1.    🥷🥊Bookkeeper Vs. Accountant🥊🥷

2.   💡😺Why is Knowing Accounting Foundations, as a bookkeeper, so Important?😺💡

3.   🤑🦉What is a Bookkeeper & What Can They Do for Your Small Business?🦉🤑

4.   🧾💻Whatis Accounting Software, what can it Do and Which One Should You Choose?💻🧾

5.   🕷️👻Don’t Let Your Chart of Accounts Scare You!👻🕷️

6.   🌀🧾The Accounting Cycle🧾🌀

7.    🤔🤷🏼‍♀️What is a Journal Entry?🤷🏼‍♀️🤔

8.   🍄🐸Leap into Debits & Credits🐸🍄

9.   🤸🏼‍♀️⚖️Creating and Troubleshooting a Trial Balance⚖️🤸🏼‍♀️

10.  🤷🏼‍♀️🤔What is an Adjusting Entry?🤔🤷🏼‍♀️

11.   Creating an Unadjusted Trial Balance - Coming Soon

12.  💡🤓Understanding The Income Statement🤓💡

13.  🫰📈How to Read The Statement of Changes in Equity📈🫰

14.  📖⚖️How to Read a Balance Sheet ⚖️📖

15.  🤓💸How to Read a Cash Flow Statement💸🤓

16.  🔗🫣How the Four Major Financial Statements are Connected🫣🔗

17.  What is a Closing Entry? - Coming Soon

18.  🤗🐭Why Smaller is Better for Smaller🐭🤗

19.  🥰🫶What can Bolen's Bookkeeping do for Your Small Business?🫶🥰

20. 💌🔍Why Bookkeeping is Important for Audits/Taxes🔍💌

21.  📚🤔Are You Prepared to Handle Your Own Books?🤔📚

22. 🙆🏼‍♀️💰What Can a Bookkeeper Tell You About Your Business?💰🙆🏼‍♀️

23. 🧐🤓Under-Glorified Accounting Websites🤓🧐

24.🪙🐷10 Budgeting Tips 🐷🪙

25. 🥷🧑‍💻Keep Your Business and Your Books Safe!🧑‍💻🥷

26. 😖🤦🏼‍♀️Top 6 Most Common Bookkeeping Mistakes 🤦🏼‍♀️😖

27. ⚖️👀What “Balancing the Books” Actually Means👀⚖️

28. 🤖10 Tips for Letting AI Manage Your Inventory🤖 

29. 🦖💻5 Signs it’s Time to Update Your Accounting Software 💻🦖

30. 🤠🐄Cash Vs. Accrual Accounting for Canadian Farmers🐄🤠

31. 🐑🖊️What Happens When You Sign Up to Bolen’s Bookkeeping? 🖊️🐑

32. 👷🏗️Bookkeeping Tips for Construction & Trades🏗️👷

33. 🍁🤗Canadian GAAP🤗🍁

34. 🧑‍⚖️💃Chart of Accounts Differences for Canadian Business Types💃🧑‍⚖️

Do I need a bookkeeper or an accountant? Both or neither?

If you are a new business, just starting out, these might be some questions you have been asking yourself. 

Here are some things to know before making your decision:

• All accountants are bookkeepers, but not all bookkeepers are accountants 

• Bookkeeping is the main foundation of accounting (to know accounting, you must know bookkeeping.  In Canada, to be a Chartered Professional Accountant, you must hold an accounting degree.  Bookkeeping is not regulated in Canada.  This is why many bookkeepers, such as myself, go to a college and take a bookkeeping course and join groups, such as Certified Bookkeeping Professional Canada, to stay up to date with GAAP standards in Canada)

• An accountant’s job is to analyze the data from reports and give advice on financial decisions

• These reports are created from data entered during the bookkeeping process; by the bookkeeper, business owner/manager or by a bookkeeper hired by an accounting firm

• Many companies hire on both.  The bookkeeper is managed by the accountant

• Smaller businesses, such as sole proprietorship, often only higher a bookkeeper.  This saves on accounting fees, while still having a professional make sure you are adhering to GAAP and reporting accurate numbers to the CRA

As things get busier, there tends to be more transactions- this leads to more invoices, receipts, inventory, payroll remittance, etc.  Things can become time consuming & disorganized quickly.  If you find yourself feeling like this, it may be time to consider hiring a bookkeeper, or a bookkeeper and an accountant.

When you are first introduced to Canadian bookkeeping, or accounting, one of the first things you’ll learn about is Canadian GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) and IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards).  These are ethics and guidelines for the finance world. 

Compliance with GAAP and IFRS is very important.  Not only is it what the CRA wants to see, but if you follow these guidelines your financial statements will be easily comparable to financial statements from other businesses.  This lets you know how your business is doing compared to other similar businesses.

CRA Standards for GST/HST & Payroll Remittance – payroll can be a scary thing.  It’s important not to underpay or overpay employees.  You also want to ensure you are deducting the proper amounts off of the employees pay (statutory deductions, like CPP, EI, Income tax and other deductions like work gear or healthcare).

