The Home Based Bookkeeper

If you are looking for a home based business to start in Huntsville Alabama and you are good with money and numbers, consider starting a home based bookkeeping business. There are many micro and small businesses in Huntsville that need someone to do their books that they can reasonably afford on an independent part time contract basis. That person could be you.

Internet technology and broadband allows a bookkeeper to do most of the work from the comfort of their home via their computer. You can work for clients locally, and at a distance. You can work with small and micro bricks and mortar businesses or other home based business in Huntsville on an independent contract basis. This means that you are not their employee, you are an independent business owner. They pay you a straight fee and you are responsible for your own taxes, business licensing, and registrations.

To start a bookkeeping business from home you need the following:

Training or Education in Bookkeeping or Accounting

You do not need a special license to be a bookkeeper but it is nice to have training, certification, and the honest ability to do the job. In Huntsville you can get bookkeeping training in a variety of places, one is via online training through the University of Alabama's Division of Continuing Education. You can go there and click on Certified Bookkeeper. If you have no training at all in bookkeeping please choose bookkeeping the easy way or consider attending Calhoun Community College. You can earn a two year accounting degree. You may earn an Associates of Science degree or an Associate in Applied Science degree at Calhoun.

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Bookkeeping From Your Home Business

1. Find an accounting software program to help track your finances. I recommend QuickBooks which is quick and easy to learn & use, as well as relatively inexpensive. However, don't solely rely on a computer based program. I highly recommend you also keep a separate manual check register as back up.
   
   
2. Determine which accounting system will work best for your business:
   
   
   • Cash based: You record your income & expenses as you pay or are paid. For example, Tom allowed a customer to purchase an item on credit. He wrote an IOU for the transaction, but won't enter it into his accounting system until his customer comes in next week to pay him the balance. Today is also the day Tom makes his weekly check run to pay off any invoices that are going to be due. He won't enter the transactions until after he has written the checks.
     
     
   • Accrual based (which I personally recommend): You track all income & expenses as they happen, not when actual payment is made or received. This is a little more complicated than the cash based system, but it will allow you to know where your company stands financially at all times. For example, Mary made a sale today based on her customers credit. Although she hasn't physically received cash yet, she did make a sale and will enter it into her accounting system. She also received an invoice from the electric department. Even though she won't pay the invoice for a few weeks, she still enters it.
     
   
   
3. Keep all supporting documents and staple them to the corresponding check stub or copy of a customers invoice. Supporting documents may include purchase orders, invoices, receipts, notes logging conversations, etc. These will be especially useful in the event of an audit.
   
   
4. Reconcile (balance) your bank statement every month. This assures that your business records and bank balance will be in sync. Always review cancelled checks before you allow anyone else to see them (including your accountant). This will alert you if any unauthorized checks are being written. Also, try to find a bank who's monthly cut-off date is the last day of the month. This will make reconciling much easier.
   
   
5. Make sure to review your company's balance and income & expense reports each month. These will allow you to know where your company stands financially.
   

Anita DeFrank, owner of MommysHelperOnline.com is a busy work at home mom. MommysHelperOnline.com is the leading resource available online built to assist you with your home business. Whether you're brand new to the work at home game or you're an old pro, they can help.