Ledger Light

Inactive accounts are doing important things for you today. Don't delete them. Instead, take care of them the way I explain here.

I like the QuickBooks Self-Employed App, but I do have one reservation about it.

If cash basis reports are all that the firm needs, then this method for entering transactions is quick and efficient. I suspect it is even more efficient than relying on downloads. Try it and see if you agree.

People say that technology is taking over accounting, but that is a joke, at least at the small business level. For example, there has been no improvement in the efficiency in QuickBooks downloads in the last seven years. If you're struggling with these downloads, it's probably not you. That's not going to win me any friends at Intuit, but it is the truth.

Here I give some of my thoughts about the appropriate situations for QuickBooks, as well as a research idea that I have about it.

In this podcast I offer some of my thoughts about the brand of QuickBooks and how it has embedded itself into the culture of small business.

In this podcast I use an analogy to explain the difference between accounting and tax. I've done this because I've noticed that small business owners get these two ideas confused but it is important to understand the difference.

In this podcast I told the story about a forensic accounting assignment that I had back in the mid-1990s, and the lessons that I learned from it.

Here is the story of how I put the balance sheet together with the Yin/Yang symbol.

It is on my heart to help people understand debits and credits, and how the work with the rest of accounting. Everybody who wants to be an accountant or who uses accounting software needs to understand the basic principles upon which accounting and accounting software are built.

QuickBooks has a number of ways to record purchases. Here I explain what each is, what it does, and how it impacts reports.

If you don't understand Items in QuickBooks, don't worry because I didn't at first either. But I finally got it, and I think I formulated the easiest explanation for them that you'll find.

A lot of small business owners like to rely on downloading financial information into a QuickBooks file. This podcast discusses a couple of the limitations that happen if those downloads are relied upon exclusively.

This is a very easy fix for when you have a customer who was also a vendor, or a vendor who is also a customer in QuickBooks.

Bookkeeping and data entry are two different things, especially when it comes to your QuickBooks. In this podcast I explain the difference and why it matters.

Here I address how OCI functions and what it does for the firm.