Once you learn about financial ethics, principals and compliance; accrual accounting and the double entry system are typically next.  If I have completely lost you, that’s fine, but your bookkeeper should be very familiar with these terms. 

In Canada accrual accounting is the alternative to cash accounting.  The only businesses that the CRA wants to let run a cash accounting system are farmers, fishers and self-employed commission agents.  All other businesses are expected to run an accrual accounting system.

The foundations of accounting also teach you how to create, troubleshoot and understand financial statements.  These statements don’t only tell you things like profit and overhead costs, but they can also help you properly represent your business to loaners.  This may increase your chance of getting a loan, because the loaner can see exactly what is going on with your business and doesn’t have to take your word for it.

Financial tracking and statements can also help you manage inventory, expenses, bad debts and so much more!

This post by no means covers all that the foundations of accounting have to offer (I know you don’t have time for that)!  However, I hope it has given you an idea of how important it is to know these foundations, if you are to keep a business’s books!

If you find yourself with a bookkeeper who is not familiar with these concepts, or you yourself are keeping your own books and are not familiar – you could be risking yourself a lot of time and money! It may be time to hire yourself a new bookkeeper.

Often found in the back office of businesses, in low light, rustling through copious piles of files and frantically punching in numbers on an old accounting calculator; These mysterious creatures only come out to collect more files…

Well, that was certainly my first impression! These days things are a bit more modern in the bookkeeping world.  Now, we’re usually found behind a computer screen with a smile, of course, ready to help you with your books!

…But what the heck are “the books”!? 

The books are financial journals and ledgers that bookkeepers and accountants use to keep track of your financial transactions – then we turn these journals and ledgers into all sorts of fancy reports to show you exactly what is happening with your business’ finances.  Here are of the areas general bookkeeping can help your business with: 

• Organizing and tracking cash sales and purchases (not on account)

• Accounts Payable (utility bills, supplier payments, loan payment, etc.)

• Accounts Receivable (invoicing customers on account)

• Payroll – Ensures your employees are paid on time, that their paychecks have the proper deductions and are compliant with the CRA

• Makes audits less stressful by keeping your documents safe, organized, accurate, up to date and relevant

• Prepares financial statements.  Businesses can show these to potential lenders as proof of how their business is profitable.  They can also use them to see how their business is doing financially and to find any red flags in their business operations before errors occur. Not catching these errors can cost a business time and money

Financial statements are also very handy during tax season, supplying the numbers you need to report to the CRA

• Create budgets

• Keeping track of inventory and assisting in writing off any shrinkage

Long story short – Bookkeeper’s keep track of a business’ transactions, so that the business can focus on why they became a business in the first place!   I guess, you could say, a bookkeeper is a giver of freedom…  Okay, maybe that’s a bit much, but we are pretty awesome, and bookkeepers are a big asset to any business, saving them time and money!

If managing your business’ daily transactions is starting to get overwhelming, it may be time to hire a bookkeeper. 

Bolen’s Bookkeeping offers general bookkeeping services to Canadian small business.  Book a free consultation today and see if Bolen’s Bookkeeping would be a good fit for your small business. Visit https://calendar.app.google/6griHQ4MaKB16UrX8 .

What is Accounting Software?

         Accounting software is a digital tool that records, organizes, and manages a business’s financial transactions.  Accounting software can be cloud-based or desktop-based.

What can Accounting Software Do?

• Automatically records transactions

• Invoice and accept payments

• Tracks sales, inventory and sales tax

• Run Payroll

• Bank Reconciliation

• Generates Financial Statements

• Multi-User Access

Which Accounting Software Should You Choose?

         Well, unfortunately, I can’t answer that for you.  Accounting software is not a “one size, fits all” deal.  Each business has different accounting software needs, and each accounting software offers different services.

I can, however, give you some questions to ask yourself, that may help impact your decision:

1. Am I looking for a desktop-based or cloud-based accounting system?  If your business is concerned about data privacy, you may want to choose a desktop software, so you can have the control and security of local storage and backups.  On the other hand, your business may prefer cloud-based accounting software because of automatic updates and increased flexibility, accessibility and collaboration. 

2. Do I need payroll services? Not all accounting software has payroll services, and some may charge extra for it.

3. Does my business sell items or services on accounts and send out invoices?  Then you will most likely need an accounting software that offers invoicing and accounts receivable.

4. Does my business purchase items or services on accounts and receive invoices from suppliers? If so, you’ll want to ensure the software you choose offers accounts payable services. 

5. Is the software I am looking into available in my country and currency?  If not, it may cause issues down the road, especially during tax season.  Also, if your business deals with different currencies, you may want to make sure that multicurrency is something your accounting software offers.

6. Am I, or the people using the software, new to accounting software?  If so, you may want to choose a program that provides plenty of customer support and helpful guides/tutorials.  I recommend looking at customer reviews and seeing if the company’s customers found their support helpful or not.

A Chart of Accounts is… Well, it’s a quite literally a chart of accounts!  These accounts are not necessarily bank accounts, but more like departments that businesses use to categorize transactions.

