Category: Accounting Basics

There are three acceptable places for a receipt: a folder, a drawer, or a scanner. There is one unacceptable place, and it is under the radiator, where it has been since the Tuesday you were sure you had put it in the drawer.

If a receipt has been chewed, it remains valid provided the printed total can be read. If it has been sat upon, it is valid but warm, which we note on the file.

For clients who cannot locate any documents, we offer a Reconstruction Service at $120 an hour. We walk the house with you, retrieve what we can, and gently explain which of the items in the bed were never receipts.

A new scratching post costs $64. After one year, you will agree it looks smaller. After two years, it leans. After three years, it is a pole with a strong opinion and a trailing thread.

This is depreciation: the gradual loss of value as an asset is used up. We spread the cost evenly across the useful life, which for a sisal post we set at five years. That is $12.80 each year, or about 3.5 cents a day.

You may notice that you are using the post more than the schedule predicts. This is called accelerated depreciation. It is permitted, but it does require you to stop looking so pleased about it.