Devoted to WAHMs -Work at Home Moms

These is the second in a series on Business Basics. The first post in the series can be found here.

What method of accounting do you use for your work-at-home business?

If you've just started out, then odds are that you use a single-entry bookkeeping. A single-entry accounting system is pretty much the way that most people their checkbooks - they make an entry when cash comes in or goes out, and that's it. One entry per transaction - that's single-entry bookkeeping.

This is what most of us are familiar with, so this is how many of us start.

What is Double-Entry Accounting

However, as a business owner, you should consider using double-entry accounting. According to wikipedia , double-entry accounting is when:

"each transaction is recorded in at least two accounts. Each transaction results in at least one account being debited and at least one account being credited, with the total debits of the transaction equal to the total credits."

Double-entry accounting has some distinct advantages:

• It is a method that is univerally accepted in business. If you are audited (or need to enage the services of an accounting professional) then this is the method that they will expect to see.
  
  
• It is more accurate.
  
  
• It makes it easier to produce financial statements (which you will need if your business ever takes on investors).

We're starting a series here at Work From Home Momma on Business Basics. Several times a week we will focus on providing an overview of some business basics for the self-employed and small business owner.

I was inspired to start this series because I know that a lot of us who work at home started our business based on a particular skill. Often that skill is not what would traditionally be considered a business skillset.

You can help with this series by suggesting additional topics that you would like to see covered.

Just leave a comment or send me an e-mail.

Also, feel free to comment on your own experience with any of the topics.

To start the series I'm going to talk about a few basic areas of accounting

What Is Accounting?

Wikipedia defines modern accounting as:

"the process of identifying, measuring and communicating economic information so a user of the information may make informed economic judgments and decisions based on it."

1. Stuff around the house getting done without me asking or anybody complaining.
   
   
2. A "grownup" conversation with my darling husband with no interruptions from the kids asking for us to take them somewhere or for money.
   
   
3. The chance to spend some of my hard-earned money on something that I want.
   
   
4. A day with no responsibilities.

In terms of gifts that can be bought, I love books. I'd like a new digital camera. It would be great to see my office furniture upgraded. Of course, there's always chocolate. (I love chocolate!)

What other gifts does the blogosphere suggest for Mother's Day:

On Friday, May 2nd, Myanmar (a small country bordered on the right by Thailand) was struck by colossal winds and waves. Thousands of homes were destroyed. Thousands of lives were lost.

The destruction was the work of Cyclone Nargis, the most devastating storm to strike the tiny country in years.

Even now, the nations are rushing to help the tiny country. (You can read more about the relief effort in this article at CNN.com.)

I can't even imagine what it would be like to be caught up in a disaster of this magnitude. Where do you start to repair such devastation?

As individuals and as small business owners, there is no need to set idly by. We can step up to help. Here are just a few organizations with more information (from CNN.Com):

This is my May goal-setting post.

I didn't manage to a goal-setting post in April at all. My last goal was posted in March and it had to do with be careful about the comments I made in e-mails and on blogs.

I thought that I did a pretty good job of being careful with my comments and e-mails in March and April.

(If you haven't been following this series, each month I've been posting a challenge and then reporting on my success in meeting that challenge. The whole series was inspired by this post over at Work It Mom!

May is a stressful month for me for a number of reasons. I'm starting the month sick. The kids will be getting out of school. Relatives are coming to visit.