

Ask HN: Accounting for a brand new startup - swiil

Just co-founded a company with my neighbor - more on that later... How are you handling accounting now? What&#x27;s the most cost efficient way for 2 partners to have simple income and expense tracking so tax time will be easy? Still in R&amp;D but we&#x27;ve closed the first sale (we already have a check and no bank account yet).
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wj
Depends on your needs. Wave Accounting has a free tier that you could probably
use. I tried it out but went back to GnuCash (also use Quickbooks for the day
job) as my brain works better with double entry accounting. With Wave (or
other online accounting systems) it is easy for both you and your neighbor to
track information. You could also do the same with a simple shared
spreadsheet.

I would recommend one of you take the responsibility for the accounting and
provide the other with monthly income statements and balance sheets.

Come tax time it might be worth your time to hire somebody to do your taxes.
Maybe the same person who helped you file your business paperwork since they
are already familiar with your company structure.

It isn't accounting software (but it does do income and expense tracking) but
if you're interested I'm just about ready for beta testers for some software
I've been working on. startopz.com.

Send me an email (in my profile) and mention this post if you're interested in
trying it out.

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Bibianadais
I would say it depends on (1) how much time you want to contribute to you own
bookkeeping (2) how comfortable are you with your own financial management.
You definitely can split the work with an accountant and only pay for what you
really need help with.

The least you can do is maintain all your records in one place, this will make
reviewing and auditing the work more efficient.

If you are comfortable, try setting up a category listing and recording your
bank transactions and spendings (Quickbooks, Wave, Xero). This is about 80% of
the overall work.

When it comes tax time, hire an accountant to review your ledger and make any
necessary adjustments. The income stmt generated at the end of all this is
sufficient for tax filings.

Slowly build your accounting infrastructure as your business grows. I would
suggest improving the system so that it would generate useful information
about the trends of your income and expenses, cash-flow, and business
projections - in addition to providing numbers for tax purposes.

(Feel free to contact me for any specific questions, happy to help. I'm an
accountant in Seattle with expertise in small business accounting.)

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quickpost
I've always been partial to the Accountinator spreadsheet. It's basically just
an Excel spreadsheet with a variety of simple customizations to make it a nice
ledger. Easy to learn, easy to customize, etc.

[http://accountinator.com/2012/11/simple-accounting-
spreadshe...](http://accountinator.com/2012/11/simple-accounting-spreadsheet-
excel/)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtqkL2KgjXI&feature=youtu.be](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtqkL2KgjXI&feature=youtu.be)

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secfirstmd
Crunch in the UK is pretty good to startups. Many places these days give you a
fixed fee for stuff and then throw in online software aswell.

Can recommend Quickbooks online for managing...though I hear Xero is good
also.

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rmaurin
(disclosure: I'm with Wave) Wave is great for new companies. The accounting
and invoicing are 100% free. Like define_hipster says, your attention is
likely to be on your product right now, but my advice is to start capturing
your expenses and income right away. It's seconds of work if you do it now vs.
headaches and stress if you leave it for later. Good luck with the new
business!

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iqonik
I tried to manage my own accounts but after a year you soon realise you're
better off having an accountant. Your time is too valuable to be doing
something that doesn't directly add value to your business. It's also very
reassuring knowing when I get a letter from HMRC I don't fully understand they
are only a phone call away.

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petervandijck
Very cost effective: 2 folders:

\- /incoming invoices/january/ \- /outgoing invoices/january/

And then a Google spreadsheet with columns and totals to keep track.

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define_hipster
If you just founded the company, you probably shouldn't even think about
things like accounting because at that stage only making product and selling
product matter.

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hakanderyal
Totally depends on the country, state, type of work etc. but the safest way is
working with an accountant.

