rpafi/tl open source & Accounting Gnucash 2.4 Small Business Beginner s Guide Manage your accounts with this desktop financial management application

Transcription

1 Gnucash 2.4 Small Business Accounting Beginner s Guide Manage your accounts with this desktop financial management application Ashok Ramachandran rpafi/tl open source & I I flv* l\k I I community experience distilled PUBLISHING BIRMINGHAM MUMBAI

2 fine Table of Contents Preface 1 Chapter 1: Getting Started with GnuCash 9_ Installing GnuCash on Windows 11 action installing GnuCash on Windows 11 Other operating systems 13 Other download locations 13 But first, a tip to make your life easier with autosave 13 Taking the drudgery out of setting up accounts 14 creating the default business accounts 14 Account hierarchy 18 Minimal set of accounts 18 Getting your business accounts done just right 21 tuning business accounts 21 Account types 23 Parent accounts and top level accounts 23 Placeholder account 25 Opening balance 25 How to impress your accountant 26 Strengths and limitations of GnuCash 26 Business as well as personal accounting 27 Single user 27 Sharing a GnuCash accounts file 27 Accounting features not supported by GnuCash 28 Business functions other than accounting 28 Summary 29

3 entering reusing viewing Table of Contents Chapter 2: Transactions the Lifeblood of a Business 31 A quick and easy way to enter simple transactions 32 simple transactions quickly and easily 32 Money makes the business world go round 35 Simple transaction 36 Checks and balances are good 36 Entering a simple transaction in the account register 37 entering a simple transaction in the account register 38 Navigating the account registers 41 Jump to account 41 Divide and conquer 42 Examples of simple transactions 42 Entering a more complex transaction in the account register 43 entering a split transaction in the account register 43 Visualizing split transactions 46 Examples of split transactions 46 Tips for entering split transactions 47 Anybody can change their mind 48 editing, cancelling, and deleting transactions 48 Save time by using shortcuts 50 QuickFill 50 Data entry shortcuts 51 Navigation shortcuts 52 Computation shortcuts 52 A feeling of deja vu 53 transactions 53 Changing the register views 54 Deleting a transaction in different views 56 Text information in transactions 56 Transaction description 57 Transaction notes 57 Transaction number 57 Split action 57 Split Memo 57 Summary 58 Chapter 3: Fun and Eyeopening Part Reports and Charts 59 Viewing standard reports and charts 60 standard reports and charts 60 Reports and charts 63 Income Statement (Profit and Loss Statement) 63 Balance Sheet 63 A chart is worth a thousand numbers 63 Other reports 64 liil

4 working reconciling changing Table ofcontents Creating a custom report and saving it 67 creating a custom report and saving it 67 Tips for customizing reports 69 Tips for customizing charts 70 Sample & Custom Reports 71 Working with stylesheets 72 with stylesheets 72 Exporting reports 74 exporting reports 75 Summary 77 Chapter 4: How not to Get Lost in the Transactions Jungle 79 How not to get lost while hiking in the wilderness 79 Manual reconciliation 80 with a printed monthly statement 80 Points to note about reconciling 84 Can I edit or delete reconciled transactions? 84 Mark split as unreconciled? 84 Change reconciled split? 85 Delete a transaction with reconciled splits? 86 Electronic reconciliation 87 action reconciling with a downloaded electronic statement 87 Reconciliation FAQ 91 Income and expense accounts 93 Balancing your cash account 93 Credit card reconciliation 94 Vital point to remember when importing an OFX file 94 Recovering from wrong selection of account 95 the account to import into 95 Summary 97 Chapter 5: Repetitive Work? Let GnuCash do it 99 Let GnuCash worry about recurring transactions 100 creating a recurring transaction from the register 100 A stitch in time saves nine 103 triggering scheduled transactions 103 Is it Easter already? 106 Three different scenarios 106 Be cautious like an accountant 107 Tool to create many recurring transactions 108 action creating scheduled transactions in bulk 108 Schedule a transaction without knowing the amount 113 Scheduled Transactions FAQ 114 I III I

