Basic Accounting Skills
Every Entrepreneur Should Know

Deciding to start your own business is exciting. You can pursue a passion, be your own boss, and control your own success. But chances are there’s an aspect of entrepreneurship that’s a little (or a lot) less appealing: handling your accounting.

While accounting isn’t as glamorous as selecting a business name and logo, it’s just as important. After all, if you don’t stay on top of your cash flow, pay creditors, and file tax returns, your business won’t last long.

Even if you plan on outsourcing your accounting from day one, it’s a good idea to understand a few simple concepts and have some basic accounting skills. This article will help you start building that foundation.

1. Set Up and Maintain a Chart of Accounts

   A chart of accounts is a listing of all of the financial accounts in your general ledger. Every company’s chart of accounts is different, depending on its size, the types of activities it engages in, and transactions that need to be reflected in its books.

   While most accounting software has a built-in chart of accounts, you can add, delete, and edit accounts as needed. This is also one of the areas where accounting automation can make day-to-day financial management more efficient. If you're using cloud-based accounting automation software, managing and customizing your chart of accounts becomes even easier with built-in intelligence that adapts to your business type.

   Keep in mind that while you can add as many accounts as you need, you should avoid creating too many. You don’t need separate accounts for every single micro-transaction, customer, department, utility, or supplier. A bloated chart of accounts just leads to immaterial balances in accounts and hinders meaningful analysis.

   For a deeper dive into practical financial tools that consolidate your key reports, explore how modern platforms integrate profit and loss, cash flow, and balance sheet insights for more accurate forecasting.

2. Preparing (and Using) a Budget

   Knowing how to prepare and use a budget is an essential business task. Budgeting ensures you know exactly where your business stands and whether you need to decrease your spending or increase your revenue to hit your goals.

   Knowing how to prepare a budget is also essential if you want outside funding since lenders and investors typically want to see a detailed, realistic budget that outlines your projected revenues and expenses.

   Do some research and number crunching to prepare a reasonable budget that reflects:

   • Projected Revenues

   • Fixed and variable expenses

   • One-time spending and capital investments

   • Setting aside cash for a business emergency fund

   • Repaying business loans and other debts

   • Paying yourself and returning a profit to investors

   If you’re brand new in business, these numbers might seem like a guessing game, but start with conservative educated guesses. You can always refine and revise your budget over time. Many business expense budget templates are available online or within standard spreadsheet software to help you get started.

   Once you have a budget, remember it’s a living document—not something you look at once a year! Set aside time each week to compare your actual numbers to your budget, make adjustments as necessary, and avoid common financial mistakes.

3. Understand Fixed vs. Variable Costs

   Managing costs is a critical priority for any business owner. Even if your business is generating substantial revenue, you won’t be in business long if you're not strictly controlling costs. Part of controlling costs is understanding the fundamental difference between fixed and variable costs. Working with an accountant for business forecasting services can further strengthen your financial planning by helping you anticipate these expenses and make informed strategic decisions.

   Fixed costs don’t change even when your sales volumes or production levels increase. This generally includes things like office rent, liability and property insurance, management salaries, and interest on loan payments.

   Variable costs are directly impacted by changes in the volume of products or services your company produces. This includes things like direct hourly labor, sales commissions, raw materials, packaging supplies, and shipping costs.

   Understanding fixed vs. variable costs is essential because it helps you accurately determine a price for your products or services and calculate your break-even point, which is a must if you want to be profitable.

   The formula is: Break-even point = fixed costs / (price - variable costs)

   Businesses with higher fixed costs generally have a higher break-even point, meaning they need to consistently sell more products or services in order to turn a profit.

4. Manage Cash Flow—Not Just Profits

   Profit and cash flow are both crucial for a successful business, but they’re not the exact same thing, and new business owners frequently run into trouble when they don’t understand the difference.

   Profit is simply your business’s revenue minus its expenses, while cash flow refers to how and when liquid cash actually comes into and goes out of your business. Many businesses are highly profitable on paper but still experience negative cash flow. This usually happens when companies allow clients to pay for goods or services on credit (e.g., Net-30 or Net-60 terms).

   For example, if you make a $10,000 sale on credit, your profit and loss statement will immediately show $10,000 of revenue. But that $10,000 of revenue isn’t cash sitting in your bank account—it’s an account receivable. Until your customer actually pays the invoice, you can’t use that money to pay rent, buy new inventory, or pay other necessary business expenses.

   Selling to customers on credit can be an excellent way to encourage larger sales. But it’s crucial to ensure that you have enough cash coming in to cover the money that needs to go out to your own vendors. You can do this by creating a reliable cash flow forecast.

   A cash flow forecast is a lot like a budget, but rather than estimating broad revenues and expenses, it maps the exact timing of cash coming in and going out of the business. This allows you to spot potential cash shortages before they arise and make a plan for dealing with them.

5. Don’t Forget About Taxes

   Income taxes for businesses are notoriously complex and vary significantly by country, state, and business structure, so it’s always a good idea to outsource preparing and filing tax returns to a qualified accountant or tax advisor in your local region.

   But don’t wait until year-end to think about taxes. As a business owner, you are generally required to pay estimated taxes throughout the year. For example, in the US, these payments are typically due four times per year—April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15 of the following year.

   Missing these deadlines can prove incredibly costly due to penalties and interest, so actively set aside a dedicated portion of your monthly profits to ensure you have money available when it’s time to make estimated tax payments. How much should you set aside? That depends entirely on your business structure and location, so be sure to reach out to your tax advisor for a personalized estimate early in the year.

Conclusion

As a business owner, you don’t have to become an accounting expert overnight—there are plenty of professional accountants and automated software tools you can call on to deal with the heavy lifting and daily details. However, establishing a basic foundational knowledge of accounting and taxes helps you truly understand what’s going on in your business and whether you actually have enough cash in the bank to cover your bills. This foundational knowledge empowers you to become a much better decision-maker and helps you avoid the common financial pitfalls that bring so many other budding entrepreneurs down.

Further Reading from Skills You Need

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The Skills You Need Guide to Self-Employment and
Running Your Own Business

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About the Author

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Mike Whitmire is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and an expert in accounting workflow automation. He is passionate about helping accountants work smarter, not harder, and frequently writes on topics related to business finance and technology. He resides in LA with his family.