Monday, May 24, 2010

Is Accounting and Bookkeeping process same?

Business, typically formed to earn profit: which has become the determinant for the growth of business. So apart from the core competence, the business should also focus on its financial structure for further growth and development. Monitoring the financial department, is a huge challenge and a very responsible task which needs additional care. Here comes into the picture, the two important terms: Accounting and Bookkeeping.

What both actually is and How it differs???

Recording the day-to-day financial activities of business, carried out by bookkeepers is what called as bookkeeping. This recorded financial information is again processed by accountant and produced generally in financial form statement to users such as shareholders and managers is what the process called as accounting.

When looking deeply into both the terms, Accounting and Bookkeeping it can be explained as:

Accounting:
Accounting is a process of recording business transactions systematically.It includes additional reports and further financial analysis of the transactions. Accounting involves four steps:

1. Recording the transactions (obtained through bookkeeping) in the proper ledger accounts.
2. Categorizing the transactions into meaningful and orderly manners.
3. Summarizing all the data collected.
4. Analyzing and Extracting these financial data in the form of various financial statements and records for users such as shareholders and managers and for the future use.

Bookkeeping:

As said earlier, Bookkeeping is the traditional process of recording day-to-day business transactions. Bookkeeping does not require any analysis it is just a mechanical process of recording. In olden days, the transactions were recorded and kept in books and thus they named as Bookkeeping. Nowadays there are many Bookkeeping Soft-wares like Numia which simplifies the task of the bookkeepers.

There are two types of Bookkeeping, Single Entry Bookkeeping and Double Entry Bookkeeping. In Single entry bookkeeping, each transaction is carried to either the debit column or the credit column. It uses only income and expense accounts. Whereas, Double entry bookkeeping records each transaction twice using credits and debits.This is done in the way that the two entries can be checked.



Now it is clear that Bookkeeping is just a part of accounting and both are not same. This is how the two important financial term differ.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Online Accounting Service For FREE

Accounting is part and parcel of mankind. Managing our daily accounts it self is the toughest part of any individual. Therefore managing accounts needed to be concentrated by any individual.

When it comes to small business accounts, it is in the hands of accountant and owner to carefully assess and handle the day to day business activities. A strong accounts management can enhance any business to flourish well.

I have started a small business with zero accounting knowledge. Therefore, I focused on using accounting tools or softwares. I searched for accounting softwares or tools in the internet, which can help me in managing my business accounts easily. I came across many accounting software’s with varied features. My preference was for online accounting and bookkeeping software and that time I came to know about numia.

I found many more accounting software and after a careful comparative analysis among those online accounting software for my small business, I chose numia.biz.

I used numia for 6 to 7 months simply, and now enjoying the various feature in this software.

  • It is of no cost and I’m using it freely. Even registration is free.
  • I require only an internet connection to access my account as it is not downloadable software. Thus enabling me to be in touch with my business accounts anywhere and anytime.
  • Accounting is highly reliable and help is available at the very page of the work area. A noteworthy is the support of video tutorials. This helped me not to switch to other sites for reference. "A great support for non-accounting people".
  • Data transfer is highly secured.
  • I happened to realize the service uptime. Its nearly 100% which means that I need not to wait for managing my accounts, even under server maintenance or for any other delay factors.
  • Easy bank account management too.
  • It has a very important feature of demo service which can help to know whether it fits to the need.
  • Access of chart of accounts and the freedom of addition, edition, deletion for managing my business.
  • This can help all the levels of accounting i.e. beginner, intermediate and expert.

I started using Numia just to use its demo feature, but now it is helping me in every step of my business, thus providing a strong financial support for my business.