THOSE numbers can’t possibly be correct! Can they? Learn to read and understand your reports before year-end

Learn to read and understand your reports before year-end

Business owners often dislike doing their own bookkeeping. They don’t like the idea of spending time on their numbers when they could be working on growing their business, making sales, training employees, taking care of inventory and all the other multitude of daily tasks.  Sometimes, the numbers don’t make sense…or they seem messy, so owners ignore them…what a dilemma!

Even when you’ve hired a bookkeeper, they give you reports that don’t make sense…or they might seem correct, but you don’t know how to use the numbers to make decisions.  Every set of books tells a story…do you know how to read yours?

This workshop is designed to show you where your numbers come from and how they get into your reports.  You’ll use your Profit and Loss and Balance Sheet reports to understand how well your business is doing, and what your numbers are telling you.

Accounting is very similar to us reading a book.  We start with the alphabet, and as little kids we learn the 26 letters; then we start grouping them together as short words, then more complex words.  Words become short, simple sentences; then those sentences become longer and more complex.  Ultimately, we group the words and sentences into paragraphs, chapters, and books to tell a story.   We often read a story with fascination; other times it’s a bit bland… Accounting is no different.

Accounting is using numbers instead of words to tell a story.  We take those initial numbers, our money coming in and going out.  We’re going to organize them into similar groupings; then we’re going to take the groupings and place similar groupings together, like paragraphs.  Once we have our paragraphs coming together, we’ll then bring them together to create chapters, and books…that we’ll share with ourselves and with others.

Sometimes, people feel like they are learning a foreign language when they are learning accounting…they truly are; it’s the language of money; the language of business; and just like it takes practice to learn to read and speak a language, it takes similar time to learn to read and speak the language of money.

Workshop Objectives:

• Show you where your numbers come from and how they get into your reports.  You’ll use your Profit and Loss and Balance Sheet reports to understand how well your business is doing, and what your numbers are telling you.
• Avoid the sinking feeling of not knowing how much money is left in your bank account.
• Reflect on this year and make any necessary adjustments to your budget before year-end.
• See a clearer picture of your financial situation.
• Plan for the upcoming year and take care of any tax issues before end of year.
• Identify areas where you may need to make changes to optimize your finances.

Additional Benefits:

• Have more time to enjoy the holiday season
• Reduce stress during this busy time of year
• Start the new year with a clean slate

Marie’s Bio:

Dr. Marie Gibson is an award-winning instructor, author, and consultant with more than 30 years of business experience and multiple degrees in business, agriculture, and education.

Her strong belief in accounting education motivated her to earn her doctorate with research that examined how students learned accounting concepts using digital, online classes.   Her strong interest in education, her expertise and background combined with her knowledge of QuickBooks® software, create a dynamic skill set for her consulting clients and students.

She helps create efficient, accurate, and easy-to-use accounting systems, and customizes QuickBooks and spreadsheets to make wise business decisions.  Marie’s advisory business offers several online self-learning programs as well as her one-to-one consulting services.  Recently she has expanded to include bookkeeping services, as well as training and consulting services.

The Nevada SBDC is funded in part through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.