Good day everyone. I’m new to this whole accounting thing so I’ll need lots of help to get up to speed (I’ve seen the extensive guide but I don’t know where to start). I’ll appreciate any links that can help (both to the guide and external) me learn quickly. Ok here goes:
I had a business idea for a company which will start with sales and then upgrade to design and then manufacturing. I’m fortunate enough to have initial financing now. An interest free loan of $2,500 is my capital (to be repaid in 24 monthly installments after 3 years). Seeing as I’m operating in Nigeria and importing items to sell, I’ll be working primarily in two currencies - Nigerian Naira (NGN) and US Dollar (USD). All local sales and expenses will probably be in NGN while purchases of goods will probably be in USD.
So 1st steps: I deposited part of the loan into a bank Domiciliary account (which allows the handling of foreign currency) and changed the rest to local currency to make some payments (business name registration, purchase of a glass showcase, online sales platform fee, personal allowance).
My problem of course is how to enter all this into Manager the proper way. Of course I haven’t gotten any inventory yet so that’s still to come, but I’ve made expenses (as above) and had bank charges which I want to put down. I also have a local currency bank account for the business (though I may open another further down the line to take advantage of other services) in addition to the Domiciliary account. Foreign purchases will be made through a ‘dollar card account’ which is funded exclusively through the Domiciliary Account.
Attached is my effort on paper to track money, I clearly need help
Give me ideas, point me to the right guide pages, anything.
Thanks
make a cash account and Mention your Dollar Card account and Local Currency Account and Cash in Hand Account.
after That when you want to enter your income or expenses Go to Cash Account Select Bank When The Bank is Open Than There Will Be some Button On the top of that page as like receive money, Spend Money and Transfer money.
if you put your expenses than select spend money
choose date when you spend money and fill details
Select Account which you have spend as like bank charges, Wages, etc
after that you can manage your accounts easily.
and that pic which you have share is not readable properly.
I wasn’t sure what to suggest, so I didn’t reply earlier. But if you run into any further issues, please let us know here and we’ll all do our best to help.
So the bank has started taking my money first (I suppose it’s like that). I paid 10,000 for business name registration and 100 for bank charges. I used spend money to record this and set business name registration as legal fees and the bank charge as… Itself? From what I see in summary it seems it’s OK but is this the best way to do this?
I have more upcoming expenses: showcase and online market platform registration (annual fee paid to bank but I don’t think it counts as bank charges?). I think the showcase is a fixed asset from what I’ve gleaned from the guide so I guess I’ll follow that but that fee… how to record? I suppose it’ll be recurring.
Thanks, I’ll check the bank’s portal and see if they offer that functionality.
Given what I’ve seen so far (I’m quite satisfied with the capabilities of Manager, not so much my own ability to use it yet) it seems that it is capable of easily working in two (or more?) currencies, but just to confirm: if I buy an item in USD and sell in NGN, the necessary conversion is done behind the scenes right? Also, is there any way to automatically check/ask for current exchange rates?
*Just occurred to me that this could be in the guide, going to check…
i think you ought to read up more about accounting before jumping onto bookkeeping.
else you could also employ someone.
any software is a tool to make things easier, not do them automatically.
to answer your question, a marketplace payment should be an Expense, according to my knowledge and understanding.
I know right? I’m currently trying to pick up the basics from accountingcoach.com. I can’t afford to hire someone yet though. The guide mentioned that non-inventory items can be used for quite a few things, that’s why I was considering it.
Since you said the marketplace payment is an one off annual payment, i dont see the need to create a non inventory item for it.
if it was paid monthly, you might consider it.
OK, so I’ve been waiting for some things to arrive. In the meantime, I’ve been able to use the purchase invoice feature very well to record purchases, particularly useful since there’s a significant time lapse between making the order (and payment) and the arrival of the items. I guess I’ll be one of the people for whom goods receipt was designed.
So today’s question is: I want to use one of my inventory items as a demonstration in-shop. How do I record this?
I doubt that was the correct approach. Depending on your jurisdiction, fixed assets usually must have a life longer than a defined period, say 1 year, and cost more than some threshold amount. Then, they are depreciated over time to recover the expense. See https://www.manager.io/guides/9106 and https://www.manager.io/guides/9119.
If the item was something that originally belonged in inventory you have several choices:
Create an inventory item defining it as used and transfer it back into inventory with a journal entry.
Transfer it back into inventory as the original item, but at a reduced cost. Keep track of it, physically, and when sold, give the buyer a discount from normal price.
Just sell it and record the proceeds in some income account.
From what I see in summary it seems it’s OK but is this the best way to do this?