Unless you have an accounting/bookkeeping background or interest, one aspect of business that many small business people find hard to manage is their accounts. And June and July are obvious times for getting your accounts sorted – in Australia anyway!

A lot of the time it is simple – if you have systems set up and the time and energy to sit and concentrate on it. You simply record all the expenses you have (copying information from invoices and receipts) in one place and all your income in another place – whether the different places are separate sections of your system or just different columns.

Lots of elements go into business accounts – it’s nice when they all fit!

But what happens when those unusual situations arise? Personally, I ask my accountant how to record something – although now days my bookkeeper manages it and usually knows how to deal with details anyway. How do you deal with the trickier accounting tasks?

But I did come across Tilda Virtual’s advice on how to include barter arrangements in your accounts – and she made it easy to do.

Of course, some people would ask why would you bother – bartering is just between two people and doesn’t have to be entered into business accounts. However, if you have purchased materials, how do you account for their use in a bartering relationship? Many businesses find it is necessary to record barter transactions to keep everything in order.

More importantly, barter arrangements are still counted as part of your income as far as the Tax Office is concerned. So with Kylie’s accounting tip and this new knowledge, you can record any bartering you do in your accounts.