Intermediate · 4 lessons · 35 min

Accounting for Startups

What's different about a venture-backed C corporation's books: setting them up, SAFEs and equity, payroll entries, and getting from the ledger to a year-end tax return.

What you'll learn

• Set up a new corporation's books, including founder expenses paid before incorporation
• Record SAFEs, stock issuance and conversion correctly
• Record a payroll run, including employer taxes and remittances
• Prepare the ledger for year-end: 1099s, adjustments, and the hand-off to a tax return

Lessons

1. 1Setting up a startup's books on day oneSeparate accounts, founder expenses, the opening entries and the habits that keep diligence painless.8 minFree
2. 2SAFEs, priced rounds and the cap tableHow to record SAFE money, why it is never revenue, what happens at conversion, and keeping the ledger and cap table in agreement.9 minAccount
3. 3Payroll accountingThe journal entries behind a paycheck: gross wages, withholdings, employer taxes and remittances.9 minAccount
4. 4Year-end: from the ledger to the tax returnThe year-end checklist that makes a corporate tax return a mapping exercise instead of a reconstruction.9 minAccount

Lesson 1 is open to everyone. The rest are free with a ClearBooks account.