balance sheet

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 232: Business Bookkeeping.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 232. I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.

Remember to visit our website at eslpod.com and download the Learning Guide for this episode.

In today's episode, we're going to talk about doing bookkeeping at a business. Let's get started.

I have a day job, but I recently started a small business on the side. I didn’t know anything about accounting and my friend, Roland, said that he would give me some advice.

Roland: So, the reason that you need to do your bookkeeping is so you can manage your cash flow. Even if you have a lot of orders, you may still have problems paying your bills.

Magdalena: I see what you mean. Is this the kind of ledger I should be keeping?

Roland: Yes, definitely. You want to list your debits on this side and your credits on this side. This will help you figure out important things like your break-even point, your assets and liabilities, your administrative expenses, and whether you’re staying within your budget.

Magdalena: I wish I had an accounts payable department to help me