Discussion:Quickbooks - S-Corp Help
From TaxAlmanac
Discussion Forum Index --> Accounting Questions --> Quickbooks - S-Corp Help
Lostintranslation (talk|edits) said: | 16 May 2008 |
| My fiance owns an Air Conditioning company as an S-Corp. We have yet to find a decent accountant to provide thorough assistance to questions beyond filing our taxes. I feel completely lost. We use Quickbooks for our accounting and I have both our personal and business bank accounts set up in the program. I have all of our personal expenses from our personal account categorized under Other Expenses. When I pull a profit and loss, the personal account expenses appear for the business. How do I separate the two? Also, we have transfered money from the business account to the personal account, what should those transactions be categorized under? Currently they are under Bank Withdrawal for the business and then they appear under Other Income for the personal account deposit. We haven't set up payroll yet and have just been transferring funds as needed to the personal account. I was told to move all of our personal expenses that came out of the business account into a Distribution account. I did that and so should these transfers also go under that account? Also, now that everything is lumped into this distribution account, I can't tell anymore exactly what we spent on certain expenditures. Can I create Sub Accounts under Distributions to track these purchases better ie Home Goods,Personal Auto Insurance, Gas, and so forth?
My concern is that since we haven't been issuing him a paycheck and we have to rely on the Profit and Loss and Balance Sheet reports for our proof of income. I don't want the report reflecting inaccurate information. I am not even sure when someone looks at the reports, how they can tell what his actual earnings are because everything is mixed together. Because Distributions isn't reflected on the P&L, it makes our Net Income look greater? Our net income says it's somewhere around $15k but we spent about $10k in Distributions. Where is this reflected? I just want to make sure that all of our finances are accurately conveyed so that we are not going to have accounting and financing issues in the long run. I desp. need some direction here. Thanks! | |
| May 16, 2008 | |
| You need professional help (with all due respect). Your questions and problems cited above are beyond the scope of this forum. Although the solutions are relatively straight forward, we are not here to guide you through what needs to be done to make everything as it should be. I suggest you look for a Quickbooks Proadvisor in your area. You may search at http://quickbooks.intuit.com/product/training/local_expert.jhtml
Good luck. | |
Lostintranslation (talk|edits) said: | 16 May 2008 |
| Thanks for responding. I knew I was probably over reaching but it was worth a shot. I just have a hard time paying someone hundreds of dollars just to provide the answers I am looking for. I'll keep looking though! Thanks! | |
| 16 May 2008 | |
| Okay - next time my air conditioner breaks down during the summer time - I'll keep playing around with the system, because I too have a hard time paying someone hundreds of dollars just to get the result I'm looking for. | |
| May 16, 2008 | |
| Lost - I'm just curious how many 'free' consultations/installations/repairs your husband does
for all those folks in hot climates who just can't see having to pay for it? | |
| 16 May 2008 | |
| My fellow Almanacers -
This lady posted the SAME question on the Tax Forum also. | |
Actionbsns (talk|edits) said: | 17 May 2008 |
| Lost, my office currently has two potential new clients who, as you have done, messed about in the QB data file with no help or direction, and it is now a mess that will probably cost them a couple thousand dollars to fix. They are still deciding whether they can afford that. What you have described happens all the time because people really believe the Intuit claim that they can be their own accountant with QB. Problem #1, they have no concept of the accounting function, Problem #2, they don't understand how their entity choice works, Problem #3, they are too thrifty to spend the money to have someone set it up properly in the first place, unfortunately for them, that's when it would cost the least. The least I can offer you is don't try to co-mingle your personal data with your corporate data, you can already see that it produces weird results. | |
Lostintranslation (talk|edits) said: | 25 May 2008 |
| I apologize that I posted this same discussion in a different forum. I am not sure the significance but I am new here.
When money is tight it is difficult to pay out hundreds of dollars for certain services (much like our customers probably feel at times and as do most people in this world) but I DO understand the need to do so in the end. I am just skeptical about paying another accountant and ending up in the same position. I realize now that just because someone refers you somewhere doesn't always mean that they come highly recommended. I will do my homework next time. As I mentioned in the other forum, this is our second year in business and our first year in business was not very lucrative as expected and this past winter was harsh. We are now in a better position to pay for professional help at this point so I realize I need to make that our next priority. This responsibility kind of fell into my lap and so I feel like I am on a crash course trying to grasp it all on my own. Obviously being new to it all, I must sound completely ignorant but I am simply looking for direction and a better understanding of what I am doing before I get in over my head. I know ultimately it just boils down to finding an accountant that will work with us better and educating myself further. Thank you all. | |
Actionbsns (talk|edits) said: | 25 May 2008 |
| You know Lost, it's not generally an accountant's area of expertise to be a teacher. If so, they would be in a classroom. Someone else on the tax forum suggested taking classes. Check out your local junior college or adult education classes, they are usually cost effective. You need to have some concept of the accounting function as well as the software. Knowlege of one won't give you knowlege of the other. I often set up a client's data file, but what they do with it in the end is up to them. And teaching them how to use it comes at a price. | |
