Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Teenagers – Study Away From Home, Simple accounting records


Many teenagers today are studying away from home, locally or in other countries. How are they managing themselves financially? Are they able to budget and handle their money wisely? Many realize they are “BROKE” only when they get the “funds not available” flashed on the screen at the teller machines. Shocking but it is happening.


My son is organized and very thrifty in his ways of spending. However being one from the science stream, money management is not taught or a part of their curriculum. Hah! Some figures scribbled in his notebooks, some entries forgotten and most often, left wondering where all his money goes! 


Remember! that lump sums you get at the beginning of the term or year have to be spread out to last you till the next one. It is important that you start early learning basics of book-keeping. This help keep track;

  • of your income (money coming in),
  • spending & expenses (money going out) and
  • your daily balances
  • and allow you to come up with estimates or budget. 

Here are some tips on how to maintain a simple Cash or Petty Cash book


STAGE ONE

For beginners or those with no basic accounting background, practice using the simplest format – “Cash In” and “Cash Out” entries. You can get this pre-printed format Cash book (sample pic) from any bookstore. 


You may first want to familiarise these simple steps by making daily entries for 30days? From this simple record you are able to check;

  • Details of each transaction (date, details and amount)
  • Total cash received (total debits) and total cash spent (total credits)
  • Total cash received less total cash spent = BALANCE


STAGE TWO
As you progress to your 2nd month, (with increased daily entries) you may now want to know the breakdown of these sources of income and how these funds are being spent. 


Group entries into categories/headings and record each entry into the respective column for example;

1.
IN (Source of Income - Receipt)
Loan
Home
Job
Misc
(Add columns and headings according to your priorities)

2.
OUT (Spending & Expenses - Expenditure)
Fees
Rent
Transport
Com
Self
Misc
NOTES
(Add columns and headings according to your priorities)


3.     Now let us format the columns into a spreadsheet;
        S A M P L E


4.   Let us practice with some simple entries;








Use Windows Excel to format your spreadsheet and the formula tools available to (automatically) help with your calculations.  Go here and here and here for online basic Excel tutorials.
 

5.  Sometimes you may find balances in your Cash book and your Bank do not tally. You will need to keep additional records to reconcile these differences. However, generally these differences may be due to;

  • Amounts/remittance made direct into your account that you are not aware of (‘+’ to your Cash book balance)
  • Bank interests (‘+’ to your Cash book Balance)
  • Bank charges (‘-‘ from your Cash book Balance)
  • Withdrawals made that you forgot to record (‘-‘ from your Cash Book Balances)

 6.   You can get free simple Cashbook Templates downloads (Pre-set columns with basic headings and formulas/ computations) ready for use from the Internet, some sites allow you to modify to your requirements. Go here for more information. 


Some packages offer many other basic accounting records (forms and formats) that you will find very helpful for your future use.



STAGE THREE



ESTIMATES AND BUDGETS

Making a budget is the most important step in controlling your money. You can see how much money you expect to have for the month and plan for how much you can spend.

Let us assume you are now familiar with the basic recordings of your cash-petty cash entries. Close the cash-petty cash record at the end of the month (say 2months records). From these figures you are now able to come up with a simple estimate/ projection on your income and spending;

(SAMPLE)
ESTIMATED INCOME 


DETAILS
TOTAL
1
AAA & Co sends every semester (6months)
10,000.00
2
January from your parents
1,200.00
3
Feb –Jun parents will give monthly allowance
1,000.00
4
From Mac 2011 you will start a part-time job (weekends) with a basic salary of $240.00 per month

240.00


ESTIMATED EXPENDITURE


DETAILS
TOTAL
1
1st Semester Fees
7,000.00
2
Rent to Mr XY; (Payments in advance to Mr XY)
Rental Deposit @ $350
Rental @6months = $350 x 6      = $2,100
Maintainance @$50  = $50 x 6    = $300
Water/Elect/Gas @$75 = $75 x 6 = $450




3,200.00
3
Transportation
Petrol per week @$30 x 4weeks      = $120
Maintainance/repairs/Tol  approx = $30 per month


