subtract the fees out there whenever i do a batch of credit card processing (every few days).

    i would love to hear how other people have setup their quickbooks, especially for how they handle large batches of credit card sales.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Posts
    1,443
    Sloop,

    Aren't equipment and office supply 2 different things? I set it up as Office but CPA says its a "NO NO"
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  8. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Motorcity
    Posts
    150
    I to use quickbooks have been using 2003 pro since 2002. I just use business bills, checking, savings, and credit card, do most purchasing on the creditcard, but in any instance I transfer the transaction to business bills and copy the transaction to my business bills section. So no matter what or how I pay for something it can be audited thru one section "business bills" I do my own taxes so at the end of the year you can consider most business exspenses anything in the business section. Atleast it works for me ! Quickbooks is top notch, lols and this comes from a guy that couldnt keep a checkbook till I started using quicken. Does any one use streamload here ?

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Aug 2000
    Location
    NYC
    Posts
    6,623
    Originally posted by VapoRub
    Aren't equipment and office supply 2 different things?
    Generally they should be set up separately, if only because a lot of equipment purchases could be depreciated and office supply expenses could not.
    Specializing in SEO and PPC management.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
    Posts
    714
    Originally posted by VapoRub
    Aren't equipment and office supply 2 different things? I set it up as Office but CPA says its a "NO NO"
    good point, I should change it to regular office supplies (consumables, paper, etc I guess) and then office equipment (printers, fax machine)

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