Re: Yearend Transactions

[Luke <..hidden..>]

On Sun, 25 Apr 2010, Tom Bullock wrote:

> Your questions are important ones.  The sources you quote assume a
> certain amount of basic accounting knowledge in the areas that your
> questions reflect.  Because you seem not to have that knowledge at the
> moment, the instructions assuming same are opaque to you.

I am a programmer, not an accountant.  So, my knowledge on that subject 
expands on an as-needed basis.  Years ago it was double entry and such; 
today it is yearends.
(Because, in all my years of using SL/LSMB, I have not actually needed 
them for several different reasons irrelevant to this discussion)

 > Because there are different accounting systems part of the answer to
> your question would be to know are you running your system according to
> the laws of any of these countries: UK, EU, Australia, New Zealand, USA,
> others?

As I said, It's on the US service company COA.  I should have added that 
It is operating under U.S. corporate tax law (form 1120, that is).

> Since you state that you are keeping records on a cash basis, you will
> not be seeming to use accounting techniques required by GAAP (generally
> accepted accounting principles).

Not the case at all.  I would have preferred not to use cash, but my 
accountant says that for a service company, cash is better when that 
election is possible.  I could in theory run the books on accrual, and 
reports to him on cash, but for the sake of consistency, I thought it 
better to maintain the books in the same way that everything not in the 
books is done.

> or for what purpose: government reports, banking loan requests, etc.  I
> assume from your question that you are tracking personal expenditures
> for family/personal activities.

I am not sure why you would assume that, but it is not the case.  This 
particular application is for a standard corporation (I.E. not sub S).  As 
for what purpose: accurate books and cashflow tracking, which will lead to 
proper information for tax and other reports.

To avoid double taxation, dividends to stockholders are not being paid, so 
that aspect of the information is not strictly relevant, although 
interesting.

Properly handling retained earnings and equity is very much relevant.

Regards,

Luke