This is an overview of both principles of such accounting and use of my computer system, PGAS, to do such bookkeeping. It should be useful to anyone who owns a small business or is responsible for accounting for a small business. Although the examples given use my computer accounting system, the principles apply to any business using any valid accounting system from manual books to generalized off the shelf accounting packages. The main differences between these and the PGAS system is that the PGAS system is completely customizable to handle special needs of particular businesses. For instance it is set up to account for quantities and numbers as well as dollars, to handle multiple profit centers, and to handle sales of products made from raw materials or with specialized taxing requirements.
Examples are bulk fertilizer sales and gasoline sales.
The profit center accounting and quantity and number accounting are especially useful for farmers. The purpose of accounting is to keep track of items of value including goods, cash, and financial obligations in their current state and in their flow or change over time so that reports useful in making management decisions are available to the managers of a business or other accounting entity. Accounting is based on the concept of a financial transaction. A financial transaction occurs whenever the status or ownership of a thing of value changes. A deposit is made to a bank account.