Each “account” falls into one of five categories: Assets, liabilities, equity, revenue and expenses. The categories are also set up in that order.  The accounts are numbers based on their categories.  For example, asset accounts would be numbered 100-199, liabilities 200-299, equity 300-399, revenue 400-499 and expenses 500-599.  Larger companies that require more accounts may use a number range in the 1000s. (*Numbers in the Chart of Accounts may vary from company to company).

The asset category is usually set up in this order: Current assets to long-term assets.  E.g. Cash (this is usually the business’s chequing/savings account and petty cash), accounts receivable (money owed to the business), inventories, prepaid expenses, investments, buildings/land and intangible assets.

Liabilities is set up with current liabilities first (obligations to be paid within  the current accounting cycle or business year) then long-term liabilities (such as a vehicle loan that takes multiple years to pay off).

Liabilities also includes your GST/PST/HST tax accounts.  I will get into this in a different post, since there is multiple ways businesses choose to record this.

Equity represents the owner’s investments.  Equity starts with the “owner’s capital” account.  This is the owner’s investments into the business.  Equity also includes the “Owner’s Drawings”.  This is money the owner might take out of the business for personal use or to pay themselves for their work.  *Please note, I am talking about a sole proprietorship here.  A corporation or partnership will look slightly different.

An Equity category may also include what is called an “Income Summary” account.  This is a temporary account used for making end-of-month or end-of-period adjustments.

The Revenue category includes accounts for your income from service, sales, rent, interest, etc.

The Expense category has accounts for all the expenses your business might incur.  It is important to name these properly.   This doesn’t mean you make an expense account for every single thing you purchase.  For example, you might have an account called “Office Supplies” and every time you purchase office supplies, like paper and staples, you would categorize that transaction under your “Office Supplies” expense account.

Less is more when it comes to a Chart of Accounts.  Too many accounts may get confusing and unorganized.  Remember K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Silly!).

Example Chart of Accounts for a Sole Proprietorship:

Acct#:   Account Name:

100    Bank (Chequing)

101    Savings

102    Petty Cash

110    Accounts Receivable (Money owed to the business)

120    Prepaid Insurance

130    Office Equipment/Furniture

140        Land/Equipment

150    Intangible Assets (Such as copyrights, patents and trademarks)

200    Accounts Payable (Bills not yet paid)

210    GST Payable

220    Loan Payable

221    Interest Payable

400    Service Revenue

410    Sales Revenue

420    Interest Revenue

500    Gain/Loss on Disposal of Fixed Assets

510    Bank Fees

520    Bad Debt Expense

530    Cost of Goods Sold

540     Office Expense

541        Telephone/Internet Expense

542     Office Equipment/Furniture Expense

542    Rent Expense

550     Loan Expense

551     Interest Expense

*Note: When you create your Chart of Accounts, it is not necessarily set in stone.  You can add accounts anytime and if you noticed you haven’t used an account in a long time, you can make that account inactive and bring it back anytime.

Is this way over your head? Or, maybe, it’s just boring you to death… In that case, let someone do it for you, so you can focus on doing what you love!  Visit https://www.bolensbookkeeping.site and book your free consultation, today!

The Accounting Cycle

1. Analyze Transactions:

Review source documents to determine which accounts are affected and how

2. Journalize Transactions:

Record each transaction in the general journal in chronological order.

3. Post the Transactions to the General Ledger:

Transfer journal entries to individual account ledgers to update balances.

4. Prepare an Unadjusted Trial Balance:

List all account balances to check that total debits equal total credits before adjustments.

5. Create Adjustment Entries:

Record necessary updates for accrued, deferred, or estimated items at the end of the period.

6. Prepare Adjusted Trial Balance:

List all account balances after adjustments to ensure the books are still balanced.

7. Prepare Financial Statements:

Use the adjusted trial balance to create the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement.

8. Create Closing Entries:

Close temporary accounts (revenues, expenses, and drawings) to retained earnings or owner’s equity.

9. Prepare a Post-Closing Trial Balance:

Verify that permanent accounts remain balanced and ready for the next accounting period.

         Struggling to keep up with your accounting cycle? Let’s make bookkeeping simple! Book your free consultation today at https://calendar.app.google/6griHQ4MaKB16UrX8

  At the end of an accounting period, adjustment entries are created to update account balances.  For example: Let’s say you prepaid $12,000 insurance at the beginning of the month.  At the end of the month, one month (worth$1000) of prepaid insurance has been used up, so you no longer have $12,000 in prepaid insurance.  To correct the balance at the end of the month, you would make an adjusting entry and debit insurance expense and credit prepaid insurance, by $1000. 

  Here are the 5 Main Types of adjusting entries and what happens on the financial statements when you DON’T make the proper adjustments:

·        Prepaid Expenses without adjustments: Assets and equity will be overstated on the balance sheet.  Expenses will be understated on the income statement.

·        Depreciation/amortization (Depreciation is a reduction in a tangible assets, for wear and tear, over time. Amortization is the same, but for intangible assets) without adjustment: Assets and equity will be overstated on the balance sheet.  Expenses will be understated on the income statement.

