What accounting title do you record set of books?

Answer 1

I hope I understand your question correctly.

The name of your "books" are called Financial Records. These books (records) are made up of several journals to record your business activities. I hope you find the following useful:

The first book records sales to customers (credit customers) and is called the Accounts Receivable Journal. In this record you will note the date of the sale, the name and address of the customer, the items they purchased and the amount they owe you. (If the customer paid you in cash, then skip this record and go to the Cash Receipts Journal described below).

This book is where you record cash receipts (money received) for sales you made and cash received from customers that you gave credit to and now they are paying their bill. This record is called the Cash Receipts Journal. Record the date you received the cash, the name of the customer, the invoice number your customer is paying, their customer account number and the amount they are paying. ( Remember, if you gave credit to this customer, go back to the Accounts Receivable Journal above and note that they paid their bill).

The next record is the Accounts Payable Journal. This is the record where you will record all the money you owe your vendors that gave you their merchandise/services on credit. Record the date you received their merchandise/services, the name of the vendor, their invoice number and the dollar amount of the merchandise/services that you bought. This journal will remind you to pay your bills on time.

The next record is called the Cash Disbursements Journal. This record will record all the payments that you make. Here you will record the date you make a payment, the name of your vendor, the invoice and account number that you are paying and the amount you paid. You might also want to record the check number that you used to pay this vendor. Remember, if you recorded this bill as a bill you owed to someone in your Accounts Payable Journal we talked about above, then go to that journal and record that you paid this bill so that you do not pay it twice.

Finally, there is something called the Payroll Journal. If you have people you hire to work in your company, you probably pay them a paycheck. This is the journal where you will record those payments. Record the date of the payment, the name of the employee, the hours worked and the amount you paid them. Remember to include on the side how much you took out of their paychecks for Federal Income Tax Withholding (FIT), Social Security Tax (FICA) and Medicare Insurance Tax (MICA). There may be other taxes and deductions you need to record. Also, remember that you as the employer will have to pay the same amount as the FICA and MICA and any other taxes that may be applicable.

I know my explanations are very simple, but I hope they give you an idea of the accounting records you should keep. All of the journals that I described above are called your "Financial Records". If your company or business is small, then you might just want to keep a Cash Receipts Journal and a Cash Disbursements Journal (just remember who owes you money and who you owe money to).

I hope this helped. Just remember there is a lot more to accounting records than what I described above. You may want to talk to an accounting professional or an experienced bookkeeper to further address your needs. Good Luck!