That said, I still need to build a produce invoices and track when
they were paid.
Since your accountant told you to never touch a book keeping system
again, that gets a little tricky.
I'm hoping for something that lets me stay in the libreoffice ecosystem.
To track income, a possible solution is a write document, that is
changed according to function.
I've attached an example to this email.
File >Properties >Custom Properties is where to go to change most of
the information in the document.
* Replace "Invoice" with "Pro-Forma Invoice", "Quote", "Receipt",
"Estimate", "Statement" or other appropriate
* The item, and the price are changed in properties.
# Use your standard price, for the pricing.
# Change description in the pricing block, when you change the item.
# Change quantity in the pricing block, for the specific client;
There are three lines for discounts:
* Two are for deducting specific dollar amounts;
* One is for deducting a specific percentage;
Then, if the correct tax rate is in the description field, it
automatically calculates the appropriate tax, if the correct amount is
listed in the description field. (The accompanying template is wrong.
Tax is not 97.5%, but 0.975%. ).
"Tracking number" is for S&H, if needed.
Then you have a line for any deposit / down payment that was made/were
made. Put this amount is the item column.
The next line is how much was previously paid. This excludes any
deposit/down payment that was made. This also excludes any payments made
today. (There is no easy way to ensure that no errors are inadvertently
made here. For some reason, that cell doesn't automatically add numbers
together.)
The next line is how much was paid today. Put this item in the item
column. Under quantity put how it was made. cash, cheque, credit card,
debit card, something else.
The final line is how much is still owing.
When everything is correct
* Save the document with the client's name, form-type, and date of the
original request, or invoice number;
* Export the document as a PDF, then email the PDF to your client, and
to your bookkeeping email account. (The bookkeeping email account is an
email account whose sole function is to store PDFs until you, your
bookkeeper, or your accountant can go through them, and do the correct
accounting procedure with them.
Some caveats about using this:
* The forms have to be correctly labelled as to what they are;
* You have to use the same document, for everything from initial
estimate to final receipt;
* Previous payments have to be double checked, to ensure that the
numbers are correct;
To track outgo, the "simple solution" is:
* Cash is completely prohibited;
* Use a debit card for all purchases --- this includes rent, utilities,
taxes, and everything else under the sun that your business uses;
* Request both a paper and digital receipt for all purchases;
* In a spreadsheet, One
@ One page is for outgo:
# use one row per purchase:
# Columns are for: record #, date, time, place, card present/not
present, vendor, vendor address, item purchased, cost of purchase;
* lease payments are included in this sheet;
* Payments on outstanding debt is included on this sheet;
* Either you or your accountant or your book keeper needs to reconcile
that spreadsheet with your bank withdrawals at least once a week;
@ One page is for income;
# use one row per payment:
# Columns are for: invoice #, date, time, client name, client address,
initial amount of purchase, amount paid today, amount still owing, how
payment was made;
* Either you or your accountant or your book keeper needs to reconcile
that spreadsheet with your bank deposits at least once a week;
@ One page is for leases, and debt.
# use one row per payment;
# Columns are for: record #, date, time, place, card present/not
present, vendor, vendor address, item purchased, initial balance, amount
paid, current amount owed;
* This sheet duplicates payments made in the outgo sheet.
Sorry, i don't have a template that i can share, of the spreadsheet.
###
The template of the write document is based upon a template I came
across several years ago, and modified to my needs. I don't know where I
found it, nor who made the template I modelled mine after.
I've linked 1 file to this email:
* TK-business-form.odt (69.9 kB) hosted on Box:
https://app.box.com/s/p37iuvoj5hzz4mkauy75nf174c4u7w86