Accounting Info

[gelaro]

I have read through some of the accounting discussions here and looked at some of the downloads and I see various approaches to accounting and what information is desirable. Can someone give me some advice?

I have about fifty machines in 24 locations. Most locations have 1 snack and 1 drink machine. Some have only one or the other and some have more than two. 

My intentions are to track only the following:

1. Each snack and each drink account separately so I can see how each location is doing (e.g. Location 1 snack; location 1 drink; location 2 snack; location 2 drink; etc.) This would be effectively 50 accounts receivable.
2. Total COGS (not broken down by product but just the total bill). 
3. Any other business expenses such as insurance, licenses, etc.

Is there any point to tracking anything else? 

I was going to use Excel but it seems unwieldy to do something this big. I have looked at an online accounting website called Wave that offers free basic accounting services. I don't want to get too involved. 

Any advice or suggestions?

[AngryChris]

Excel is the most versatile long-term accounting solution in my opinion, but you need to be proficient with it.  I have used QuickBooks for over 5 years but it gets harder with more accounts.

As for tracking, I do exactly what you said.  Location X snack, location X soda.  I record those deposits. My expenses are recorded based directly off of receipts. And machine purchases are counted as assets and not expenses.

[Southeast Treats]

I use quickbooks online, it is not freeware but it works well.  Before I was tracking machines in parlevel I listed each location as a customer in quickbooks and did a sales receipt for each collection.  I also had categories for drink, snack, etc so that I did break down by individual machine within each account.  It also allowed me to see how much of my overall totals were coming from each type of machine.  Since I also use QBO to run my business checkbook and track expenses, I had all of the data I needed and could run reports in a number of different ways to look at cost of goods, other overhead, etc.  I have a CPA do my taxes and the format works with them, and being online they can access my books when needed.  I still track by machine but now I am using parlevel for that and just carry gross receipts over to quickbooks.  I am probably doing more than you are planning to do, but it's always better to have more information about your business than less.....

[AngryChris]

I don't know if QBO is any different than my desktop version but I use "record deposits" and record all machines for that day in one deposit.  I can literally record 20 machines in a matter of 1 minute.