5 keeping making Table of Contents Create post dated transactions 116 Summary 117 Chapter 6: Business Mantra: Buy Now. Pay Later 119 Credit is the lubricant for the wheels of business 119 Billing terms and customers 120 setting up billing terms and adding customers 121 Invoices and Accounts Receivable 124 action keeping track of credit sales 124 Invoice printing 130 Receivable Aging report 131 List of unpaid invoices 131 Unpost 132 Setting the starting invoice number 133 action setting the starting invoice number 133 Processing payment 135 action when the check is on hand 136 Partial payment 137 Bills and accounts payable 138 track of credit purchases 138 Due bills reminder 140 Summary 141 Chapter 7: Budget: Trip Planner for your Business 143 Budget 144 creating a budget for your business 145 Start with just three budgets 149 Sales forecast 149 Expense budget 150 Cash flow projection 150 Estimating based on previous period actuals 151 Financial projections for investors and lenders 152 Budget balance sheet 152 Budget income statement 152 Budget revision 153 Employees and payroll 154 payroll entries in GnuCash 154 Net pay 156 Liability accounts 156 Calculation spreadsheet 156 Split transaction map 156 Payroll FAQ 157 Employee and expense voucher 158 [hrl

6 making mapping charging Table of Contents Depreciation 159 depreciation entries for assets 159 Owner's drawing 162 entering owner's draw in your books 163 Summary 165 Chapter 8: Making Tax Times Less Stressful GnuCash currently supports only US business types for income tax 168 Setting up IfiZ income tax related accounts 168 GnuCash accounts to tax schedules 169 Pay your dues and demand services 172 Creating income tax schedule report and TXF export 174 Time for action getting the numbers for tax returns 174 Transferring data from GnuCash to Schedule C 177 Cost of goods sold 177 Car and truck expenses 178 Depreciation 178 Expenses for business use of home 178 Other expenses 178 Self employment tax 178 Other taxes 178 Manual entry or TXF import? 179 Setting up sales tax tables 179 setting up sales tax tables 179 Tax table 181 Tax on tax 181 Applying sales tax to invoices 183 sales tax on sales 183 Summary 186 Chapter 9: Printing Checks and Finding Transactions 187 Finding transactions 188 searching for a transaction 188 Sorting transactions 189 Sorting transactions within a day 191 Filtering transactions 192 Viewing and sorting all transactions 192 Find transactions FAQ 193 Find customers, invoices, and so on 194 Printing checks 195 printing checks 195 Printing one check at a time on a 3 check sheet 198 Printing address 198 Ivl

7 Table ofcontents Printing multiple checks 199 Custom check format 199 Printing receipts 200 Numbered accounts 201 assigning numbers to accounts 202 Why account numbers? 204 An example account numbering system 204 Rectify overinvoicing 205 Sales refunds 205 Purchase refunds 206 Check & Repair 206 Financial calculator 207 calculating mortgage payments 207 Summary 209 Chapter 10: Adapting GnuCash for Nonprofits and Personalizing 211 No separate nonprofit version of GnuCash 212 Bookkeeping for nonprofits 212 using GnuCash features for nonprofits 213 Donors and members 215 Keeping funds for projects separately 215 allocating funds for projects 216 Getting overall Income Statement 217 getting overall Income Statement 217 Receivables 219 Multiple sets of books 220 Nonprofit accounting FAQ 220 Personalizing GnuCash 221 getting your work environment just right 221 Other preference settings 226 Set a color to each account tab 226 Resize columns in the account register 227 Leaving windows open 227 Summary Bar and Status Bar 227 Protecting your data 228 backing up your data 228 Backing up 230 Making use of auto save 230 Retaining backup files 230 Restoring from a backup file 231 Password protection 231 Summary 232 Ivil

