A service business is the business activities engaged in providing various services or producing intangible products to earn the profit. Some examples of service businesses are:
- Transportation, e.g. City bus, taxis, public transportation
- Repair and maintenance, e.g. Workshop, car wash and cleaning service
- Communication, e.g. Telephone, radio, and TV, newspaper and magazine publishers.
- Residence, e.g. Hotel, lodgings, boarding house, etc.
In general, these business run the same accounting process, but different business type.
The accounting process for service business:
Transaction note > General Journal > Ledger and Subsidiary Ledger > Trial Balance > Adjustment Journal > Work Sheet > Financial Statements > Closing Journal > Final Trial Balance > Reversing Journal
The steps in accounting process in service business:
- Transaction note / receipt
In accounting, the transaction receipt is the source document and absolute requirement to record the transaction into the journal . A transaction receipt is required because it is a written note as well as the responsibility of executing the transaction. Transactions without any written legitimate note will cause the transaction validity is in doubt. The business’ accounting is declared good if it provides sufficient supporting note and properly recorded. The transaction notes are in the form of invoice note, memo, receipt, check, debit note, credit note, and others.
- General Journal
The general journal is the daily transaction record in the business activity, recorded systematically and chronologically. The general journal is made based on the existing receipts in the company.
- Ledger and Subsidiary Ledger
Ledger is a set of interconnected accounts describes the effect of transactions on changes in assets, debt, and capital. It is used to post the existing transaction in the general journal in each account. Accounts in the ledger must be referring to the account in the general journal.
- Trial balance sheet
The trial balance sheet is prepared after posting process by the end of a period when Ledger is set. The trial balance is used as the basis for financial statement preparation. In the previous process, transactions are categorized based on the account type in the ledger. The categorized transactions in the ledger are displayed in the trial balance based on the debit and credit balance in each account.
- Adjustment Journal
Adjustment journal is made based on the additional information from the trial balance by the end of the period. The stated data in the Balance Sheet has not reflected the actual circumstances by the end of the period, therefore the adjustment journal is referred to the balance sheet.
- Work Sheet
The worksheet is a columned paper used as the working paper to adjust the financial statement. Implementing worksheet will minimize the error. Moreover, the worksheet is also applicable to check the calculation accuracy. The most common used worksheet in the form of 6 columns, 8 columns, 10 columns, and 12 columns.
- Financial Statement
The financial statement is the company financial record within specified accounting period and describes the business performance. A complete financial statement includes balance sheet, income statement, and Equity changes report.
- Closing Journal
It is a journal entry set by the end of the accounting period to close a temporary nominal account. This results on the beginning balance in the accounting period are zero. The closing journal prepared by the end of the month includes:
- Revenue account
- Expense account
- Profit-loss account
- Prive account
- Reversing Journal
A journal that is prepared at the beginning of the period as the part of the reversing journal at the end of the previous period.
