Bookkeeping for Booksellers©
(scroll down to see many screen images of the software)
Latest changes to website: 08/15/2006, 17:05 PST
Being an engineer by profession and an online bookseller for supplemental income, I decided to make doing my taxes and tracking my online bookselling business performance even easier by developing a spreadsheet that would give me all the details from my online bookselling business to put on my Schedule C and showing me with graphs and charts just how well my business was doing. I also felt it should give me all the information I would need to report the sales of books that are sold to in-state customers and my retail sales tax obligation. If you have already purchased and read my book, you know I am thorough, and this bookkeeping software is no different.
For a long time, I was keeping this information on several different spreadsheets and in QuickBooks Premier, but it was awkward and time consuming to bring it all together and I wanted something that would not only perform these tasks, but would tell me and show me how my online bookselling business was doing. I wanted to know at any time how I was doing on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis. I wanted visual representations that would show me how many books I was selling, how they were shipping, if I was collecting enough in postage reimbursements, etc., so the spreadsheet (workbook) I have developed is comprised of the following:
19 tabbed worksheets for sales, expenses, reports, and graphs
55 graphs: bar, pie, and 3D (they are all formatted, you just enter your sales/expense data)
I want to show you examples from the spreadsheet, but I want you to know the data represented is not from my business, it is comprised of numbers I have entered for the purpose of giving you examples only, First I want to give you an idea of what this spreadsheet is capable of handling. It is able to handle up to 12,000 book sales per year and up to 1,000 expenses in any category. The tabbed sheets are:
Sales (up to 12,000 entries allowed)
Postage Paid (up to 1,000 entries allowed)
Cost of Goods Sold (up to 1,000 entries allowed)
Commissions & Fees (up to 1,000 entries allowed)
Car & Truck Expenses (up to 1,000 entries allowed)
Advertising (up to 1,000 entries allowed)
Supplies (up to 1,000 entries allowed)
Travel, Meals, & Entertainment (up to 1,000 entries allowed)
Taxes & Licenses (up to 1,000 entries allowed)
Returns (up to 1,000 entries allowed)
Utilities (up to 1,000 entries allowed)
Other Expenses (up to 1,000 entries allowed)
Summary by Month
Summary by Quarter
Annual Summary
Monthly Graphs
Quarterly Graphs
Pie Charts
Misc. Stats
Now, I want to show you what this spreadsheet looks like, along with some examples of the graphs, You can click on any of the thumbnail images to enlarge them.
Sales Data Entry Sheet
Click the thumbnail to enlarge
This is a screen capture of the sales data entry page. All of the fields in light grey are data entry fields where you would input, the current year, your state retail sales tax rate, whether or not your state charges retail sales tax on in-state shipping and handling fees, and then below, you would enter information about the books you sell, including:
Month
Day
SKU/ID
Selling Price
Shipping Charge
In-State (Y/N)
Shipping Method
The spreadsheet will use this information in many other places to determine your retail sales tax obligation to your state, your gross sales, how many books you sold (by month, quarter, and for the year), and in the graphs.
Along the bottom of the spreadsheet are tabs to access all the other pages of the workbook, and there are similar spreadsheets for all of the expense entry data as well as the graphs. Below are thumbnails of the various expense entry sheets, followed by some examples of the graphs.
Expense Entry Sheets
Click on the thumbnail images to enlarge
Summary Sheets
Click on the thumbnail images to enlarge
Summary pictures shown are from empty spreadsheet, i.e., no data has been entered.
Graphs
Click on thumbnail images to enlarge
In some of the pie charts, the placement of numbers made them impossible to read, but in the spreadsheet, if you put your mouse cursor on any of the pie slices, the data will display in terms of the actual value as well as its corresponding percentage of the entire pie.
Above, I have shown 15 of the 19 different sheets and 27 of the 55 graphs in the "Bookkeeping for Booksellers"© spreadsheet, this should give you a good idea of what the spreadsheet is capable of providing you in the way of information.
The only real requirement for you to use this workbook (spreadsheet) is that you have Microsoft Excel© 2000 or later. The spreadsheet size is 36Mb (empty), so I would recommend a minimum of 512Mb RAM. In fact, 512Mb is what I have on my computer (133Mhz Pentium 5) and it runs just fine.
This software is available separate from my book, just click on the "Order Now" button in the top portion of the screen and you will be taken to the order page where the various purchase options are made clear.
If you really want to know, AND SEE, how well your online bookselling business is doing, this spreadsheet is a fantastic tool. To top that off, it makes reporting the in-state sales tax a breeze and all of the book selling related Schedule C expense and sales information is as simple as copying the numbers at the end of the year to your tax form. I designed and developed this for use in my own online bookselling business, so you know I have checked it out well.
Click Here To Order Bookkeeping for Booksellers Software
Click Here To Order CD-ROM Book
Click Here To Order Paperback Book
Disclaimer
This Software Is Not A Substitute For Accounting, Tax, or Legal Advice
The spreadsheet, "Bookkeeping for Booksellers" provides bookkeeping and tax information, not bookkeeping, tax, or legal advice. Although every effort has been made to assure the accuracy, usefulness, and reliability of the information the spreadsheet provides, it is not, and shall not be construed as legal, tax, or accounting advice. The author and publisher shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused, or alleged to be caused, directly or indirectly by the information provided by this software. The information, methods, and techniques described by the author are based on his own experience.