Check out my Chart of Accounts please!

[Sarah Miller]

I am a data guru/excel junky and part of my professional gig is building automated tools using Excel and Access and lots of coding and macros.  I have built a simple (in my highly automated subjective opinion) excel spreadsheet that allows you to add in line items/transactions through the months and monthly balance sheets and P&Ls are generated for the business as a whole AND for each property.  I am just curious how my chart of accounts looks.

 Too much? not enough? Should I be more detailed?  Should I split some things up?  Here is a list:

Asset Accounts:

Asset Accounts:

Property 1 Building

Property 1 Land

Property 2 Building

Property 2 Land

Business Checking Account

Security Deposit Escrow Acct

Reserve Acct for CAPEX

Deferred Maintenance Acct

Accumulated Depreciation - Property 1

Accumulated Depreciation - Property 2

Equipment & Machinery

Maintenance Tools

Appliances, Extra parts

Office Equipment & Furnishings

Computers, Printers, Electronics

Furniture

Misc Office Supplies/Inventory

Other Assets

Liability Accounts:

Property 1 Mortgage

Property 2 Mortgage

Private Lender

Security Deposit Escrow Acct

Short Term Loans

Business Credit Card 1

Business Credit Card 2

Equity Accounts:

Owner Contributions/Draws

Retained Earnings

Income Accounts:

Rental Income

Pet Fees

Storage Fees

Interest Income

Security Deposit Forfeitures

Other Income

Expense Accounts:

Advertising

Automobile/Travel

Repairs/Maintenance

Commissions

Property Tax/Insurance Escrow Expense

Misc Fees

Mortgage Interest Paid

Other Interest Paid

Water & Sewer Utility

Taxes Other than property tax

Electric Utility

Gas Utility

Telephone

Wages

Travel/Entertainment

Depreciation Expense - Property 1

Depreciation Expense - Property 2

Other Expenses

Food/Restaurants

Supplies Expense

De Minimus Items for Rentals

Trash Utility Expense

Storage Expense

Property Acquisition Costs

btw, I have never used nor do I want to use Quickbooks.... :-) Please don't recommend I go to an accountant, I have a tax advisor and thats all I need.  I prefer to do the accounting myself since I do this professionally for a large company and have a finance degree and MBA.

[David Dachtera]

@Sarah Miller,

It's more a question of focus, really, and the value of your time.

As an employee, we learn to trade our time for dollars. As an entrepreneur, we need to un-learn that and instead trade our dollars for time.

I hope you're not a cardiac patient, because this may shock you: money is a "renewable resource" - I can always get more money. (If you need to, take a breath, wait for your heart rate and pressure to come down. Meditate, if that helps.) Yes - I CAN always get more money.

Time? Not so much.

Those who aspire to wealth trade time for money.

Those who understand wealth trade money for time.

Also, you'll want to rethink the concept of "saving", as in not spending. No one ever "saved" their way to wealth. In order to stash that much money you have to have earned it in the first place, gained an inheritance or won the lottery.

No one ever "saved" their way to wealth. You MUST invest for income.

The activities of being an investor are often a stretch outside of one's comfort zone. Those familiar skills and associated activities offer an escape to a place of "comfort", but produce little or no income or profit.

Perhaps you've heard it said:

"Everything you want lies just outside your comfort zone."
- Robert G. Allen