8 using using Table of Contents Chapter 11; Data Import/Export: Use your Phone to enter Expenses 233 Saving expense data in your smartphone and uploading to your PC 235 a smartphone to save expense data 235 Sending data through an expense tracking service 240 an expense tracking service to get data into GnuCash 240 Selecting an expense tracking service 241 Migrating to GnuCash from other accounting software 242 migrating to GnuCash from other software 242 Migrating data is not easy 246 First consider a fresh start on GnuCash 246 Business case for migration 247 Migrating from Excel2 and OpenOffice.org4 Calc 248 Migrating from Office Accounting2 (formerly Office SBA2) 248 Migrating from Quicken Home & Businessl 248 Migrating from QuickBooksl 249 Exporting FAQ. 249 Importing FAQ 250 Exporting data from GnuCash 251 exporting data from GnuCash for migration and other purposes 252 Migrating from GnuCash to other accounting software 253 Summary 254 Chapter 12: Application Integration and Other Advanced Topics 257 These tutorials assume a certain level of proficiency 258 Using OpenOffice.org Base to query data 259 using popular office software to query GnuCash data 259 Which databases? 265 Using MS Excel to create reports and charts 266 connecting from Excel to create reports and charts 266 Other query and reporting tools 270 Application integration 270 exporting contact information from GnuCash 271 Export any data 272 Foreign currency transactions 273 invoicing and receiving payment in 273 Canadian dollars 273 Credit card charged in foreign currency during overseas travel 278 Foreign currency transactions FAQ 278 Other handy tips and tricks 279 Customerjobs and vendor jobs 279 Ivill

9 understanding understanding understanding viewing reconciling reconciling adding keeping charging Reports Table ofcontents grouping invoices for each contract separately 280 Vendor jobs 282 Special actions 282 Voiding a transaction 282 Adding a reversing transaction 283 Year end closing 284 Inventory management 284 Mileage tracking 285 Summary 286 Appendix: Pop Quiz Answers 289 Chapter 1: Getting Started with GnuCash 289 accounts 289 understanding account types and hierarchies 289 Chapter 2: Transactions the Lifeblood of a Business 289 transactions 289 navigating GnuCash 290 transactions 290 using shortcuts to speed up bookkeeping 290 the account register 290 Chapter 3: Fun and eyeopening part and charts 290 viewing standard reports 290 customizing a report 290 creating stylesheets 290 saving exported reports 290 Chapter 4: How not to get lost in the transactions jungle 291 with a bank statement 291 with an electronic statement 291 changing the account to import into 291 Chapter 5: Repetitive work? Let GnuCash do it 291 creating a recurring transaction 291 triggering scheduled transactions 291 using the Scheduled Transaction Editor 291 Chapter 6: Business Mantra: Buy Now, Pay Later 292 customers and creating invoices 292 choosing an account 292 track of credit purchases 292 Chapter 7: Budget: Trip Planner for your Business 292 creating a new budget 292 calculating payroll 292 depreciation on capital assets 292 setting up a Drawing account 292 [mil]

10 exporting applying creating separating GnuCash contact Table ofcontents Chapter 8: Making Tax Times Less Stressful 293 filing tax returns 293 income tax data 293 setting up tax tables 293 tax tables to invoices 293 Chapter 9: Printing Checks and Finding Transactions 293 filtering transactions 293 printing date format in a check 293 editing account codes 293 calculating mortgage payment 293 Chapter 10: Adapting GnuCash for Nonprofits and Personalizing 294 creating a separate account for an event or a project 294 setting your preferences 294 a backup 294 Chapter 11: Data Import/Export: Use your Phone to Enter Expenses 294 transactions by type of payment 294 importing a CSV file 294 format suitable for creating accounts 294 creating a Transaction Report with all of the transactions 294 Chapter 12: Application Integration and Other Advanced Topics 295 default data format 295 understanding GnuCash fields 295 info stored in GnuCash 295 entering exchange rate 295 finding all jobs 295 Index 297 lixl