New Business

Most operators of a new and growing business have a flair for the environment in which the business operates. They may be a great salesperson, an outstanding mechanic, carpenter, solicitor, or inventor. Unfortunately, most people don’t like to keep the books. As an owner of a business you must remember that your company’s books and financial statements represent a score sheet which tells how you are progressing, as well as an early warning system which lets you know when and why the business may be going amiss. Financial statements and the underlying records will provide the basis for many decisions made by outsiders such as banks, landlords, potential investors,

and trade creditors as well as taxing authorities and other governing bodies. The necessity for good, well-organised financial records cannot be over-emphasised. One of the greatest mistakes made by owners of small businesses is not keeping good financial records and making improper or poor business decisions based on inadequate information.

The basic road map into any accounting system is the chart of accounts. It is this chart that helps establish the information that will be captured by your accounting system, and what information will subsequently be readily retrievable by the system. This tool, like the rest of the accounting systems, needs to be dynamic and should grow as the size and needs of your business changes.

To help establish a good working chart of accounts you need to answer some questions, in conjunction with your accountant, as to how your business will operate and what is important to you. Some of these considerations might be:

  1. Will your business have stock to account for? If so, will it be purchased in finished form or will there be production costs?
  2. Are fixed assets a significant portion of your business?
  3. Will you sell only one product or service or will there be several types of business?
  4. Will you have accounts receivable from customers, which you will have to track?
  5. Are you going to sell in only one location or will you do business in several places?
  6. Are the products you sell subject to value added tax?
  7. Do you need to track costs by department?
  8. What type of government controls or regulatory reporting are you subject to?

Each one of these questions can have several answers and will probably generate more questions. Each answer will have an impact on how the chart of accounts is structured. It may seem that developing a chart of accounts is not particularly high on your list of things to do as you start a new business; the amount of time and money which a well organised accounting system may save you can be significant as the need to generate information for various purposes increases. An example of a basic chart of accounts follows this section.

Cash or Accrual Accounting

One of the decisions to be made as you start a business is whether to keep your records on a cash or accrual basis of accounting. The cash basis of accounting has the advantage of simplicity and almost everyone understands it. Under the cash basis of accounting you record sales when you receive the money and account for expenses when you pay the bills.

Unfortunately, as we all know, the business world is not always so easy. Sales are made to customers and you sometimes must extend credit. Your business will incur liabilities which are due even though you may not have received the invoice or have the cash available to pay them. 14

Most users of financial statements such as bankers and investors are used to accrual-basis statements and expect to see them. Once you become familiar with them, they provide a much better measuring device for your business operations than cash-basis statements.

Whether you use the cash or accrual basis, it is possible to keep books for income tax purposes on a different basis than for financial statements. It may be more advantageous (less tax) for you to do so.