How do you organize your business expenses?

[biz123]

I run an ebay business and I am over my head in calculating an honest monthly profit. I mean, how do typical retail stores calculate their monthly profit if they still have loads of stuff waiting to be sold, in which case they did not even break even.

[criniit]

When writing my profit loss statements I include business expense, including all products bought. If you don't include the costs of your inventory (even if you haven;t sold it) then you can't get an accurate number. I mean think about it, if you have bought 500$ worth of inventory but only sell 1 thing for 10$, then you would be -490 for the month. (That dosen't take into account any overhead (rent, utilities, whatever...)

Is that what you were asking about? If not let me know.

[radreality]

Its called an Accountant. Yes they cost money, but its money well spent. Plus, if you shop around, most decent size firms have monthly services for small businesses that only cost around $200 a month. They also prepare everything throughout the year so its ready for the cpa at the end of the year and saves time/money spent on them.

______________________________
Robert Falk
Business Developer / Investor
Self Help & Success Forum

[Terra Andersen]

For basic accounting I love Quickbooks small business. It's great. Eventually, you may need to obtain an accountant as radreality stated above.

[Paint and Air Sportz]

gross $ in goods sold a month, minus the cost for those items (cogs) minus employees, minus rent, minus uttilities, minus any other fees you have = net profit for the month

[RL4010]

It depnds also on whether you are on a cash basis or accrual system. On a cash system you expense off everything you buy the month you pay for it, on an accrural basis you expense off only what you sell during the month. If you don't know the difference invest in some face to face time with an accountant until you do. Simple accounting software will help you but only if you have some idea as to what you are doing. If you try to fake it you will probably spend way more money trying to go back and fix it then what you would invest in the beginning.

[ChaseManset]

gross $ in goods sold a month, minus the cost for those items (cogs) minus employees, minus rent, minus uttilities, minus any other fees you have = net profit for the month

Wrong.

Sales
-COGS
-SGA
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Operating Income
-Deprecation
------
EBIT
-interest
------
EBT
-Tax
------
EAT or Net Income