| You begin to really tap Money's power when you | | | | at the end of each month. This category includes |
| use the information from the Money account | | | | a variety of financial information, including data |
| registers to summarize and organize your | | | | about your spending, your net worth, advice the |
| personal or business financial affairs. And the | | | | Money program has provided over the month, |
| principle way you perform this summarization and | | | | investment profits, and potential financial problems. |
| organization is through Money's reports and charts | | | | In essence, it represents an amalgamation of data |
| feature. | | | | from other report categories. |
| Money's reports and charts let you present the | | | | The seventh category, My Favorites, isn't really a |
| information you collect in a variety of helpful | | | | reporting category. It simply listsreports that you |
| ways. You can then use this information to track | | | | have identified as "favorites." You add reports to |
| your incoming expenses, your cash flow, monitor | | | | your My Favoriteslist by first displaying the report |
| your net worth, and even use it for investment | | | | and then choosing the Favorites menu's Add To |
| and small business record keeping--such as for a | | | | Favorites command. |
| small corporation, S corporation or limited liability | | | | A final note: Within each of the five main report |
| company. This short article explains how to do all | | | | categories, Money provides a series of reports. |
| of these things. | | | | Often, Money provides between a half a dozen |
| How do I start using Money's reports? | | | | and a dozen reports. |
| Money's reports and charts summarize and | | | | Using Money's Reports in a Small Corporation or |
| organize the information you collect using Money's | | | | Limited Liability Company |
| account registers. For this reason, you can't use | | | | A final note for small businesses using Money as |
| Money's reports and charts until you have | | | | the basis of a small corporation's or small limited |
| collected some financial data. Ideally, you need to | | | | liability company's accounting system: While Money |
| collect at least a month's worth of information. | | | | is designed to help an individual manage his or her |
| But it is even more valuable if you have | | | | personal finances, the checkbook-style accounting |
| collectedseveral months or even a year or two | | | | program also works for small, simple |
| of financial data in these account registers. | | | | businesses--especially services businesses such as |
| The richer your data set, the more useful and | | | | small professional partnerships and professional |
| interesting your charts and reports become. | | | | limited liability companies, small corporations, |
| An obvious but related point is this: The better | | | | including S corporations, and so forth. |
| the information set you collect using Money's | | | | When you want to use Money's reports in a small |
| account registers, the better your reports and | | | | business setting, know that what Money calls its |
| charts become. Obviously, accuracy counts. For | | | | Spending Reports and Monthly Reports are almost |
| this reason you want to be careful about entering | | | | equivalent to a regular small business accounting |
| payee names, amounts, transaction dates, | | | | system's profit and loss statements. Furthermore, |
| categories, and even memos. | | | | know that what Money calls its What I Have and |
| You also want to enter as detailed a description | | | | What I Owe reports supply the same information |
| of each transaction as you can and as is | | | | as a business balance sheet. In summary, Money |
| reasonable. For example, use income and expense | | | | uses non-standard naming for its reports (at least |
| categories when you record transactions,use full | | | | from the perspective of a corporation), but the |
| and complete payee names, and you may even | | | | information is available. |
| want to use good memo descriptions. As you | | | | And let me end with a caution: What a program |
| work with Money's reports and charts, you are | | | | like Money doesn't handle well (at least in terms of |
| going to find that the richer, the better, the more | | | | small business accounting) is something like |
| detailed the data you collect, the more interesting | | | | inventory. Accordingly, if your small business buys |
| ways you will have to summarize and organize | | | | and sells inventory, you may find it difficult to get |
| your report data. | | | | the reporting information you want from Money. |
| What kinds of reports does Money prepare? | | | | You may want to look at stepping up to a more |
| Money prepares reports that fall into five distinct | | | | fully featured small business accounting system |
| categories. If you take a look at Money's Pick A | | | | for business. Note that stepping up would be |
| Report Or Chart window, you see that Money | | | | particularly attractive in the case where your |
| lists seven report options: Spending Habits, What I | | | | business is operating as an S corporation or a |
| Have, What I Owe, Investments, Taxes, Monthly | | | | limited liability company treated as a partnership |
| Reports, and My Favorites. The first five items in | | | | for income tax purposes because the business's |
| this list represent the five basic report categories | | | | income and deduction data need to flow through |
| Money provides. | | | | to the owners' tax returns with clarity and |
| The sixth report category, Monthly Reports, is a | | | | accuracy. |
| special summary of your financial affairs prepared | | | | |