Priyanka Ganguly
Bookkeeper for Real Estate & Ecommerce | QuickBooks & Xero
A client asked me last week: “I paid my insurance in full in October. Why is the whole amount not showing in my expenses?”
Fair question. Honestly, this is one of the most common things business owners ask me.
Here’s how I explained it. When you pay for a full year of insurance, the money leaves your bank on day one. But the insurance company protects you for 12 months, not one day. So you only use a small part of it at the start. The unused part isn’t an expense yet. It’s cover you have already paid for and still have.
Say you pay 24,000 on 1 October for a 12 month policy. Each month, 2,000 moves into expenses.
By 31 December, you have used 3 months:
Expense so far: 6,000
Still unused: 18,000
That 18,000 stays on the balance sheet as prepaid.
The client still wasn’t fully sure from the numbers alone, so I showed them year by year:
Year 1 (Oct to Dec): 6,000 used, 18,000 still prepaid
Year 2 (Jan to Sep): 18,000 used, 0 left
By the end of the policy, the full 24,000 has moved into expenses. Nothing is lost. It just moves a little each month, as you use the cover.
That’s when it clicked for them.
Rent paid in advance, software subscriptions, annual membership, visa fees and licence fees all work the same way. Pay now, use over time, expense a little each month.
If your bookkeeper says “prepaid” and you just nod, ask them for a schedule like this. It’s your money, you should be able to see where it is.
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The most dangerous bookkeeping mistake is the one that makes your numbers look normal.
For 3 years, a client's books looked fine.
Then I checked the numbers.
The balance sheet was wrong. Revenue was recorded incorrectly. And the business owner had been making decisions based on those numbers.
They didn't lose money because the books were messy.
They lost time making decisions from numbers that weren't telling the real story.
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Two important tax deadlines are coming up — and this is exactly why clean, up-to-date books matter.
📌 September 15th
1️⃣ S-Corporation & Partnership Returns
If your S-Corp or Partnership filed for an extension, this is the filing deadline.
2️⃣ Q3 Estimated Tax Payments
Business owners and individuals with investment or other income may also need to make their Q3 estimated tax payment.
But before tax deadlines arrive, your numbers need to be ready.
That means:
✓ Books reconciled
✓ Business income properly recorded
✓ Expenses categorized
✓ Profit figures reviewed
✓ Financial records ready for your CPA or tax professional
Good bookkeeping isn't just about keeping records organized.
It helps you understand what you've earned, prepare for upcoming tax obligations, and avoid last-minute financial surprises.
Are your books ready for the next tax deadline?
#Bookkeeping #SmallBusiness #QuickBooks #Xero #FinancialCleanup #BusinessFinance
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📊 Completed an IFRS 9 Financial Instruments Model in Excel
One of the biggest challenges I faced was building the Stage 1, Stage 2 & Stage 3 classification logic correctly.
A small error in SICR, days-past-due, or credit-risk conditions could change an exposure from 12-month ECL to Lifetime ECL and materially affect the impairment calculation.
I solved this by building a formula-driven staging engine that connects the credit-risk inputs directly with the ECL calculation.
The model also covers:
• AC / FVOCI / FVTPL classification
• Probability-weighted ECL scenarios
• Trade Receivables Provision Matrix
• ECL Allowance Rollforward
• Hedge Effectiveness & Journal Entries
• IFRS 7 Disclosures & Sensitivity Analysis
This project was a great combination of accounting logic + Excel automation + financial modeling.
#IFRS9 #Excel #FinancialModeling #ECL #Accounting #FinancialReporting
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