Hi,
I have downloaded the basic Microsoft Accounting Express. It's the freeby "taster" to the full program - but probably has all the functionality for my (my friend's) small business needs. I can see and understand the flows to create quotes, invoices and receive payments. I can also see the cash sales and bank reconciliation - which will probably cater for the business needs.
The problem I have is a lack of any bookkeeping knowledge. Microsoft Accounting offers/requires you to fill in what I believe are called nominal codes. Now, I have learned that these codes help one categorise expenses in a hierarchical manner - but I don't know even the basics about P&L or any such bookkeeping concepts. I'm thinking that I could put in codes just to make the software work and force a quote through to payment and not understand the implications of this in accounting terms. Our aim is to configure the software in the simplest way. We want to work out which invoices haven't been paid, what our cash flow will look like in the next month, the usual small business accounting needs really. I think I need the world's most basic accounting / bookkeeping book that makes no reference to any particular software but will guide me on which values to put in these fields when required by the software. Any suggestions on a good starting point for this knowledge? The documentation available with the software doesn't go into this at all - which I don't have a problem with as the software can't make assumptions on what are appropriate values for your data.
I'm asking the question here because I'm assuming there will be some small business people participating in this group who can understand where I am coming from - rather than an "accountancy" or "bookkeeping" group that will make assumptions about my knowledge or give me too detailed info for my needs.
Thanks for any (useful) suggestions,
Clive