Susan Harkins
ssharkins at gmail.com
Fri Oct 5 08:46:30 CDT 2007
I use Access to track as well. I have a report that I work from for scheduling. In Excel I use a nifty expression that tracks my accounts receivable by the month -- I have to generate a specific amount of work each month to make ends meet and that helps me keep up with that. Excel keeps up with payments and estimated taxes. Susan H. > John, > > <<Would anyone care to comment on what you use to know your financial > position.>> > > I take a pretty simplistic approach to my books. My AR is setup in > Access, which gives me an aging. I really don't look at it too much as I > bill bi-monthly and my terms are net 15. If I don't see a check, work > stops > until I get one (actually, I've never had to resort to that yet). Part of > the idea behind that is if there is a problem, it surfaces real quick. It > also keeps up a nice cash flow. > > As far as AP, I have so few bills really that it's just simpler to do > them > by hand. For payroll I have a single spreadsheet to calculate the FICA > and > record Federal and State taxes owed. Since I deposit monthly for both > it's > easy to keep on top of those. I also use Access for tracking my expense > reports, which I typically don't bother with till year end. > > At the end of the year, I do an income/expense statement just by looking > at my billings and then running through the check book and cc statements > to > pickup expenses. I also come up with some balance sheet totals, and then > send it to the accountant. He takes care of the corporate tax filings. > Actually, he's been after me for years to get it all computerized with > something, but client work always comes first, so it's something that I > just > never seem to get around to. > > Only other thing I need to keep track of is Sales Taxes, but I try to > avoid selling any hardware or software directly anymore. What I do is > make > recommendations, scope out sources, and then turn it over to the client to > order it directly. I do pay some use taxes on stuff I buy over the > Internet, like my MSDN Universal subscription, which I keep track of on a > spreadsheet and remit quarterly. > > Jim. > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com > [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of jwcolby > Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2007 10:51 PM > To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' > Subject: [AccessD] Budget spreadsheet - was RE: consulting fees > > I have developed a really cool and useful spreadsheet to allow me to track > my actual expenses, income, taxes etc. It has so far been a work in > progress, leaving last month's sheet locked and copying it to a new sheet > for this month, then to new sheets for "out into the future". It allows > me > to input my actual billing (from the previous month) or projected billing > which will be the "income". > > I have columns for Expense name, Expense amount, "will pay this someday", > paid but not cleared and cleared checkboxes (actually little Xs). > > Putting an x in those columns copies the expense amount over to a "paid > but > not cleared" and "Paid and cleared" column. The Expense Amount, Billed > Not > Paid and Billed and Paid columns get summed at the bottom. Thus these > three > columns show what my expenses are, what expenses have been paid but the > money has not been deducted from my account, and bills paid and deducted > from my account. > > I use internet banking and can see my bills clear and my account balance > at > any given instant in time which I copy into the spreadsheet as I update > the > Xs that mark bills paid not cleared and paid and cleared. > > Off to the right side I have a pair of columns to track the bank account, > Billing not received, Paid not Cleared etc. > > Also in the same column I have a small section for tax deductible items - > medical insurance, mortgage interest, SEP IRA, FICA (self insurance > actually) etc. > > Way off out of sight I have a section to compute the FICA using the rules > for Sole Proprietor. Another area calculates the Progressive tax on the > actual (annualized) taxable amount. > > And finally a section that computes my taxes (roughly) and feeds it back > in > to the expense column. > > Doing all of this allows all of my totals to change as I enter any bill > over > in the left hand "expense amount" column. Also as I change my billing it > updates my taxes owed and subtracts all expenses (taxes are fed into the > expense column) to give me a "net after expenses" (truly sad). > > But... The good news is that for the first time EVER I know my financial > state given my bills and a billing amount. And it WORKS! I can see what > my > FICA is so I can save that in a tax account, and what my state and federal > taxes will be after legitimate deductions so I can save that in a tax > account. In future months I can play with how much I pay to credit cards > (I'm paying them off), how much I pay into my various tax deductions such > as > medical and SEP Ira and have that instantly feed back to tell me how much > has to go into the tax account (again, roughly) as my deductions change. > Or > how much I have to work (bill) to pay all the bills and have X dollars > left > over. It can be depressing but at least I know where I stand or where I > could stand if I worked 20 hours every day. > > Would anyone care to comment on what you use to know your financial > position. > > John W. Colby > Colby Consulting > www.ColbyConsulting.com > -----Original Message----- > From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com > [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Jim Dettman > Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2007 11:43 AM > To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' > Subject: Re: [AccessD] consulting fees > > John, > > You make an excellent point. There are some other things that do go up > as > a result as well, like workmen's comp and disability insurance, but those > are minor when compared to the government's take<g>. > > Jim. > > -- > AccessD mailing list > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > > -- > AccessD mailing list > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com