1) A lack of proper Educational Models and Frameworks for cognitive latticing
2) A lack of digital software that transparently enabled users to learn usable processes first, with supporting theory coming second for those who wanted or needed it.
3) Control of the Educational Curriculum by parties who's interests were self-serving and not appropriate for community growth and well being.
With our offerings, we have filled both voids and by-passed the current Educational Controllers.
The first doesn't touch any formal accounting sub systems. A cash business, like small time drug dealing, for example. Maybe some larger drug dealing and arms dealing too, but they typically have a partial set of non-digital books at the very least.
The second includes partial contact with accounting systems. They may track some inflows and some outflows, but there are gaps in their recording process. This results in partial accounting clarity, but it would be impossible to paint a full financial picture from those records.
The third flow is always in contact with accounting systems in some way with a few cross checks to ensure data integrity. This type of system is supposed to be properly reconcilable at all times. In practice, with the current software solutions, it seldom is due to Bookkeeping and Accounting errors that get lumped into something called "suspended accounts". Our system is so simple and transparent, those become a thing of the past, but now we're getting ahead of ourselves a bit...
The error made by most these days is to assume "bookkeeping, accounting ,and financial management" is one giant blob that all must be connected to each other. That has never been the case in the way most imagine. In fact many of the components are supposed to be held separate with some information duplication for good reason.
The first place to start with this education is in fact with your "bookkeeping system". It is #5 in the image above. And it is shown separate from the first four boxes for a perfectly good reason, and that is because it should NOT directly touch any of them!
Your bookkeeping module should be a completely stand alone module with "NO INFORMATION SHARING CONNECTIONS" to any other important systems like a Point of Sale, an Invoicing or a Booking System. It should also be completely separate with no live connections to your Advanced Accounting Systems as well as any payment inflow or outflow systems APPROPRIATE FOR YOU.
Your Bookkeeping module is a Score Keeping System for your Own Game of Commerce. If you should decide to cheat, you will need supplemental systems to understand your full picture with a single system that is kept full and proper for your Tax and Financial Reporting needs. If this idea of introducing "cheating" into the Curriculum is bothersome, then get bothered about the Politicians and Bankers who have been doing this to all of us now for a very, very long time. You will NOT be able to realize the full extent of their behavior until you understand how they do it and get away with it to start with.
We have prototype Sales Systems Developed (Box 1) . Some simple ones for learning and basic use by many small businesses are live at this time. Our more complex, modular systems require more Personal Responsibility than most are interested in taking on with their own data at this time, so they are still not shared.
The other modules related to Boxes 2 through 6 meet all kinds of other needs.
The Bookkeeping Module (Box 5) is the most complex of the currently public offerings, which are all FREE btw. Since all bookkeeping is done in "arrears" (after the fact) with no connections to any other systems, real time or otherwise, that module makes for a great initial destination for your first swim into a new computing paradigm.
NOTE: A user does not progress through the boxes sequentially. You can implement them in any order that makes sense. That said, we provide a suggested implementation order for most to get going.
Most should start with the Accounting Master file, which is the only functional template not allocated to a Box. SEE IT LISTED BELOW ALL THE OTHER BOXES NEXT TO THE "OTHER" LABEL.
After that you should play with a Sales Template, and then you should get along to the Bookkeeping Template. Suggested implementation details found on the same web page as the software, shown above.
Since our Bookkeeping Module and suggested Bookkeeping Process is NOT tied to any other modules or outside institutions, it is easy to get your Bookkeeping Module set up and running in parallel to any other systems you may be currently using, including Quickbooks.
The numbered comments correlate to the numbers on the diagram to the right...
1) We introduced new, logical vocabulary to help with education and understanding.
2) We introduced an on/off switch for managing spreadsheet computing resources
3) We include the Start Date on the Balance Sheet. Every Balance Sheet has one but they hid that fact from you for decades if not centuries.
4) We modified the report to enable the inclusion of all relevant line items instead of summary information which leads to greater transparency.
5) We tell you were the data is coming from.
6) We expose all underlying formulas
And we give this template away for free, with no ties back to us. Not even a user name and password is required for access to this template.
And we didn't stop there. Troubleshooting Balance Sheet errors is arguably the hardest task in Bookkeeping, and we wanted to simplify that. So we did.
When errors exist, you iterate through the dates to find the date of the error. Once found, expand rows to the right and to view the General Ledger Records for that day. With a moderate amount of training, you can learn what errors you will find. You can drill down from there to make the corrections and use the back button on the browser to return to the updated report. This is rock solid, Bullet Proof and teachable now. This was no small feat. Embrace it.
The numbered comments correlate to the numbers on the diagram to the right...
1) All our reports have switches to manage spreadsheet resources
2) While on the income statement worksheet you can actually change the reporting to cash flow (which adds equity accounts to the report) or you can show all transactions. The abilty to toggle the reports in a single location is huge for learning about reporting differences and cashflow vs net income.
3) We include multiple result summaries to remind you you can customize this as you wish.
4) We provide a Cash Delta Report here as that info often times fills in the intuitive holes that Small Business owners feel when viewing Net Income Statements / P/L Statements.
5) We tell you were the data is coming from.
6) We expose some underlying formatting tricks too...
And as with the Balance Sheet, we didn't stop there. Your Drill Down reporting is just to the right...
For our Bookkeeping Template, we have multiple subdomains dedicated to different aspects of support.
We offer both written documentation and videos.
5 Step Booking is simple enough it can be taught starting in 6th Grade and Mastered By 8th, Balance Sheet and All. No student should be put into Algebra without such a basic addition and subtraction tool in their back pocket.
And this is the detailed education for bookkeeping that is in addition to a world of education found on our website.