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Record Every Kobo like Tilapia Publishing, St John's Campus, Ignatius Ajuru University, Aba Road, Port Harcourt (2026)

15/07/2026

If YOU MUST Give Account, And you don't have an Accountant or fully trust one.

In your own business for your own good.

In your organization/association where you have financial responsibility.

Then, you need to learn TWO basic accounting rules.

Rule 1: The Two-Opposite-Column Rule.

A Ledger Account ALWAYS has two columns for recording money: the LEFT (a.k.a. DEBIT) and the RIGHT (a.k.a. CREDIT).

You have previously seen an accounting ledger account. Your bank statement is a ledger account prepared by the bank, FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE BANK.

Note that the 3rd column in your bank statement, the Running Balance column, is not for transactions, it merely shows the balance after every transaction.

A 1-column and a 3-column ledger account had been tried in the past.

But for 600 years now, the 2-column account has been proven the most effective and most efficient.

All ledger accounts (salary, revenue, fuel, furniture, etc.), fall into 4 categories:

1. Assets the business owns

2. Liabilities & owner's capital the business owes. (Remember that the business is different from the owner).

3. Expenses the business incurs while trying to earn revenue. Don't confuse these with assets. An asset is a resource still retained. An expense is a resource already consumed.

4. Revenue the business earns.
Also, don't confuse this with the capital and loans and other liabilities which must all be eventually paid back to their providers. Revenues will never be paid back unless they were not truly earned.

….

Assets and Expenses have one thing in common: they are things or ways the business UTILIZES or APPLIES its resources.

Liabilities, owner’s capital and revenues have one thing in common: they are SOURCES of resources.

The RESOURCES of the business come from CAPITAL, REVENUES, or LIABILITIES.

Those RESOURCES go into ASSETS and EXPENSES.

Knowing this distinction is the master key of bookkeeping.

So, we have UTILIZERS (assets and expenses), and we have PROVIDERS (liabilities, capital and revenues).

….

So, Rule 1 says that,

the value of each ledger account can only be INCREASED on ONE SIDE and DECREASED on the other side,

and that DEBIT should be the Increase Side for Assets and Expenses, while Credit should be the Increase Side for Liabilities and Revenues.

…..

So, imagine the rule as saying that:

for homes in the kingdom of assets and expenses:

values should be welcomed only via the LEFT door (a.k.a., DEBIT side) and exit on the right.

UTILIZERS, i.e. the Assets and Expenses, are LEFT-HANDED accounts.

They GROW only when you put something via their LEFT COLUMN.

In other words, Assets and Expenses are DEBIT accounts.

For them, their right hand column is their exit door. Anytime you enter a value in their right column, they shrink.

Then for homes in the kingdom of liabilities and revenues:

value should be welcomed only via their RIGHT door (a.k.a. CREDIT side) and exit on the left.

The PROVIDERS, i.e. the Liabilities, Capital and Revenues, are RIGHT-HANDED accounts.

They GROW only when you put something via their RIGHT COLUMN.

In other words, Liabilities, Capital and Revenues, are CREDIT accounts.

Their left hand column is their exit door. Anytime you enter a value in their left column, they shrink.

Write this out with marker pen and paste on your wall:

"PROVIDERS ARE RIGHT-HANDED, while UTILIZERS ARE LEFT-HANDED."

Example

The business's money in the bank is an asset to the business.

But to the bank it represents a liability because it must eventually be returned.

So, in the ledger of the business, Bank Account is a LEFT-HANDED account,

while in the Bank's ledger, your business account is a RIGHT-HANDED account (because it's a liability).

That's why the statement your bank gives you shows that:

anytime you give the bank money, the bank INCREASES your balance (which is their own liability) by putting it on the RIGHT (CREDIT) column.

anytime you withdraw from the bank, the bank SHRINKS your balance (which is their own liability) by putting it on the LEFT (DEBIT) column.

In your ledger, therefore:

anytime you give the bank money, because "Money in the Bank" is an asset you should show the INCREASE by putting the value on its LEFT (DEBIT) column.

anytime you withdraw from the bank, because "Money in the Bank" is an asset you should show it SHRINKING by putting the value on its RIGHT (CREDIT) column.

