Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Learn accounting for free

accountingcoach.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 121 posts

Re: Learn accounting for free

#101

Post by PopAlongKid »

mindslight wrote: post #86
PopAlongKid wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

re: Quickbooks. It has now basically bifurcated into an online version and a desktop version, with somewhat different features. QB will in fact walk you through an optional setup interview to ask about what your general type of business is (service, retail, etc) and will create a default chart of accounts, which takes care of part of your need (how to categorize expenses). It becomes more complicated when the whole o…

I was using the offline version obviously, in a VM with no network access. I do recall some wizards for setting up accounts, but they weren't applicable to my business. It also didn't feel like such wizards would have changed the UI into operating at a higher level.

It may not be useful to you, but I will add that Quickbooks desktop has a "Home" window that includes a fairly detailed flow chart of most small business processes (e.g. send an invoice, pay a bill, make a deposit, run payroll, make a refund, and so on and so on), and the nodes of the flow chart are interactive links to various input and reporting windows in the program.

Re: Learn accounting for free

#102

Post by wutangson1 »

haberman wrote: post #70
rahimnathwani wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're a mathy person, you might find this brief explanation is enough to get going. Where I say 'you', I mean 'your company', not you personally. * Assets: things you own (e.g. tractor, money in bank, money owed by customers) * Liabilities: things you owe (e.g. unpaid supplier bills, loan owed to bank) * Assets and liabilities are both measured in a single currency (e.g. $). * Equity (aka 'book value'): A measure…

This blog entry taught me a mathy way of understanding double-entry accounting: https://martin.kleppmann.com/2011/03/07/accounting-for-compu... Summarized: a ledger is a directed graph of accounts, where edges are transactions, and each transaction is recorded twice: in the "from" node and the "to" node.

But “a ledger” is not a directed graph of accounts, is it? There is no ‘from - to’ in a ledger. A ledger simply reorganizes the transactions from chronological order (aka journal entries) into subject/account headings. Not the same, but similar to clicking ‘subject’ column tab on your email client to reorganize your emails from descending date to subject attribute.

Re: Learn accounting for free

#103

Post by JoiDegn »

mindslight wrote: post #71

I've never gotten the reconciliation of many of these "learn accounting" guides with what it takes to do actual accounting. They seem to make a big deal of covering very basic concepts that I would expect anybody with a programming background to pick up in under 10 minutes. The topics covered by these guides are less complex than most APIs. But when it comes time to do actual accounting, there is a whole host of much…

I am working on a product led alternative to Quickbooks which does the split between being more user-friendly (i.e. less confusing reconciliation, faster interface, easier to navigate, fewer options, fewer ways to shoot yourself in the foot) but also geared towards power users (keyboard shortcuts, automations, integrations with productivity tools).

It's fascination that Quickbooks is the go-to tool for almost everyone doing small business accounting when their product is mediocre in so many ways.

Re: Learn accounting for free

#104

Post by newusertoday »

cheradenine_uk wrote: post #25
marton_s wrote: post #3

I'm a software engineer who moved into freelance consulting a few years ago (I do back-ends and front-ends for mobile and web, nothing finance specific other than occasional credit card payment integrations). It's been a roller-coaster in many regards and one of the highlights is having learned a lot about bookkeeping, taxes, financial planning and everything that comes with running a small business in general. (Aspe…

UK based, so YMMV. Moved from self-employed for the odd side gig, to UK LTD co, to VAT registered UK LTD co. The "business services mafia" will like to frighten you into believing you have to drop hundreds of £ on their services - plus £120/yr for an accounts package, more for payroll, business banking, etc. Because your mind is too tiny to comprehend the ways of the priests. e.g: Don't ever ask a question in a busin…

Thanks for this, i was about to decide on xero but after seeing this comment i will give quickfile/shapepayroll a try. I am under 85000 so don't need to register for vat yet. This would be my first year of filing so any other tips are also welcome :-)

Re: Learn accounting for free

#105

Post by lazyasciiart »

haberman wrote: post #70
rahimnathwani wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're a mathy person, you might find this brief explanation is enough to get going. Where I say 'you', I mean 'your company', not you personally. * Assets: things you own (e.g. tractor, money in bank, money owed by customers) * Liabilities: things you owe (e.g. unpaid supplier bills, loan owed to bank) * Assets and liabilities are both measured in a single currency (e.g. $). * Equity (aka 'book value'): A measure…

This blog entry taught me a mathy way of understanding double-entry accounting: https://martin.kleppmann.com/2011/03/07/accounting-for-compu... Summarized: a ledger is a directed graph of accounts, where edges are transactions, and each transaction is recorded twice: in the "from" node and the "to" node.

I found it an interesting and useful explanation, but the bit in the middle where he just says "now categorize each node, I colored them in!" is the bit I always had more trouble with, so I was disappointed to see basically the same explanation as I've heard before.

