NEW: Add Bookkeeper-For-You To Your Site
Bookkeeper-For-You Manual
Backup Manager |
Database Manager |
Category Manager |
Notes |
Enter Data |
Show Data |
Find Data |
Profit Report |
Tax Report |
Email Manager
Here is the manual for your Bookkeeper-For-You account,
all on one page for easy printing.
If you've just opened your account you might want to first refer
to the New User Guide for
a quick summary of a few important concepts.
Don't be scared off by the length of this page,
you should be able to operate most Bookkeeper-For-You controls
without reading about them first. This is a reference
document, not required reading.
If you're ever confused when using Bookkeeper-For-You, click the Help
link at the top of whatever screen you're looking at, and you'll be
taken to the appropriate section of this document that describes that
feature.
The following sections describe each feature of
Bookkeeper-For-You.
Backup Manager
Video
The first thing you'll probably want to do, before you
start entering data, is learn how to download backups
of your data to your personal computer.
Maintaining current backups of your data on your
own computer is your responsibility.
If you choose Backup Manager from the Bookkeeper Features
menu (top right of screen once you login) you'll see
three backup options.
1) Automatic Backups
Recommended:
If you turn on automatic backups Bookkeeper-For-You will
email you a backup of all the data in your account every
time you login.
Backups will be sent at most once per day, no matter
how many times you login during that day.
2) Email Backups
You can also manually email yourself a backup of your data at any time
by submitting the appropriate form on the Backup Data
page.
3) Download Backups
Or you can download backups with your web browser
whenever you wish.
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Database Manager
Video
You can create as many databases as you need to
keep records for all your projects.
As example, you might wish to keep your personal
finances within one database, and your business
finances within another database.
Or maybe you have more than one business and
you want to keep separate accounting records
for each enterprise. You could set up
a database for each of your businesses.
Each database you create is a completely seperate set of
financial records.
Before you begin entering data you may want to give
some thought as to how you want to organize your
data within one or more databases.
Test Database
A test database is automatically installed
in each account so that you have a place where
you can experiment freely while you get used
to using your account.
When you enter your account for the first time
you are taken in to this test database.
Once you feel comfortable using the system,
you can create new databases named as you wish,
and ignore the test database.
Creating A Database
You can easily create a new database whenever you need one
by choosing Database Manager from the drop down
Bookkeeper Features menu seen at upper right of screen.
Once you're in the Database Manager,
enter a name for your new database, and click "Create
New Database".
Changing The Active Database
Only one database can be active at a time.
You can use the Database Manager to change
from one database to another whenever you like.
As example, you could first enter some data in to your
business database. Then use the Database Manager to make
your personal finances database active, and work with that
set of data.
Active Database Indicator
You can remind
yourself which database is active at any time by looking at
the upper left corner of the screen, where your login and
current active database are always shown.
Edit A Database
If you wish to change the name of one of your
databases, using the Edit Database feature. Select
the database you wish to edit, enter the new name,
and click the Edit button.
Erase A Database
You can delete a database if you no longer need it.
Go to the Database Manager. Select the database
you want to delete in the red panel at bottom of page.
You can't delete the currently active database, (or the test
database) so you may need to change to a different database
before you can delete the one that is currently active.
Before the database is deleted, you'll see a "Are you sure?" alert
which asks you to confirm your decision.
Be careful here, once you delete a database, it's gone forever.
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Category Manager
Video
Inside each of your databases you can further organize
your data within income and payment categories that
you create.
You could for example place all the money you spend
on promoting your business within an "advertising"
category.
You might file all the income you get
from the sale of your ebook in a category you call "ebook sales".
Once you create an income or payment category, that category
is auto added to a drop down menu in the search feature,
which makes it easy to retrieve any specific set of data you
are interested in tracking.
Edit A Category
You can change the name of a category using the edit function.
Delete A Category
You can delete a category if desired. Please understand
that when you delete a category you are also deleting any income or
payment data within that category.
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Notes
Video
You can add a note to each income and payment entry, further
customizing the organization of your data.
You could for example use the note field to include the check number of
a payment.
In an example above, we put all your ebook sales in to
an income category we called "ebook sales".
We could
use the notes feature to further refine that organization
by typing which specific ebook was sold in the notes field.
So, a particular sale might be placed in the "ebook sales"
category, and in the notes field we specify the ebook
that was sold as "My Big Fat Ebook".
Once that is done you can easily find all ebook sales,
or all sales of any specific ebook.
