How to Keep Business Accounts — Complete Guide

Why Is Business Accounting Important?

Most small businesses in Bangladesh rely on memory or simple notebooks for their records. This makes it hard to know monthly profit or loss, outstanding receivables from customers, and payables to suppliers. Without proper accounts, making informed decisions is difficult, getting a bank loan becomes a challenge, and filing income tax returns is a headache.

Proper business accounting tells you: Is your business actually profitable? Which product or service generates the most margin? Where are unnecessary expenses occurring?

Core Accounting Concepts

1. Income (Revenue)

Income is everything you earn from selling products or providing services. Record every sale — with date, amount, customer name and payment method.

2. Expenses

Expenses are all the costs of running your business: employee salaries, rent, utilities, raw material purchases. Categorize them: operating expenses, cost of goods sold, administrative expenses.

3. Profit and Loss

Income minus expenses equals profit or loss. A monthly P&L report tells you whether the business is moving in the right direction.

4. Assets and Liabilities

Assets are what you own (cash, stock, equipment). Liabilities are what you owe. The difference is your net worth or equity.

Accounting Methods

Single Entry

Each transaction is recorded once. Simple for micro-businesses but prone to errors — basically a running list of income and expense.

Double Entry

Every transaction is recorded twice — one debit and one credit. Errors are caught easily, balances always reconcile. All modern accounting software uses double entry.

Daily Bookkeeping Rules

• Daily: Record all sales. Keep cash, credit and mobile banking entries separate.
• Weekly: Reconcile all credit sales. Verify outstanding balances by customer.
• Monthly: Prepare a P&L report. Reconcile with bank statement.
• Annually: Prepare a balance sheet. Prepare for income tax filing.

What Data Should You Record Per Transaction?

For every sale: date, invoice number, customer name, product/service description, quantity, unit price, total price, discount (if any), amount paid, balance due.

For every purchase: date, supplier name, product details, quantity, price, payment method.

Why Use Accounting Software?

Manual ledgers are error-prone, can be lost, and make reporting difficult. Accounting software provides:

• Automatic calculations
• Instant reports at any time
• Separate tracking of receivables and payables
• Easy bank reconciliation
• Secure, backed-up data

Getting Started with Amar Hishab

Amar Hishab is built specifically for small and medium businesses in Bangladesh. With it you can manage income and expense accounts, customer dues, supplier payables, monthly P&L reports, POS billing and stock management — all in one place.