·        Unearned revenues without adjustment: Liabilities will be overstated, and equity will be understated on the balance sheet.  Revenue will be understated on the income statement.

·        Accrued expenses without adjustment: Liabilities will be understated, and equity will be overstated on the balance sheet. Expenses will be understated on the income statement.

·        Accrued revenues without adjustment: Assets and equity will be understated on the balance sheet.  Revenue will be understated on the income statement.

       So, how is it done?

·        Prepaid Expenses: Debit the expense and credit the asset (Prepaid expense).  The amount of the adjustment is how much of the prepaid expense was used during the period.

·        Depreciation/amortization: Debit the expense and credit the contra asset (accumulated depreciation/amortization).  The amount of the adjustment is how much of the asset’s cost was matched as an expense to that period.

·        Unearned revenues: Debit the liability (unearned revenues) and credit revenue.  The amount of the adjustment is how much of the liability (unearned revenue) was earned during that period.

·         Accrued expenses: Debit the expense and credit the liability (E.g. accounts payable or notes payable).  The amount of the adjustment is the amount of the unpaid and unrecorded expenses for the period.

·         Accrued revenues: Debit the asset (accounts receivable) and credit revenue.  The adjustment reflects revenue that has been earned but not yet invoiced or recorded.

  If you find yourself struggling with adjustment entries, don’t fret!  Visit https://calendar.app.google/6griHQ4MaKB16UrX8

, book a free consultation, and together we can tackle those tricky adjustment entries.

The equation for an income statement is:

Revenues – Expenses = Net Profit

·        Revenues is all the revenue earned during the accounting period.  It doesn’t matter if it is accrued or if the cash has been received for the work, as long as the work has been completed.

       Revenues do not include unearned revenue, such as a client retainer.  These are considered liabilities until the work is done, and do not appear in the Income Statement.  Liabilities belong on the Balance Sheet.

·        Expenses are the cost a business incurs to generate revenue during the accounting period.  It doesn’t matter if they have been paid or if they still need to paid at a future date, as long as your business has received the product or service.

       These are only business expenses.  They do not include money invested into the business from the owner or a personal withdrawal taken from the business account, by the owner.  Withdrawals and Capital are equity accounts and belong on The Statement of Changes in Equity.

·        Net Profit is the amount of profit your business has made after all expenses have been subtracted from revenue.

       If you’re struggling with your financial statements not reflecting accurate amounts, book a free consultation with Bolen’s Bookkeeping at https://calendar.app.google/6griHQ4MaKB16UrX8

 today, and let’s fix those statements!

**Please note, this example is for a sole proprietorship .  For other business types, the names and a few other details may differ.

Ending Capital = Beginning Capital + Owner’s Investments + Net Profit (- if your Net Profit is a loss) – Owner’s Withdrawals

·        Beginning Capital and Investments: If this is your first accounting period, then your beginning capital is 0.  Anything in the Capital account will be listed on The Statement of Changed in Equity as an investment. 

       If this is not your first accounting period then your ending capital of the last period will be your beginning capital in the next period.  Any additional investments made by the owner during the period will be listed under investments.

       Remember, the capital account is not the same as the cash account.  The capital is the total owner’s equity at the start of the period.

·        Profit and Loss: This is referring to your net profit, that was calculated on The Income Statement (meaning that it is your revenue after expenses have been subtracted). 

       On The Statement of Changes in Equity the net income amount in the equation will be added if there’s a profit or subtracted if there’s a loss.

·        Withdrawals: Withdrawals are made when the owner of the business takes assets (usually cash) from the business, for personal use.  After the beginning capital, investments and profit are totaled, the withdrawals must be subtracted from that total.

       Withdrawals are not expenses.  Withdrawals reduce the amount of equity, but they do not reduce the amount of net profit. This is why withdrawals appear on The Statement of Changes in Equity and not on The Income Statement, like expenses do.

       If you’re struggling with your financial statements not reflecting accurate amounts, book a free consultation with Bolen’s Bookkeeping at https://calendar.app.google/6griHQ4MaKB16UrX8

 today, and let’s fix those statements!😊

The equation for the Balance Sheet is the Accounting Equation:

Assets = Liabilities + Equity

On the left side of the Balance Sheet, all the business’s current and noncurrent assets are listed and totaled.

       On the right side of the Balance Sheet, all of the business’s liabilities (current and long-term) and the owner’s equity are listed and totaled.

       At the bottom, you should see that total assets equal total liabilities plus owner’s equity.

       This equality is the foundation of double-entry accounting. If total assets do not equal total liabilities plus owner’s equity, the financial statement is out of balance, which indicates that there may be errors in recording transactions, posting journal entries, or calculating balances.

  If you’re struggling with your financial statements not reflecting accurate amounts, book a free consultation with Bolen’s Bookkeeping at https://calendar.app.google/6griHQ4MaKB16UrX8 today, and let’s fix those statements!

