In order to summarize the important bookkeeping basics a business owner and business manager needs to know for running a firearms business you will need to break it down into a few different sections of work. An example of this would be what paperwork is firearm related and what paperwork is not. Breaking down the firearm side of the paperwork, you will need separate books for your acquisitions and dispositions. That just means where you got the firearms and a list of the FFL information and a detailed record book of where the firearms went or who purchased them. I may also be smart to keep separate acquisitions books for what was a dealer transfer for a customer who bought the firearm online and are having it transferred to you and what firearms came directly from a manufacturer or distributor.
Now, the other side of your paperwork is not as important as how detailed your firearms paperwork is required to be, but it is still important to manage these things as well. A business usually has more cost than just the inventory that is ordered and sold. An easy example of this could be entering your business and seeing that a few lights don’t turn on. This may only be a few dollars for new bulbs, but it could be something more serious and require that you hire an electrician to fix the issue. In any case you need to keep your receipts and invoices in order. Maybe the electrician will warranty their work and a month later the issue is back. Do you know who did the work and exactly when they completed it. Did you save the invoice with the warranty information on it. If not, you may end up spending even more to fix the same issue.
An important note here is that there is a difference between book keeping and record keeping. While the record keeping that has been discussed is vital to the long term success of any FFL, the book keeping is specifically referring to the financial records of the business. The businesses sales, quarterly taxes, payroll and operations cost such a repairs or office supplies all play a factor in a well rounded business model. When looking at a businesses budget, forgeting some of these factors can land you in some hot water. I think I have $2,000 to make orders and blow it later to find out that I now need a few hundread dollars for operational cost can leave me with down equipment untill the sales of the order start to return the needed funds for repairs. While it will always be important to mind the big stuff, it is sometimes equally as important to remember the little things.
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