Follow the same procedure for anything asset or expense, be it Vehicle, Furniture, Stationary, Salary, Computers, etc.

To show an INCREASE in the amount of money you have so far spent on Salary, for example, you must enter the increase on the DEBIT column of the Salaries Ledger Account.

Similarly, to show that the amount of money your business has so far gotten or become entitled to get from CUSTOMERS has INCREASED, you must CREDIT the REVENUE Ledger Account.

But don't confuse CASH/BANK and Revenue. Some cash come from Capital or liability and not from revenue. And some Revenue do not result in cash.

So, in summary, Rule 1 is that:

All ASSETS AND EXPENSES are DEBIT (LEFT-HANDED) ACCOUNTS, so they INCREASE with DEBIT entries;

All LIABILITIES, CAPITAL AND REVENUES are CREDIT (RIGHT-HANDED) ACCOUNTS, so they INCREASE with CREDIT entries.

…

RULE NO. 2: THE PERMANENT BALANCE OR EQUALITY RULE.

This rule is known in accounting as the DOUBLE ENTRY Rule. But that's not a perfect way to describe it.

The rule simply says that AT ALL TIMES, the total of all DEBITS must EQUAL the total of all CREDITS.

The sum of all Assets and Expenses must equal the sum of all Capital, Revenues, and Liabilities.

Therefore, because of this rule:

Whenever you enter an amount in an account, whether debit or credit side,

you MUST DUPLICATE the SAME AMOUNT on the OPPOSITE side of one or more other accounts involved in the transaction.

That's all. Nothing more.

….

Master the above Two Rules, and you will be able to keep ledger accounts for your business or organization as a trained accountant would have done.

As our Great Teacher, The Lord, would have put it if asked: all the standards and practices of accounting depend on those TWO Basic Rules.

I'm waiting for you in the comments section to clarify anything.

How I wish this sermon of mine will reach each and every non accountant who handles money in any capacity.

Please share this. And thank you in advance for doing so.

Share this...

And,

GROW.

14/07/2026

Batch Your Bank; do 5 hours accounting in 1 hour.

Twenty years ago, small businesses did perhaps over 90% of transactions in cash, and less than 10% by bank.

Today, the reverse is the case. Bank transactions now account for over 90%. And the situation is now more challenging as bank statements now have many but very minor charges.

If you clear up your bookkeeping for your bank transactions, you have dealt with majority of your accounting already.

The task is daunting, even for a paid bookkeeper.

But I have a shortcut for you. I call it BATCHING.

Split the accounting for bank transactions into two steps.

Step 1: determine the aggregate value for all transactions of a particular “Bookkeeping Head”, e.g. total revenue, total for goods for resale, total for raw materials purchase, etc., etc.

Step 2: enter in your ledger accounts only 1 figure per category (“Bookkeeping Head”).

The secret is in Step 1.

You can do this yourself or you can delegate it to someone else. Your teenage son or daughter or cousin can do it.

Whether you do it by yourself, or you use an assistant, you will need a form as shown below.

If you do everything manually, you need the form printed, and just an A5 size will do. That means 2 forms per sheet of printing paper (A4).

If you have a computer, you will instead use a simple, 1-sheet Excel template.

I have one such simple-use template I can give you FREE if you need it.

Do not bother totaling or individually recording those 50 naira and N1.88k charges that liter your statement.

However, if your teenage helper finds it a great fun, then, as his or her majesty pleases, let them do it.

If someone has taken the pain or the fun and totaled the charges, then, your entries in the form are correct if:

Opening Balance + Total Inflows – Your Total Outflows – Bank Total Charges = Closing Balance.

If you choose, like me, not to lose sleep over those little charges, your formula becomes:

Opening Balance + Total Inflows – Your Total Outflows – Closing Balance = Total Charges.

In this case, you look at the Total Charges, and see if it looks outrageous.

That depends on the volume you do.

But typically, a weekly “Bank Charge Balancing Figure” of 10k should ring an alarm bell. In my business, anything below 3k in a busy banking transactions week, I don’t bother.

The form has 5 headings.