How to Read a Cash Flow Statement

**Please note, this example is for a sole proprietorship.

Cash Flow Equation:

Ending Cash = Beginning Cash + Cash from Operations + Cash from Investing + (Owner Contributions−Owner Withdrawals)

1.   Operating Activities – Cash from business operations:

o Cash received from clients/customers

o Cash paid for expenses, suppliers, and salaries

2.   Investing Activities – Cash used for long-term assets:

o Purchase or sale of equipment, property, or other long-term assets

3.   Financing Activities – Cash related to the owner’s equity:

o Owner contributions (cash put into the business) → inflow

o Owner withdrawals/draws (cash taken out for personal use) → outflow

       If you’re struggling with your financial statements not reflecting accurate amounts, book a free consultation with Bolen’s Bookkeeping at https://calendar.app.google/6griHQ4MaKB16UrX8 today, and let’s fix those statements!🤗

The four major financial statements are created in this order:

1.   The Profit and Loss Statement

       Net Profit (or Loss) is part of Equity and is needed in order to create The Statement of Changes in Equity

2.   The Statement of Changes in Equity

       The Ending Owner’s Capital from Statement of Changes in Equity is used to create The Balance Sheet and is listed under Equity.

3.   The Balance Sheet

       Both the current and prior accounting period’s Balance Sheets are used in creating The Statement of Cash Flows

4.   The Statement of Cash Flows

       The Ending Cash on The Statement of Cash Flows can be found on the current accounting period’s Balance Sheet.

       The Beginning Cash on The Statement of Cash Flows can be found on the prior accounting period’s Balance Sheet.    

       The Statement of Cash Flows also uses the Net Profit from The Profit and Loss Statement. The Cash Flow from Operating Activities section starts with Net Profit, and then adjusts it to show the actual cash impact of operations.

       If you’re struggling with your financial statements not reflecting accurate amounts, book a free consultation with Bolen’s Bookkeeping at https://calendar.app.google/6griHQ4MaKB16UrX8

 today, and let’s fix those statements!

Why Smaller is Better for Smaller

• Affordable

• Available & Reachable – I have time for you!

• No hidden fees!  My contracts are easy to read, acceptably short and you’ll pay what you agree to pay, nothing more!

• I care!  You are not “just another client” to me!  To me, your business is the next big thing and Bolen’s Bookkeeping wants to help you get there

• Fully Remote, no uncomfortable meetings (Typically, my consultations are done via Microsoft Teams, but I promise, if you’re not camera ready, I won’t make you use it!  If you don’t like Teams, not a problem! Call, text or email me and we’ll figure out another form of communication)

• Smaller works harder – Clients are not a dime-a-dozen for smaller businesses, and we want to make sure you stick with us!

What can Bolen's Bookkeeping do for Your Small Business?

·         Organizing transactions and source documents

·         Accounts Payable – Helping you manage short-term liabilities owed to suppliers, for goods and services that were purchased on an account with the supplier

·         Accounts Receivable – Tracking clients who owe you money on account, when they owe you and how much they owe

·         Prepare financial statements

·         Payroll (If you need serious payroll help, just let me know – no judgement here!  I have a serious payroll weapon in my back pocket! This includes HR and other services)

·         Inventory tracking

·         Ensuring you’re ready for audits and taxes

·         Freeing up your time. Do you remember your friends and family? You’ll have the time to spend with them again!

·         Give you control and confidence over your own business

Visit https://calendar.app.google/6griHQ4MaKB16UrX8 today to book your free consultation!

• Organized Source Documents – Providing proof of accuracy to auditors

• Faster and Cheaper Audits – When things are quick and easy to find, auditors are faster and happier

• Compliance with CRA & the IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards)- Especially important if the CRA is the one auditing your business!

• Accurate Tax Filing – The financial reports, created from the bookkeeping process, provide accurate numbers needed to file your taxes

• Maximized Deductions – When making deductions claims to the CRA, they want to see proof of your claim.  How great would it be, if when you went to file your claim, your receipts and documentation were just… there! Organized and ready to go.  Bookkeeping helps minimize the searching and maximize your time

• Helps to Avoid Penalties – Late or incorrect filings can lead to interest, fines or audits and we all know that takes time, money and causes yucky tummy feelings

Avoid yucky tummy feelings – Book a free consultation with Bolen’s Bookkeeping today. https://calendar.app.google/6griHQ4MaKB16UrX8

Running a business is exciting, but managing finances? That’s a whole different challenge.

Are You Prepared to Handle Your Own Books?

Bookkeeping isn’t just tracking numbers. It’s about keeping your business compliant, organized, and financially healthy. You need to stay on top of:

• Income and expenses

• Accounts Receivable & Payable

• Payroll

• Accurate financial reporting

• GST filing and month-end reconciliations

• Tax prep and avoiding costly mistakes

Many business owners start handling their books solo, but as things grow, bookkeeping can quickly become time-consuming and overwhelming.

Click the link belows to book a free consultation today! Let’s make bookkeeping easy, so you can focus on what you do best. https://calendar.app.google/6griHQ4MaKB16UrX8

Your financials tell a story.  Are you listening? A skilled bookkeeper organizes and analyzes financial reports, giving you clear insights into your business’ health.

