Eric Gerard Ruiz, CPA

Welcome to Fit Small Business’ free QuickBooks Online tutorials. Each provides an in-depth lesson complete with text, examples, and a comprehensive video demonstration — designed to help you better understand how to use QuickBooks for your business. If you don’t have QuickBooks Online, visit the QuickBooks website to sign up for a 30-day free trial…

Journal entries are the fundamental building blocks of accounting. All accounting transactions start with a journal entry, the only way to record transactions in the books. Accounting journal entries are crucial in establishing a paper trail for transactions. Each journal entry must affect at least two accounts with total debits and credits balanced. In this…

The best law firm bookkeeping and accounting software must be able to handle client trust accounts (CTAs), including interest on lawyers’ trust accounts (IOLTAs), track time and expenses spent on cases accurately, and maintain detailed records to bill the client properly. It should also have a three-way reconciliation of client ledgers, trust accounts, and bank…

While taking a crash course might be beneficial to small business owners who aren’t well-versed in accounting concepts, it often lacks the flexibility busy business owners need. To help, here are six small business accounting books that allow business owners to expand their knowledge at their own pace, providing valuable insights without the time constraints…

QuickBooks Online is accounting software designed to help small businesses manage assets, liabilities, equity, income, and expenses, while Excel is a spreadsheet program for data organization, analysis, and visualization. You can use QuickBooks Online for accounting right out of the box, but with Excel, you have to have the expertise and time to set up…

QuickBooks Online (QBO) is a robust accounting platform, and like most business software, it comes with a learning curve, especially for those without an accounting background. There are several effective ways to learn QuickBooks, including hands-on practice with a free QuickBooks Online trial, online courses, and books or guides. Another option is to become a…

Goodwill is an intangible asset that arises from a business combination. When one company purchases another, the acquiring company often pays more than the value of the acquired company’s net assets. Think of it like selling a product—if you want to make a profit, you need to charge more than what the product costs to…

By following our 10 cash flow management tips for small business operations—including not paying bills until due, utilizing a credit line, investing excess cash, establishing a petty cash fund, and determining your cash conversion cycle—you can meet short- and long-term cash requirements and optimize return on idle funds. Cash flow management is important for all…

The best multicompany accounting software for your business depends on whether you need to keep separate books for multiple organizations or consolidate those organizations into a single set of financial statements. When keeping the books for multiple organizations, it’s nice to have the ability to add multiple companies to your software without paying for each…

First-in, first-out, also known as the FIFO inventory method, is one of four different ways to assign costs to ending inventory. FIFO assumes that the first items purchased are sold first. Companies must make an assumption about their flow of inventory goods to assign a cost to the inventory remaining at the end of the…

Accounting controls are methods and procedures that prevent, detect, and correct misstatements that occur within the financial accounting process until the formation of the financial statements. They are one type of a larger set of internal controls that every business should follow. When we talk about accounting controls, we’re referring to controls within the accounting…

The cash purchase price and sales price of equipment are both shown in the investing section of the cash flow statement. However, if all or a portion of an equipment purchase is financed, that portion has no cash flow effect and is excluded from the cash flow statement—but it is reported either as disclosure in…