Re: Learn accounting for free

#106

Post by wutangson1 »

rahimnathwani wrote: post #9

Background: I'm a qualified accountant, and have taught courses on accounting and finance. My thoughts on OP: I read through the first two parts of the first course on this site: - Part 1 Introduction to Accounting Basics, A Story for Relating to Accounting Basics - Part 2 Income Statement Based on what I read, I could not recommend this. You could get to the end of the 'income statement' part, without encountering a…

Your comments throughout the thread are insightful & actionable. Yet, I will say that accountingcoach.com is the online resource that provides reliable and clear definitions & explanations for accounting terms. At least in the US when trying to figure out what is required of US GAAP, for example, accountingcoach.com provides clear definitions to differentiate between direct costs, manufacturing overhead, operating expenses, and inventoriable costs in general. This is in contrast to a lot of other online sources- including articles written by CPAs or accountancy websites!- where the writing is either too tortured to learn from or outright wrong!

Re: Learn accounting for free

#107

Post by rahimnathwani »

wutangson1 wrote: post #106
rahimnathwani wrote: post #9

Background: I'm a qualified accountant, and have taught courses on accounting and finance. My thoughts on OP: I read through the first two parts of the first course on this site: - Part 1 Introduction to Accounting Basics, A Story for Relating to Accounting Basics - Part 2 Income Statement Based on what I read, I could not recommend this. You could get to the end of the 'income statement' part, without encountering a…

Your comments throughout the thread are insightful & actionable. Yet, I will say that accountingcoach.com is the online resource that provides reliable and clear definitions & explanations for accounting terms. At least in the US when trying to figure out what is required of US GAAP, for example, accountingcoach.com provides clear definitions to differentiate between direct costs, manufacturing overhead, operating ex…

Thanks for this perspective. It's helpful to hear from someone who has used the site for more than 5 mins :)

From what you've written, it sounds like a good/great reference resource for specific topics, once you already know the basics/fundamentals.

But, based on a 5 min look at the first two pieces of content in the 'accounting basics' section, I didn't think it would be good for someone who wants to learn accounting from zero.

Of course, I may be wrong, as I sampled less than 1% of the content.

Re: Learn accounting for free

#108

Post by rahimnathwani »

wutangson1 wrote: post #102
haberman wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This blog entry taught me a mathy way of understanding double-entry accounting: https://martin.kleppmann.com/2011/03/07/accounting-for-compu... Summarized: a ledger is a directed graph of accounts, where edges are transactions, and each transaction is recorded twice: in the "from" node and the "to" node.

But “a ledger” is not a directed graph of accounts, is it? There is no ‘from - to’ in a ledger. A ledger simply reorganizes the transactions from chronological order (aka journal entries) into subject/account headings. Not the same, but similar to clicking ‘subject’ column tab on your email client to reorganize your emails from descending date to subject attribute.

That explanation didn't click with me, either.

But I guess you could model each transaction as an edge, with the direction specifying which account is debited and which credited, and the weight determining the amount.

I don't find that particularly helpful myself, but I put that down to my unfamiliarity with graph data structures and the associated algorithms. Maybe there's something you can do more easily with a graph database, than you can if you have the same info in a table?

Re: Learn accounting for free

#109

Post by rahimnathwani »

lazyasciiart wrote: post #105
haberman wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This blog entry taught me a mathy way of understanding double-entry accounting: https://martin.kleppmann.com/2011/03/07/accounting-for-compu... Summarized: a ledger is a directed graph of accounts, where edges are transactions, and each transaction is recorded twice: in the "from" node and the "to" node.

I found it an interesting and useful explanation, but the bit in the middle where he just says "now categorize each node, I colored them in!" is the bit I always had more trouble with, so I was disappointed to see basically the same explanation as I've heard before.

Perhaps my explanation will help?

In your chart of accounts, each account corresponds to exactly one of these:

- Asset

- Liability

- Equity (changes in this affect the income statement)

Whenever a transaction takes place, the debits and credits must sum up. For example, when you take a bank loan, your assets increase (debit) but your liabilities also increase (credit) by the same amount.

Sometimes something touches more than two accounts. For example, if you sell a cup of coffee for $2, using up $0.50 worth of beans:

CR Revenue $2 DR COGS $0.50 DR Cash $2 CR Materials $0.50

The first two lines increase the book value of the business by $1.50.

The last two lines increase the assets of the business by $1.50 (cash up by $2, bean inventory down by $0.50).

It's easy to get confused about debits and credits. I attempted to create a memorable explanation here: https://www.encona.com/posts/debits-and-credits

Re: Learn accounting for free

#110

Post by wutangson1 »

rahimnathwani wrote: post #108
wutangson1 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But “a ledger” is not a directed graph of accounts, is it? There is no ‘from - to’ in a ledger. A ledger simply reorganizes the transactions from chronological order (aka journal entries) into subject/account headings. Not the same, but similar to clicking ‘subject’ column tab on your email client to reorganize your emails from descending date to subject attribute.

That explanation didn't click with me, either. But I guess you could model each transaction as an edge, with the direction specifying which account is debited and which credited, and the weight determining the amount. I don't find that particularly helpful myself, but I put that down to my unfamiliarity with graph data structures and the associated algorithms. Maybe there's something you can do more easily with a gra…

Sure. Just like blockchain- or any other decentralized ledger- may be a tremendously disruptive technology for property recording, sale/transfer, and financing in the future (compared to the current archaic system of deeds/titles for real property or UCC financing recording for secured transactions); so to, a graph database may clearly illustrate the point of bookkeeping along with the share of assets creditors and investors are entitled to realtime.
Post reply on HN