• Profitability: Income vs. expenses reports show whether you’re truly making money

• Tax Readiness: Accurate records ensure your tax filings are smooth & compliant

• Overhead Costs: Expense breakdowns reveal where your money is being spent

• Cash Flow: Statement tracking shows how money moves in and out of your business

At Bolen’s Bookkeeping, I help you understand your financials, not just manage them.

Let’s chat! Book a free consultation today at https://calendar.app.google/6griHQ4MaKB16UrX8

and take control of your business.

Tired of trying to learn the basics of accounting and sick of having every single website try to sell you something?  Here are four accounting websites that are actually helpful, for free!

https://www.accountingformanagement.org/

https://www.learnaccountingforfree.com/lessons.html

https://accountingexamsmastery.ca/

https://www.ifrs.org/ - Okay, maybe this one isn’t so “under-glorified”, but it’s an important one and it’s free to make an account

Happy learning 😊.

10 Budgeting Tips

1. Make a Detailed Budget that Clearly Reflects Your Goals

• Be clear about your short-term and long-term business objectives.

• Look at the expenses from the last couple of years? Are they recurring expenses that will happen again in this budget? Make sure to add them in!

2. Separate Fixed & Variable Costs

• Fixed: rent, salaries, insurance.

• Variable: materials, shipping, utility bills.

3. Don’t Forget Irregular Expenses

• Things like taxes, annual subscriptions, business registration, equipment maintenance. These can sneak up on you if you’re not careful!

4. Give Some Wiggle Room

• It’s a good idea to have some extra money put aside for things like bad debts and inventory shrinkage.

5. Plan for Slow Seasons

• It happens, especially if your business is seasonal.  Plan to put money aside for these times, during the times when your business is busy.

6. Make Room for Growth

• Plan for the good stuff, as well as the bad!  Perhaps you’re expanding and will need to do some more advertising. Or, maybe, it’s time to save for a new piece of equipment, building or office.

7. Review Monthly

• It’s important to review your budget regularly and update any changes.  For example, maybe your insurance cost has gone up.  You want to make sure you have room in your budget for that change.

8. Involve Your Team

• Get input from employees, managers or partners.  They will often have beneficial insight, especially when it comes to things like inventory, office supplies and equipment.

9. Be Realistic, Not Just Optimistic

• It’s tempting to overestimate revenue and underestimate costs. Ground your budget in reality.

10. Have a Little Fun!

• Play a little!  Once your budget is ready, save it and then copy and paste it into a new window.  Save this one as your “Experimental Budget”.  Now, you can experiment with different scenarios.  What would your business look like if it was super successful?  Where would you put that extra profit?  Plan for a year where your business wasn’t so successful.  How would you prepare yourself for that? 

Budgeting isn’t just about managing money.  It’s also about preparing yourself for the future and the highs and lows of running a business.

It’s 2025 and they’re everywhere!  Scammers, hackers and scallywags. It is not uncommon to get a scam call or a phishing email on a daily basis.  Here are some ways you can keep your business and your books safe.

  Review your bank account and credit card statements regularly.  You’re more likely to catch fraud in your accounts, if you already have a good idea of what is supposed to be going on in your accounts.  Enabling multi-authentication is also a good idea because it adds an extra layer of protection.

  Nip phishing scam emails in the butt! It is important to report and block these emails, IMMEDIATELY, so it doesn’t happen again to you or someone else. Read up on clues that might help you spot a phishing email.  For example:

·        The email address it is sent from is slightly different than normal.  Perhaps, the email is from PayPal, but they spelled PayPal with two Ls (PayPall) instead of one.

·        Urgent and threatening language. E.g. “Pay now, or your account will be deleted”!

·        Unexpected attachment or links.  Especially, ones requiring you to update account information.

  Spot impersonators.  If you suspect the person you’re talking to isn’t who they say they are, try asking them a personal question that a scammer wouldn’t know: How did we meet?  What was the name of that restaurant we went to?  What was the last thing we talked about in real life?  If they can’t answer you, block the account and find another way to let the real person know that their account has been hacked.

  Change your passwords regularly.  These days, it can be hard to remember all your passwords! I recommend using a physical notebook to keep your usernames and passwords in.  Don’t write your actual passwords in the notebook, just in case.  Instead use codes, symbols or clues that will let you know what your password is.

  Unfortunately, fraud isn’t always external.  It is best practice to give every user, of your accounting software, their own login username and password.  This way, when you look at your audit log, you can see exactly who did what.

Book a free consultation today and learn how Bolen's Bookkeeping can help keep your books safe.🥰https://calendar.app.google/6griHQ4MaKB16UrX8

1.   Mixing Personal and Business Finances

       Although, your business type may be a sole proprietorship and your business profit will go on your personal income tax statement, it is still VERY important to keep your business and personal finances separate!  Otherwise, your financial statements will not accurately reflect your business’s financials.  This will cause other problems down the road such as income tax filing, GST filing and in presentations of financial statements to potential lenders/investors.