 150.00
4
Communication
Top-up @$30 x 4weeks = $120
Internet charges           = $30 per month


150.00
5
Self – clothes-wears/toiletries/medicines/sundries
150.00
6
Food – Breakfast $3, Lunch $6 Dinner $6 = $15 daily
@$15 x 30days

450.00
7
Misc – Study materials & outings
100.00
Based on your estimates above let us record the figures into a worksheet and prepare a simple budget for the months of January 2011 to June 2011;




Budgeted income and expenditure
For the period January 2011 to June 2011



TOTAL
JAN
FEB
MAC
APR
MAY
JUN

INCOME








Loan for AAA & Co
10000
10000






Home Allowances
6200
1200
1000
1000
1000
1000
1000

Job - Part time
960


240
240
240
240

Misc

















TOTAL INCOME
17160
11200
1000
1240
1240
1240
1240

EXPENDITURE








Fees
7000
7000






Rent
3200
3200






Transport
900
150
150
150
150
150
150

Communications
1200
200
200
200
200
200
200

Self
900
150
150
150
150
150
150

Food
2700
450
450
450
450
450
450

Misc
600
100
100
100
100
100
100

TOTAL EXPENDITURE
16500
11250
1050
1050
1050
1050
1050

INCOME - EXPENDITURE
660
-50
-50
190
190
190
190










From this Budget you will be able to plan and monitor your spending accordingly;


  • Strictly sticking to your Budget, you will notice a deficit in January and February by $50 each month. Adjust your spending - reduce where necessary.

  • From March to June you will have excess $190. This is because you will be having income from working part-time. Will work take your time away from studies? If you decide to stop, which part of your unnecessary spendings should be reduced? 
 
Discuss your budget with your parents. 

6 comments:

  1. hi katrina, very interesting and quite surprised you posted on basic book keeping and monetary
    control... a very useful knowledge for everyone to apply in everyday cash transactions, especially for students who stay away from home.

    They need to seriously have proper control on their monthly funds/ allowances,to avoid cash flow deficit.

    This proper control if consistently done will become a good habit and a great asset, once these students start working and have their own earnings.
    It is even more beneficial as a base tool for accounting students to be.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very interesting post and very very useful. I think I a going to refer your post to some of my cousin brothers who are staying abroad as students. Maintaining a record is always preferable to keep a tab on the balance. Thanks for this wonderful post!

    ReplyDelete
  3. CV, Purabi Nava,
    We parents take things so much for granted, and we overlook this very important basic fact - help our kids manage their money esp for those living away from home.

    Even amongst us ladies,now many are doing small business from home, with no proper accounting records, things can get out of control too.

    I personally feel simple basic book-keeping should be taught in schools for all students - as general knowledge.

    ReplyDelete
  4. another excellent write up from you katrina..my husband will definitely second you on money management for all kids at school at some point of time...Am blessed with a very prudent and budget conscious hubby coupled with 2 kids who has got their father's gene endorsed strongly in their blood - me can be impulsive at times..My hubby is not a kanjus as we would say in hindi - rather playing it safe I would term it. ever since moving to doha a year and half ago, i start with monthly expenses too especially am not working (then) so need to keep track of my spending on household budgets. you will be surprise that you be more careful on what you spend each time . keep writing good articles..will definitely share this article with my cousins.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi sathiarani,
    My son requested me to blog on this for him and his friends in college. Some students work part-time to finance part or full studies, and it can be stressful if they don't manage their funds well.

    A Chinese lady doing business from home approached me for help, had a misunderstanding with her bankers.. on bank balances..

    Not proficient in BM and English, asked me to draft a letter of complaint. B4 coming up with the letter, I asked to check her accounts, sure enough, she had no proper book keeping records! Most of her documents were neatly filed, loose ones kept in envelopes!

    Few receipts and bills issued twice, returned cheques or cancelled bills overlooked etc so her balances did not tally with the bank statement.

    Manually, one can also buy Cash journals (comes with many columns) from bookstores.

    ReplyDelete
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