Succeed in Your Business Using Professionally Designed Industry-Specific Accounting Systems Module 1 – Accounting Made Easy, will have taught you to master the core building blocks of accounting and Bookkeeping. Module 2, Practical Small Business Applications, teaches you how to apply those principles to specific industries. You will learn to set up books from scratch, setting up all of the ledgers and journals needed to do full service Accounting for your paying clients. Your clients will learn that you are the only financial analyst that they will ever need because you can do it all!

Industry-Specific Knowledge Gives You a Competitive Advantage

When you have a leak that is flooding your home, would you call an electrician to take care of it? Of course not. You call a plumber because his specialty ensures that he can best solve your problem. Module 2 teaches you industry-specific accounting systems that make you the expert in the specialized Accounting and reporting procedures for many fields. This gives you a tremendous competitive advantage over bookkeepers that, for example, may have no clue where to start setting up accounts for a clothing retailer.

When you finish Module 2, you will have completed a set of books for that kind of business. When you approach a client, your talent and knowledge of their industry demonstrate that you are a specialist in supporting their business. In the same way that when your house floods you want a qualified plumber when a small-business owner needs help, they want someone with the hands-on experience to jump right in and get the financial leaks in their company under control. The Professional Bookkeeper™ designation demonstrates that you have the right tools and the mastery of required skills to come in and get the job done right, and done right now!
Session 1, Part 1 — Real-Life Data Entry

Most beginning Bookkeeping and Accounting positions assume that a system is already in place that you will just take the reigns on. Never make that assumption with a small-business. Their “system” may well be the box that the last pair of shoes they bought came in. When you get one of these boxes of receipts, deposits, and miscellaneous paperwork, count on the fact that you need to know how to get things started from scratch.

You will learn to understand how credit purchases affect your client’s cash flow and the overall financial health of their company. You will learn how to determine precisely where all of your client’s hard-earned dollars were spent. With the reporting skills in which you will become an expert, you will be able to present to clients the complete financial view of their business’ economic strengths and areas that need improvement. It may surprise you to know that a large percentage of businesses do not even know if they are profitable or not. They know that they are bringing in money, but often they do not know how their liabilities offset that income. YOU are the one that will bring these insights into the financial workings of their company to them. Your clients will come to rely on you and value your opinion as you lay out for them where they are really at and advise them as to what they can do to improve their bottom line.

Session 1, Part 2 — Completing the Accounting Model

You will learn how to prepare payroll in a manner that is easy to keep track of and ensures that employees are paid the right amount on time. You will learn a set of step-by-step procedures to correctly determine if a person is an employee or a contractor, and how to avoid costly IRS penalties that your client can incur if they are incorrect in their classification. Sometimes it is to your advantage to use an outside payroll service; learn when it makes sense to do so for you and your clients.

You will learn to breeze through creating quarterly reports with confidence and to understand concepts like the cost of goods sold, the relationship between markup and profit, and why your clients should care about any of these. As you educate your clients in the financial workings of their company, you prove your worth to them over and over, ensuring the clients that you have are the clients you keep so that your time is spent servicing profitable clients, not searching for new ones.

Session 2 — Practical Application in the Retail Industry

Small retail outlets can be some of your most profitable clients and a large sector of small businesses, so knowing how to service them well will add greatly to not only their bottom line but to yours. You will learn the three ways of calculating the cost of goods sold (COGS) in a real-world situation. You will experience the accounting system for three types of businesses (all under one roof): Grocery store, gas station, and auto repair shop. You will see how subsidiary ledgers tell it all and how to prepare them.

Practical Exercise:  You will transform the first month of transactions for “Barry’s Gas & Groceries” into a complete set of financial statements. Since you probably visit gas stations weekly, these are easy clients to find, and some that often need your services most.

Sessions 3 – 4 — Practical Application in the Food Service & Apparel Industry

You will learn the right recipe for creating a full set of books for a bakery and catering business. You will learn to efficiently and accurately report the inventory adjustments and owner costs for the business. You will know how to highlight cash shortages and overages and to know when they are a problem.

Practical Exercise: Stewart’s Bakery has hired you as their Accountant. You will complete a month’s books from beginning to end.

Practical Exercise: Prepare a well-fitted accounting system for a clothing store and prepare the first month’s financials for City Clothing Company.

The Professional Bookkeeper™ Program

The Professional Bookkeeper™ Program gives you the practical hands-on experience to service a wide range of clients and make $40 to $60 per hour. We give you the tools, skills, and support to make your Accounting and Bookkeeping service a success and to give you financial freedom at last.