Know Your Numbers: Bookkeeping for Service Businesses

Most service business owners are excellent at the trade — plumbing, cleaning, landscaping, electrical, detailing — but run financially blind. They know what came into the bank account but cannot tell you their actual profit margin, which jobs cost them money, or what they will owe at tax time. This course fixes that. Built for the owner-operator who does not have an accounting degree and does not want one, this 30-lecture program walks you through every layer of bookkeeping that a service business actually needs: how to set up a chart of accounts that reflects how your business actually operates, how to build daily money habits that take under 20 minutes and keep your books current without month-end scrambling, how to invoice cleanly and collect without awkward follow-ups, how to track every expense and business mile so nothing taxable slips through, and how to read a profit and loss statement and cash flow report so the numbers tell you something useful. The final section shows you exactly what to prepare before handing your books to a tax professional — and how that preparation cuts your accounting bill and eliminates surprises at filing time. What you will be able to do after this course: - Build and maintain a chart of accounts that matches your actual revenue streams and cost categories - Log every transaction on a weekly cadence without it taking over your schedule - Send invoices that get paid faster and track receivables so nothing ages past 30 days - Capture every deductible expense including mileage, home office, and equipment - Read your P&L and understand what the margin number actually means for your business - Close each month in under an hour and hand a clean package to your accountant at year end This is operator-to-operator financial training. Specific numbers, specific workflows, no theory for its own sake.

What you'll learn

Course curriculum

Section 1: Section 1: Setup and Chart of Accounts

• Welcome: What Good Books Actually Do for Your Business
• Bank Accounts, Cards, and Tool Selection
• Building Your Chart of Accounts
• Setting Opening Balances and Starting Clean
• Connecting Your Tools: Bank Feed, Receipt Capture, and Mileage

Section 2: Section 2: Daily Money Habits

• The Daily 10-Minute Money Habit That Keeps Books Current
• The Friday Reconciliation: Closing the Week in 20 Minutes
• Categorization Rules: Getting Every Transaction in the Right Bucket
• Handling Cash Payments and Cash Expenses
• Monthly Bank Reconciliation: Confirming Your Books Are Right

Section 3: Section 3: Invoicing and Accounts Receivable

• What a Professional Invoice Includes and Why It Gets Paid Faster
• When and How to Send Invoices That Get Read
• Tracking What You Are Owed: Accounts Receivable in Practice
• Getting Paid: Methods, Fees, and Handling Late Clients
• Recurring Billing: Automating Income From Regular Clients

Section 4: Section 4: Expenses, Receipts, and Mileage

• Which Expenses Are Deductible and Which Are Not
• Receipt Management: A System That Survives Tax Season
• Vehicle and Mileage Deductions: Capturing Every Kilometer
• Home Office and Equipment Deductions Done Correctly
• Paying Subcontractors and the T4A Obligation

Section 5: Section 5: Reading Your P&L and Cash Flow

• Reading Your Profit and Loss Statement: What Every Line Means
• Margin Analysis: What Your Profit Percentage Actually Tells You
• Cash Flow vs. Profit: Why You Can Be Profitable and Still Run Short
• The Three Reports to Run Every Month Without Exception
• Using Your Numbers to Make Real Business Decisions

Section 6: Section 6: Month-End Close and Handing Off to a Tax Pro

• The Month-End Close Checklist: Nothing Left Behind
• The Quarterly Financial Review: Patterns You Can Only See Over Time
• Year-End Prep: What to Collect Before You See Your Accountant
• Working With a Tax Professional: How to Get Maximum Value
• Annual Systems Review: Keeping Your Bookkeeping Current as You Grow