2.   Not paying proper remittances to the CRA (or not paying at all…)

       This can result in penalties, fines, audits or worse.  It is very important to stay compliant.  If you struggle to understand what the government needs you to report, I highly recommend hiring outside help.

3.   Falling Behind

       It can happen to the best of us!  Life happens.  However, falling behind can lead to late reporting and payments to the CRA, employees being paid late, inaccurate reporting and lost source documents.  If life happens to you, hire outside help or train a trusted employee to take your place, for the time you need away.

4.   Misclassifying accounts or transactions

       This might be a lack of accounting knowledge. A bookkeeping course or hiring outside help can help. 

       Sometimes, it is just a simple mistake, when tired.  This is why it is important to reconcile your accounts regularly and run reports to check for errors in your records.

5.   Disorganization

       It is very important to keep your business’s books and source documents in order.  Not doing so can lead to longer, more expensive audits. Reports might be incomplete, outdated or incorrect.  Disorganization can also lead to you and other staff being stressed or overwhelmed, which leads to tax time chaos.

6.   Not recognizing when help is needed or avoiding help due to costs

       Hiring outside help, when you run a smaller business, can be daunting😱.  Can your business afford it? Can you trust the person your hiring? Will you still be making the big decisions?

       If you have some of these questions, Bolen’s Bookkeeping can help you answer them.  Consultations are free, so you have nothing to lose!  Book a free consultation today at https://calendar.app.google/6griHQ4MaKB16UrX8 🤗

         At the end of the accounting period a trial balance is created.  This is a list of all the accounts a business has and their balances, whether it be a credit or a debit balance.  When the debit and the credit columns are totaled, they should equal the same amount. 

       After the trial balance is prepared, the end of period adjustments are made.  An adjusted trial balance is then prepared with the adjusted balances.  Again, when the debit and credit columns are added up, they should equal the same amount.  If it does, then your books are balanced.

       Did you know that even if your books are balanced, there can still be errors in your bookkeeping?  A trial balance will tell you if debits equal credits, but it will not tell you:

·        If you’ve posted an entry to the wrong account

·        If you have forgotten to enter a transaction

·        If you have duplicated transaction

·        If you have had a “slide” error (E.g. Posting a transaction as 240 instead of 420)

·        Or if there has been a compensation error (when two unrelated errors cancel each other out mathematically)

       Need help getting the books to balance?  Book a free consultation with Bolen’s Bookkeeping at https://calendar.app.google/6griHQ4MaKB16UrX8

1. Start with Clear Inventory Goals

Before jumping into AI tools:

• Identify what you want to solve: overstocking, stockouts, demand forecasting, shrinkage, seasonal trends, etc.

• Set KPIs: e.g., improve inventory turnover rate by X%, reduce holding costs by Y%.

2. Choose the Right AI Tools or Platforms

• Look for inventory management solutions that are compatible with AI, such as Canadian Smart Systems, QuickBooks Online or Shopify.

3. Use Smart Demand Forecasting

• Use AI to analyze historical sales, weather patterns, and social trends to predict demand more accurately.

• This helps reduce both running out of stock and overstocking.

• AI can help reduce waste by optimizing order quantities and shelf life, which is important for both cost savings and environmental impact.

4. Automate Reordering and Stock Levels

• Implement AI tools that automatically reorder stock when levels dip below a threshold.

• This ensures you’re always stocked without tying up cash in excess inventory

5. Run Pilots and Measure ROI

• Start with one product category, region, or warehouse.

• Test how AI affects fill rate, stockout rate, turnover, and cost per unit sold.

• Scale up after success and feedback.

6. Explore Dynamic Pricing

• AI can adjust prices in real time based on market demand, competitor pricing, and inventory levels.

7. Use Real-Time Tracking

• Leverage AI with barcode tech to track inventory across multiple locations.

• This is especially useful for businesses with warehouses or stores across provinces.

8. Train Your Team to Work With AI

• AI doesn’t replace inventory managers—it amplifies them.

• Train staff on how to interpret AI suggestions and override them when needed.

• Assign roles for AI monitoring, exception handling, and vendor relationship management.

9. Use AI for Multi-Channel Inventory Optimization

• If you're selling through Shopify, Amazon.ca, physical stores, etc.:

• Use AI to balance inventory across platforms.

• Optimize ship-from-store, drop-shipping, or BOPIS (Buy Online, Pick up In-Store) models.

10. Ensure Data Quality:

• AI models are only as good as the data they are trained on. Make sure your data is accurate, clean, and well-organized. This may involve integrating data from various sources and addressing any inconsistencies

    This can be a tough change for businesses new to AI.  If you need a hand, book a free consultation with Bolen’s Bookkeeping.  Visit https://www.bolensbookkeeping.site to learn more and see my summer deal! 😎☀️🐚🍄

1.   You’re still using Excel for keeping your books.

       Excel can be an excellent tool for learning manual bookkeeping and some accounting software can even integrate with Excel.  However, if you have been using Excel solely for your bookkeeping, the busier your business gets, the more time-consuming it will be!  It might be time to try an accounting software that will automate things for you, in real time.

