

Ask YC: Accounting suggestions - how do you do it? - ericb

If there is one thing that makes my blood boil, it's doing paperwork, especially taxes. I hate it. I hate keeping records, data entry, well, all of it. I've tried the accountant route, but it's expensive and I end up creating a spreadsheet to give to them that's nearly as annoying as doing it myself.<p>I'm hoping folks can share what they do tax-wise. Do you have any accounting hacks to make this less aggravating? What's your system and incorporation setup?
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epi0Bauqu
I'm currently managing the accounting and taxes of my 4 startups and my
personal taxes, which includes two schedule C businesses. Two of the startups
are LLCs and two are S-corps, though before I've had two other C corps. I've
used Peachtree, Quickbooks, Quickbooks Online, PayCycle, Turbotax Business,
and good ol' Excel over the years.

I recommend Quickbooks (the desktop version) if you are doing it yourself
and/or have multiple businesses. If you want your partner(s) and/or
accountant(s) to have easy access, Quickbooks Online is good, though it has
some limitations. I've always used TurboTax business without any problems (and
TurboTax personal for that matter).

I always use the Desktop versions of TurboTax. I don't think there is an
online business version, but if there is, don't use it. You want that CD so
that if you need to amend 5 years from now, you can use it.

For Schedule C and supporting documentation for Quickbooks I use Excel. I
don't put every transaction into Quickbooks because that is crazy. Every so
often, depending on the business, I reconcile the spreadsheet with my bank
accounts by exporting data from underlying billing systems or PayPal or
whatever. Then I put the aggregate values into Quickbooks.

For Schedule C, I have a spreadsheet that I've tweaked over the years to make
doing my taxes really easy. I can go into more detail if you want.

I have keep scanned and paper copies of everything. I know it is anal, but it
makes me feel good and it is proved its weight in gold in several situations.

I also highly recommend PayCycle. It integrates right into QuickBooks and
makes doing everything associated with employees super simple.

Btw, I have had my books professionally audited once, and there were no
problems.

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nickb
Go for a hosted solution like quickbooks online or something like that. Why?
Well, you can easily give access to your accountant or an investor (VC) and
avoid all the paperwork that way... and you appear transparent to them. Now,
that has some pros and cons but I think the pros overweigh the cons. You can
then hire an accountant that's not even in your city and can save a lot of
money that way. You also don't have to spend $500 right away since you'll be
paying month-to-month.

[http://oe.quickbooks.com/product_info.cfm?sc=QBC-V51-HME-
FAM...](http://oe.quickbooks.com/product_info.cfm?sc=QBC-V51-HME-FAMTXT-
TSTA-060213)

<http://quickbooksgroup.com/webx?addPost@@.ef86087>

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crazeinc
Sounds like you haven't found the right accountant. For $300/month, we offload
_everything_ to ours. We wrote more about it here:
<http://dynamite.errfree.com/posts/72-accounting-the-books>

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jyu
I used a bookkeeper ($50/month) and tax accountant for taxes. He is a retired
multi-millionaire, that wanted to see a smart young guy succeed. All expenses
were via credit/debit card. All revenues were promptly deposited into the bank
account, and reflected on bank statements.

A bookkeeper or accountant is useful once you start making money, because they
help keep you objective and should be a useful resource.

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dkokelley
I use the quickbooks free starter edition plus Turbotax online. So far no
problem and I got my refund right away (thank to free efile).

Once you start making money I think the best thing to do is hire an accounting
firm or internal accountant/bookkeeper.

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mattculbreth
I use FreshBooks (<http://www.freshbooks.com>) for invoicing. I'm probably
going to explore Quickbooks.com (their online solution) also for the
accounting side of things.

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davidw
I'm using GnuCash + an accountant. It works ok, but I share the paperwork
frustration. I have an LLC.

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brentr
Tell me more about your problem. Perhaps a software solution is in need.

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davidw
I think it's more a hired-help solution, although having an on-line, web based
accounting thing would probably not be a bad business for the right person.

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marcusd
I use <http://www.freeagentcentral.com> to handle the lot (no US-specific tax
support yet)

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blender
Simply Accounting + Retired Accountant

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brentr
Turbo Tax

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ericb
Couple questions, if you don't mind. Are you incorporated? Is it a specific
turbo tax variety? What's the process like, and do you do quarterly estimated
tax and all that?

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brentr
Intuit's Turbo Tax walks you through everything. If you have a personal
business, it will step you through the filing. If you have capital gains, it
will help you with that as well. I just finished my taxes with Turbo Tax and
it only took me about 15 minutes. Yes, I could have done them by hand, but I
absolutely hate doing taxes even though I only do them once a year. The
government already gets enough of my money, they will not get too much of my
time also.

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ericb
Sounds promising. I have a C corp. Does TurboTax cover something like that, or
only sole proprietorships?

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brentr
<http://turbotax.intuit.com/small-business-taxes/>

It lists C corp as an option, but I don't own a business, so I can't comment
on what it can do for something like a C corp.

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jamiequint
bookkeeper + accountant