This is just an example, you can use the category and notes
feature to organize any kind of income and payment data.
Databases, categories and notes are all under your control and provide
you with the flexibility to organize your data in whatever manner is appropriate
for your project.
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Enter Income Or Payment
Video
You can enter income or payment data in to your
account by choosing either "Enter Income" or "Enter
Payment" from the Bookkeeper Features menu at the top
right corner of every screen.
Once you reach the entry screen you'll see
that each income or payment entry is automatically given
a unique number.
Today's month, date and year are auto selected for
you, but you can change them as needed for each
entry.
You enter the source of the income or payment, and the amount,
on the right side of the form.
You can then select any of the income categories you
have established using the
Category Manager. By assigning a category to your income or
payment entry, you're making it easier to find specific types
of data with searches.
Finally, you can add a short note to each entry. You could
add a check number here, or any other information that would
make it easier for you to later find specific data, or groups
of data.
Once you've submitted your data you will be returned to the
Income or Payment entry screen again, so you can quickly add
the next item.
Please note that you will use one screen to enter income data,
and another screen to enter payment data. Be sure to use
the correct screen for the type of data you wish to enter.
If you wish to see all your income or payment data, click the button
at the bottom of the screen, labeled, "Show All Income" or "Show All
Payments".
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Show Income Or Payment
Video
You can view all of the income or payment data you have
entered in to your account by choosing either "Show All Income"
or "Show All Payments" from the Bookkeeper Features menu.
You can tell the program how many income or payment records
to display on each page by choosing "Records Per Page" from
the Bookkeeper Features menu.
You can edit the data in any entry by clicking the Edit button
in the yellow section on the left of the screen.
You can delete any entry by clicking the Delete button on
the right hand side of the screen.
If you want to find a specific entry, or set of data, click
on the "Find Specific Income" or "Find Specific Payments" button
in the lower right corner of the display.
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Find Income Or Payment
Video
You can search for income or payment data by choosing
"Find Income Data" or "Find Payment Data" from the Bookkeeper
Features menu.
Please note that
income and payment data each have their own search
feature. Choose the appropriate search screen for the
type of data you are looking for.
Search Multiple Fields
The first search box you see at the top of the screen helps
you search through multiple fields of your database.
If you leave the settings at the default of....
Any Date
Any Month
Any Year
Any Source
Any Category
...you'll be shown all the income or payment data in your database.
If you wish to limit your search to a particular date, month, year,
income source, payment to, or category, select the appropriate
choice from one or more of the drop down menus.
As example, if you wish to find all the payments you made
to your hosting company in the year 2004, choose 2004 from
the year drop down, and "hosting" from your list of custom
categories (we're assuming here you set up "hosting" as
a payment category).
Search The Notes Field
In the 2nd box on the screen you can search all of your notes.
For example, if you use the notes field to store the check numbers
of payments, you could use the notes search to find a specfic check.
Or, if you use the notes field to record income from specific
customers, you could search the notes field to find all income from
any customer.
The notes field can contain any kind of information you want, which
helps you organize your data, your way.
Please note that data in the notes field
should probably be limited to a few words or numbers so that the tables that
display your data will remain tidy and easy to view.
Search The Amount Field
The last search box on the page makes it easy to search for a specific
income or payment amount.
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Edit Income Or Payment
You can edit any income or payment entry.
Use the "Find Income Data" or
"Find Payment Data" features
to locate the entry that you wish to edit.
When you click on the Edit button attached to that entry
you'll see a form that will allow you to edit any of the
fields within that entry.
When you've completed your changes, click "Edit This Entry"
and you'll be taken to a listing of all your income or payment
data, depending on the data type of the item you just edited.
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Profit Report
Video
The Profit Report offers a method to obtain a quick overall summary
of your income, payments and profit/loss.
When you enter this feature you'll see a drop down menu that asks you
to choose a year. This drop down will display each year you have entered data
for.
Once you select a year you'll see a printout that shows your income,
payments and profit/loss for each month of that year, with a total
at the bottom.
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Tax Report
Video
The Tax Report feature shows an overall summary of your data by
category, instead of by month.
You'll first be asked to select a year.
Once you've done so, you'll see a printout that your income
and payments totaled by the custom categories you have created.
This information can help you analyze your business, and
provides a very handy worksheet for filling out tax forms
like the IRS Schedule C, the self employed income tax form
used by U.S. tax payers.
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Email Manager
Video
Use this feature to change the email address the system
sends your backups to.
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