2.   The software you’re using is outdated or has become obsolete.

       If you are using outdated or obsolete software, such as QuickBooks Desktop (no longer offered in Canada as of April 15, 2025), you may begin experiencing issues.  Lack of security updates, customer support and compatibility with new features and apps may be some issues you might run into while using outdated software.

3.   No longer compliant with regulations.

       Things change and you need a software that changes with it!  If your software is outdated or obsolete, it may not be updating to Canadian accounting standards.

4.   Lack of Customer Support.

       If you keep running into issues with your accounting software and can’t get the technical support you need from the company, it may be time to switch it up. When you pay for accounting software, you’re paying for the whole package and that includes the customer support they are offering!  If they can’t live up to that, it may be time to find a different software company.

5.   You’ve Changed!

       Sometimes you’re the one that changes, or at least your business is!  Perhaps you have hired more employees and could benefit from an accounting software that offers payroll services.  Maybe, you’ve downsized and don’t need quite as many apps and automations as before.  Whatever the case may be, your accounting software should change with you.  You don’t want to be overpaying for services not used or underpaying for a cheaper service, that doesn’t offer what you need.  This may look like cost-saving, but with the amount of hours you’ll spend doing everything manually, it may actually cost you more.

       If your business is growing, the number of transactions your business has per month is also growing.  To help manage your business finances and stay compliant with the CRA, book a free consultation with Bolen’s Bookkeeping at https://calendar.app.google/6griHQ4MaKB16UrX8

 today!

Cash Vs. Accrual Accounting for Canadian Farmers

         Did you know that in Canada, farmers can choose between the cash or accrual method of accounting?

         The CRA describes the accrual and cash methods as:

Accrual Method:

• Record income when it’s earned, even if payment hasn’t been received.

• Record expenses when they’re incurred, even if they haven’t been paid yet.

Cash Method:

• Record income only when it’s actually received (cash, property, or services).

• Record expenses only when they’re paid (except prepaid expenses).

• Available to farmers, fishers, and self-employed commissioned sales agents.

(*Definitions summarized from the Canada Revenue Agency*)

         The cash method of accounting might be a better choice for a farmer if:

·         Income fluctuates significantly year to year

·         There are large prepaid expenses or inventory purchases

·         The farmer prefers simpler bookkeeping, without tracking receivables, payables, or accruals

So, why would a farmer choose accrual accounting if it is not required?

1. Better Financial Insight

• Shows income earned but not yet received, and expenses incurred but not yet paid.

• Gives a clearer view of profitability, cash flow, and financial health.

2. Easier to Get Loans or Investors

• Lenders and investors prefer accrual statements since they reflect all assets and liabilities, not just cash on hand.

• Provides a more reliable picture of your farm’s true financial position.

3. Improved Year-to-Year Comparisons

• Smooths out timing differences (e.g. selling crops late one year vs. early the next).

• Makes long-term planning and budgeting more consistent.

4. More Accurate Inventory and Cost Tracking

• Helps match costs with related revenue and track the real value of livestock, feed, or crops.

5. Preparation for Growth or Incorporation

• If you plan to expand, sell, or incorporate your farm, accrual accounting will likely be required—starting early makes the transition easier.

         If you’re unsure which method suits your farm best or need help with your bookkeeping, book a free consultation today at https://calendar.app.google/6griHQ4MaKB16UrX8

Bookkeeping Tips for Construction & Trades

Set up Projects:

(Not all accounting software allows you to set up projects.  Something you may want to consider when accounting software shopping.)

·        Job Costing: Assign specific codes to each expense, such as materials, labour and equipment.  Which makes it easy for you when you want to look up the cost of a specific expense.

·        Track revenue by project.

·        Create steps to track the phases in your project.

·        Historical data from past projects can help you create estimations and make better bidding decisions.

·        Streamline your invoicing by basing them on billing milestones and project progress

Create Financial Forecasts:

·        Spot red flags or profitable trends by using historical data to create financial forecasts

·        Financial forecasts can help you prepare for slower seasons

·        Use financial forecasts and budgets together.  Use short-term and long-term forecasts to help create and update your company’s budget.

Use a Payroll App:

       Your staff and you are hopping from job site to job site, make life easier with a payroll app.

·        Set up GPS tracking to keep track of staff.  GPS tracking can help protect your company from time theft and let you know your employees arrived to work safely.

·        Apps allow your employees to sign in and out of work, no matter what their location is.

·        Payroll apps can help you stay compliant by automatically adjusting to changes in tax laws and regulations.

·        Help you to automate the payroll process, which helps to save time and reduce errors.

Keep business and personal accounts completely separate and organized:

·        Reconcile bank accounts regularly

·        Keep all source documentation for at least six years (CRA requirement)

·        Implement systems like accounting software and secure cloud storage to help keep documents organized and secure.

       Running a trades or construction business is tough enough, but your bookkeeping doesn’t have to be.

       Stay organized, save time, and keep your numbers working for you. Book your free consultation today at https://www.bolensbookkeeping.site/