Happy Accountant: Accounting Blog & Online Accountant

*If you ever wondered if what you get out of business blogging, have a look at Michelle Golden’s post on some of the benefits that she’s gained from her  Golden Practices blog. In the two years I’ve been blogging, I’ve shaken hands with, and looked directly into the eyes of, dozens of bloggers whom I follow [read more]

*To use the purchase ledger spreadsheet is easy.  Just record all purchase invoices, receipts and other payments on the spreadsheet.  Allow one row per invoice/receipt. Enter the total amounts in columns D/E/F (allowing for the VAT split if VAT registered) and then allocate the relevent amounts in the appropriate analysis columns (column I to N [read more]

*To finish off this simple spreadsheet, it might be helpful to make it look slightly more presentable.Select Row 1 (by clicking on the 1) and then bring up the Format Cells dialog box (either by Menu|Format, keyboard shortcut or right mouse button menu) and then you can make the text bold (Font tab), colour in [read more]

*To format the numbers (in columns D,E,F,H onwards) so that they all have 2 decimal places, select these columns (by clicking at the top (where the column letter is) and then chosing Format|Cells and then (on the number tab) click number and make sure that there is a 2 in decimal places. I also check [read more]

*First begin by heading up the columns, in cell A1: date supplier ref/invoice number net amount (if registered for VAT, if not registered for VAT, then head this column “gross amount”) VAT (omit this if not registered for VAT) date paid check zero stationery (analysis column) postage (analysis column) telephone (analysis column) electricity (analysis column) [read more]

*I don’t normally have a lot of time to surf the net between work and family committments, but I have noticed Daily Dose of Excel, who have been kind enough to include the Happy Accountant in their extensive blogroll. The Daily Dose has been running since the start of 2004 and has lots of great tips [read more]

*Most businesses keep a small amount of petty cash to buy odd small items, such as stamps and so on and to receive the occasional small receipt such as reimbursement for a private phone call or photocopying.  This is called the cash float or petty cash account. Normally, there are more payments than receipts and [read more]