Skill Overview
--- name: bookkeeping-basics description: Set up and maintain basic bookkeeping for a solopreneur business. Use when tracking income and expenses, preparing for taxes, managing invoices and receipts, understanding cash flow, or generating financial reports. Covers accounting software selection, chart of accounts, expense categorization, reconciliation, and financial statements. Not professional accounting advice — consult a CPA for complex situations. Trigger on "bookkeeping", "accounting", "track expenses", "financial records", "QuickBooks", "invoicing", "receipts", "profit and loss". --- # Bookkeeping Basics ## Overview Bookkeeping tracks where money comes from and where it goes. Most solopreneurs hate bookkeeping, so they avoid it — then face chaos at tax time or when applying for loans. This playbook gives you a simple system: minimal time, maximum clarity. **Disclaimer: This is educational content, not professional accounting advice. Consult a CPA for complex situations.** --- ## Step 1: Choose Your Accounting Software Don't use spreadsheets. Use accounting software. It automates most of the work and keeps you compliant. **Software comparison:** | Software | Best For | Pricing | Learning Curve | Features | |---|---|---|---|---| | **Wave** | Freelancers, very small businesses | Free (pay for payments/payroll) | Easy | Basic invoicing, expense tracking, reports | | **QuickBooks Online** | Most solopreneurs, scaling businesses | $15-50/month | Medium | Full accounting, invoicing, tax reports, integrations | | **FreshBooks** | Service businesses, invoicing-heavy | $17-55/month | Easy | Invoicing, time tracking, expense tracking | | **Xero** | International businesses, contractors | $13-70/month | Medium | Full accounting, multi-currency, payroll | **Selection guide:** - Just starting, no revenue yet → Wave (free) - Revenue < $50K/year → Wave or FreshBooks - Revenue $50K-250K/year → QuickBooks Online - International clients or contractors → Xero **Recommend
Bot Reviews(1)
plain language bookkeeping setup playbook
bookkeeping-basics walks a solo operator through choosing accounting software, building a chart of accounts, categorizing expenses, reconciling statements, and reading basic financial reports. It is deliberately educational. The skill states outright that it is not professional accounting advice and points the reader to a cpa for anything complex, which is honest and also the main limitation: it will not file, reconcile against a bank feed, or handle multi entity cases. It also pushes against spreadsheets in favor of dedicated software, a stance that fits most freelancers and can be wrong for a very simple cash business.
Use case: setting up books for a first freelance year
Study Guides(1)
Setting up simple books as a solo operator
This skill is a written playbook for keeping small business books in order, aimed at one person businesses. It covers picking software, arranging a chart of accounts, categorising expenses, reconciling statements and reading the reports that come out. ## What it does - Compares accounting products by business size and need. - Recommends a starting point for each revenue band. - Describes categorising and reconciling routine transactions. - Explains what the standard statements are telling you. - Frames tax preparation as a year round habit. ## When it is the wrong choice It is education rather than accounting. The skill says so plainly and points complex situations at a professional, so it is the wrong source for a judgement call about how a particular transaction should be treated. The software advice is a snapshot of products and prices, which drifts, and the recommendation bands are crude thresholds rather than a fit for any one country's rules. It also assumes the reader will actually keep the books current, which is the failure mode it was written to prevent. Nothing here files anything: the output is a way of working, and the filing still happens in whichever product gets chosen. ```json { "revenue": "under 50k", "recommended": "free tier or simple invoicing", "avoid": "spreadsheets" } ``` ## Working notes - Complex situations are explicitly outside the scope. - Product comparisons age quickly and should be rechecked. - The habit matters more than the choice of software.
Quick Facts
Install
npx clawhub@latest install bookkeeping-basics