{"id":668,"date":"2020-09-03T12:00:44","date_gmt":"2020-09-03T12:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prettybooks.com\/magazine\/?p=668"},"modified":"2020-09-16T23:48:42","modified_gmt":"2020-09-16T23:48:42","slug":"bookkeeping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prettybooks.com\/magazine\/2020\/09\/03\/bookkeeping\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s Bookkeeping Day- A Day In The Life of an Accountant"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today is Bookkeeping Day. The means the accountants are recording massive amounts of transactions from various bank accounts and credit cards for their clients. Accountants are assigning each transaction to a different category (such as equipment purchasing, payroll, office expenses, taxes, etc.) to record where money comes from and where it\u2019s going. Using a combination of tools, importing, and manual inputting lets them map the movement of money within a business so business owners can make informed decisions for their future.<\/strong><\/p>\n

7:00 AM:<\/strong> Wake up excited because bookkeeping days are pretty easy. There is a little bit of a challenge, but it’s not deep or analytical. It\u2019s like a 100 piece puzzle. It\u2019s not too hard, but its not a kid\u2019s puzzle, either.<\/p>\n

9:00 AM:<\/strong> Arrive at the office and grab a coffee.<\/p>\n

9:15 AM:<\/strong> Check my emails for anything pressing. Forward a few things, read a newsletter. Nothing interesting.<\/p>\n

9:30 AM<\/strong>: Pull up my first client\u2019s bank feed and vendor list on one monitor and Quickbooks on the other. I always start with the easiest bookkeeping clients as a warm up. I\u2019ve been doing my first couple of clients\u2019 bookkeeping for months. I already created rules in Quickbooks to automatically categorize certain reoccurring transactions to the right place. The rest of the transactions are coded based on common sense and knowledge I\u2019ve gathered from the previous several months of doing their bookkeeping.<\/p>\n

10:00 AM:<\/strong> Crack my knuckles, feeling satisfied already. The first couple are less like a puzzle and more like those games for babies where you match a shaped block to its corresponding hole and push it through to the middle. Next client, please.<\/p>\n

10:31 AM:<\/strong> Match the star-shaped client to the star shaped hole and push it on through.<\/p>\n

11:03 AM:<\/strong> Square-shaped client slides into the square hole.<\/p>\n

11:35 AM:<\/strong> The circle glides through the circular hole.<\/p>\n

12:06 PM:<\/strong> Finally time for a harder puzzle, my favorite! My next client is new to us. They switched from another accountant and their Quickbooks already has three pages of rules set up to code transactions. Since every accountant has a different approach to rules, I usually have to change quite a few existing rules to make sense with the way I take care of accounting. I wonder how many of these rules I\u2019ll have to change.<\/p>\n

12:06:34 PM:<\/strong> The client\u2019s first rule has to do with where to send the 401K transaction. It should be categorized to the 401K account on the balance sheet. The client\u2019s last accountant coded it to payroll. Let\u2019s delete this rule and create a new rule that categorizes it to the right place.<\/p>\n

12:06:53 PM:<\/strong> Let\u2019s see what the next rule looks like. My guess is that I\u2019ll have to recategorize this one, too. It codes the purchase of a $2,000 laptop to the same category as monthly subscriptions. Delete and recategorize.<\/p>\n

12:07:17 PM:<\/strong> Third rule and counting. I have a feeling that I\u2019ll have to delete this one and recategorize it as well. Yep. It\u2019s like they\u2019re coding a square block to a circular hole. It just will not fit.<\/p>\n

12:09 PM:<\/strong> Get bored of the guessing game and delete the remaining rules. It\u2019s better to start with a clean slate.<\/p>\n

12:10 PM:<\/strong> Starts coding transactions based on common sense. Is it payroll? Code it to payroll. Is it technology? Code it to technology. Pretty easy stuff. Create rules as I go. Rent? That will be the same every month until they move. Create a rule to code it to the right category.<\/p>\n

12:20 PM:<\/strong> What\u2019s this? A vendor I don\u2019t recognize on the bank feed. I look through the vendor list, but can\u2019t find a match. Maybe Google knows\u2026 Nope. Maybe Google would help if I type in \u201cbank feed+vendor name+Quickbooks?\u201d<\/p>\n

12:21 PM:<\/strong> Find a list of common misspellings on Quickbooks. Yep, this one is on there. It\u2019s a 401K company that is apparently always<\/em> misspelled. I go through the vendor center to doublecheck, and sure enough, the client made a payment to them on the same date and for the same amount that is on the bank feed. Problem solved. Another piece is added to the puzzle.<\/p>\n

12:30 PM:<\/strong> Start on the next client without really hitting any issues. A few common sense transactions here, a little vendor list searching there. Keep going with the next client, then the next, then the next.<\/p>\n

2:10 PM:<\/strong> Wait, a check? Who pays with a check anymore? Let\u2019s see\u2026 the check is from someone named Vera. Who are you, Vera, and why did you pay us? I look at the transaction on the bank feed for some more information but find nothing. There\u2019s no \u201cVera\u201d in our vendor feed. Who are you, Vera? I sit for a few seconds and try to remember if our client mentioned a Vera, then realize I have no idea. I code the transaction to \u201cuncategorized.\u201d At the end of the month I\u2019ll send the \u201cuncategorized\u201d list to the client so they can tell me what each transaction was for. Vera\u2019s check joins a list of Target trips and other transactions waiting to be coded.<\/p>\n

2:25 PM:<\/strong> Start on another client, and another client after that. Solved some puzzles here and there; they don\u2019t have many uncategorized transactions.<\/p>\n

3:15 PM:<\/strong> Wow, this company buys a lot of office supplies. Code to operating costs.<\/p>\n

3:45 PM:<\/strong> Oh, Quickbooks. Dear, sweet, Quickbooks. Why is it that whenever my client pays for a Google Ad you code it to software as a subscription? No matter what rule I set, you just can\u2019t differentiate between SAAS and Google ads. Code this ad transaction to the correct place. Delete rule. Think about another way to write the rule next time.<\/p>\n

4:30 PM:<\/strong> Finished the last client\u2019s bookkeeping! What a fun day. I solved some small problems, got to play detective and search the internet for answers, and finished the puzzle. I complete some last-minute tasks.<\/p>\n

5:30 PM:<\/strong> Head home feeling accomplished. I finished the puzzle completely (except for the puzzle pieces that the client will help me with at the end of the month). It\u2019s sunny out, and I have no follow up questions or concerns. Bookkeeping days are the best.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today is Bookkeeping Day. These are the days accountants record massive amounts of transactions from various bank accounts and credit cards for their clients to map the movement of money within a business. Accountants define every transaction based on what it was for into a variety of categories to show where money came from and where it is going. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":653,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[31],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nIt's Bookkeeping Day- A Day In The Life of an Accountant - Pretty Books Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Today is Bookkeeping Day. These are the days accountants record massive amounts of transactions from various bank accounts and credit cards for their clients to map the movement of money within a business. 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