Setting up equipment assets for new business

[Mike or Penny Novack]

>
>Now I'm off to google some more for how to add items to inventory which
>were not directly purchased (no offsetting cr to cash). Google is not
>helping so far - lots of stuff for huge corporations and special rules
>- FIFO, accrual, etc. Haven't found anything relating to a little guy
>who manufactures his own inventory in his garage.
>
>My problem is that I do have a basic understanding of double entry
>accounting, but I've never had to design a system for a business
>before. That's a lot more challenging than just understanding that you
>debit an asset account to raise the balance.
>  
>
That's not particularly hard. You put this inventory down on the books 
for what it COST you. There were materials used, yes? You don't add in 
for your time, though this is precisely where a "second set of books" 
might be a good idea (even though your own time isn't an expense for tax 
purposes in analyzing your business might be a good idea of being able 
to determine how your business WOULD HAVE been faring had the goods been 
produced by purchased labor). In your case you get to "draw" from the 
profits as this inventory gets sold.

Might I suggest that you might perhaps need to obtain learning materials 
along the lines of "accounting for the small business", "accounting for 
the sole proprietorship", etc. Before the days of Google people were 
able to obtain information like that via a medium known as books. 
Strange as it might seem in this computer age, those old fashioned 
things still exist. Use the Internet to search out potentially useful 
titles. For example, your local library system might have a searchable 
catalog which you can go after "by subject material" and then once you 
have found some promising titles let you request the books.

Michael