Am I accountable? By Stephen Skyvington-Diplock

This question dawns on the Internet marketer over a period of months. It is normally prompted by a partner or loved one who has watched you working away on your computer trying various Affiliate programs, High Yield investment programs, On-line shops etc… and asks “How much have you made?” or “How much have you lost?”

I know it well and you will reply with that filibustering technique we all perfect, “oh I’ve made a bit” or “I don’t think I’ve lost much, but it’s turning around”. Whilst at the back of your mind a nagging question is posed “How much?”, “How do I know?” and “Am I accountable?”

In this article we will cover the basics of what you need to do at the start up of your Internet marketing activities. Identify when you should start to record your losses and earnings, I say losses first because I have yet to meet anybody who started out on the Internet making a profit from day one.

I don’t profess to be an accountant, but having been in business for some years in the real world it struck me early on in my internet business life that I should be able to account for what I spending and what I am earning. Accounting that terrible term that has a tendency to switch people off and automatically recall ranking accountants along with Bank managers and Estate Agents.

However, a necessary evil and even more so if you are involved in an Internet business regardless of size. You must record your outgoings (investments) and your incomings (earnings). It is no good being in denial that your Internet business activities are so small that it doesn’t matter. The TAX man will tell you different.

Needless to say, you can employ an accountant, buy an accounting or book keeping product, all of this will cost you money and we want to start accounting for it not spend more at this time. Most people have a spreadsheet and this should be your first tool for recording your outgoings and incomings. A simple format of a column and row Income page, and the same for outgoings. I arranged it thus…

Outgoing

Program Name Jan Feb Mar …….. Currency Notes

Abc Shop 20 20 20 $ Monthly Sub Paypal

99 HYIP 15 15 15 £ Monthly Paypal

……

……

Total Outgoings 35 35 35

Prepare the bottom part of the worksheet for incomings. Be prepared for the SHOCK… I did not realise how much I had lost until I performed this exercise. It was only after this that I realised that I had to concentrate on being responsible for the accounting of my internet activities and that no one else but me was accountable.

I wonder how many of you reading this have just realised that fact. Whilst it is not as important if you are constantly spending on the Internet. It becomes very important if you are deriving income. You must account for how much, from where and where does it go.

In this article I have tried to draw your attention to a responsibility for accountability that maybe you hadn’t thought about. The answer to the question “Am I accountable?” is YES. If you wish to read more in depth articles on the subject please feel free to go to my accounting information site at where there are very many further articles on this subject.

http://home.btconnect.com/Galaxis/accounting

If not then just use the spreadsheet method until it becomes impractical and change up to a book keeping/accounting package.

About the author

Stephen J Skyvington-Diplock has been in computing for thirty years and involved various web activities. You can email him at galaxis@btconnect.com or look at www.galaxis-private-income.ws or http://home.btconnect.com/Galaxis