I am a sole trader and am trying to use Manager for bookkeeping. I think my financial administration is very simple:
I have…
the free stand-alone version of Manager, locally installed.
three price ranges for my projects (three Non-inventory Items).
my monthly costs like internet/insurance/hosting etc.
costs per project like hotel/food/rental car etc.
The monthly costs are paid by direct debit from my business account. Most of the costs per project are paid for with my personal Credit Card (for frequent flyer miles).
My questions:
How do I process the monthly costs (invoices) and costs per project (mostly simple check register receipts) without creating purchase orders, suppliers or expense claims etc? It seems a bit overkill for what I need.
If it is better to use expense claims for the costs I make per project how do I process them correctly?
I’ve tried using an expense claim. But I am not sure how process the payment/transfer to my personal account of the expense claim. If there is an incoming payment for an invoice I’ve created, you can select the invoice the payment was for. I tried using “Payments” for the transfer, but I was expecting a similar selection for the expense claim as you have for the invoice. So I was not sure if it was the right way to do it.
I am not familiar with all the terminology, English is not my native language. But I’ll try my best to understand your answers.
As a new forum member and Manager user, please start by reading the previous guides and the new guides as nearly every question is answered in there. Also search the guides before posting new questions.
Thank you for your support. I have read some pages of the old and new guide. I get the gist of it, but if bookkeeping is not your core business the terminology can get quite difficult/abstract even in your own language.
If you can even point me in the right direction when it comes to the terminology for the questions I posted, that would me much appreciated. That way I might be able to find the answers using the guides.
Make your Credit Card as Bank Account, and you dont need Expense Claim to pay your costs.
If you use Expense Claims, you need to create Expense Claim Payers.
Regarding purchase orders and suppliers, you don’t need to create them if you don’t actually need them.
Use Payment to settle your claim. Select your bank/cash from which you will make the payment and choose the Expense Claim Account.
Note: Do not select your Project in the Expense Claim Account line in Payment; it will result in double costs in the Project Tab.
And be sure to add the Project Name to every line of your costs you pay and non-inventory items you sell.
Accounting is an exacting process, even for simple situations. And the terminology is the terminology. If you are not familiar with it, spend some time learning the fundamentals before trying to use a sophisticated tool like Manager. You first need to know what the tool is intended to accomplish. Try accountingcoach.com and Dictionary — AccountingTools.