You will go through your bank statement, from the first amount to the last, ignoring bank charges.

But if you or your fun-loving assistant choose to sum up the bank charges, then have a rough sheet by the side where you list the charges so that you won’t go over the statement again because of them.

The first Heading is “Name of Ledger Account”. Remember the names of accounts you created when you setup your bookkeeping? Those are the names we are talking about.

The first transaction in your bank statement tells you what you enter here first. As you encounter a different transaction, you will enter its own name next.

Second is “P/R”. That is not Public Relations or shameless Nigerian bribe. It means “Payment or Receipt”. You indicate if the transaction is a payment out of your bank or a receipt into it.

Third is “Days”. Instead of writing out in full the dates of the transaction, just indicate the day. The number of days entered must be the number of amounts in that row. Day entry 1 is for amount 1, day entry 2 for amount 2, etc.

Fourth is Amount.

Fifth is total of all the amounts in the row.

If a row is full when you find the same transaction again, simply enter the same Ledger Account Name again, as you can see I did for Cash.

Done.

Step 2: updating your ledger accounts which you do by yourself. By entering only the above row totals, you can do so in a short time. You are now making one ledger entry in place of many entries.

Note that in case of Debtors and Creditors, you will need to enter the individual amounts because you keep individual accounts of them.

Remember that Assets and Expenses are left-handed, while Liabilities and Revenue are right-handed.

Money in Bank is an ASSET. So, values enter your “Bank Ledger Account” via the LEFT DOOR (Debit column) and exit via the RIGHT (Credit column).

So each “R” total will be “Welcomed” on the left/debit column of Bank Ledger Account, where you will proclaim a “MoneyCameIn” celebration.

And all “P” totals “Exit the Door” of Bank Ledger Account on the right/credit column, where you will regret to announce a “PaidOutMoney” event.

Finally, in obedience to the DOUBLE ENTRY Rule, each figure you put in BANK Ledger Account, either on the left or right, you will DUPLICATE same figure on the opposite side of the Ledger Account involved.

That's all. You're done.

Who says you cannot do perfectly well without an accountant?

When you have the money to hire one, you will do so. But for now, you are good.

One last thing:

Remember that I’m waiting for you in the comments section to explain further if you need me to.

Remember also to confess to the good news to any LECTURER or AUTHOR that TILAPIA BOOKS PUBLISHING is a PUBLISHER and NOT a PRINTER.

Now go ahead and keep your accounts by yourself.

Let’s grow.

14/07/2026

5-Min SELF-Accounting Manual Business Owners Can Easily Grasp.

YOURSELF. 1 notebook. And this manual. That's all you need to do proper accounting for your business all by yourself.

Here's the deal:

Read this to the end. Quickly find a convenient time. Get a notebook. And begin accounting for your business by yourself.

My own accounting for my publishing business, will guide you, daily.

You have no reason not to succeed at it. The good news is that it's very easy to do.

Ready?

Step 1: choose an accounting start date.
I have chosen 1 July 2026 for my business, Tilapia Publishing. Of course, I have always done my accounting before now, but I am starting afresh with you.

Step 2: Prepare the Statement of Affairs of your business as at the Start Date. In fanciful accounting language, that's your “Statement of Financial Position”, p.k.a. BALANCE SHEET.

The goal is simple: you list (1) everything your business owns; (2) everything your business owes to the whole world except you the owner.

If it owns more than it owes, that difference is your capital in the business.

If it owes more than it owns, that difference is what belongs to others which you, the owner of the business, have eaten.

I have made my list for Tilapia Publishing, on four different sheets of paper.

Do so for your business:

1)
Names and Amounts of Long-Term (Fixed, Multi-Year) Assets. These are things, such as machines, which your business owns, and expects to own them beyond 1 year.

At Tilapia Publishing, we have for such: Printers, Computers, Furniture, Fans. I have listed them all and estimated as best as I can, their values on 30 June 2026.

2)
Names and Amounts of Short-term (Current, Single-Year) Assets. These are “things”, such as cash and debtors, which belong to your business, but it expects to use them up within 1 year.

At Tilapia Publishing, we have these: Cash at hand, Money in the Bank, Debts Customers Owe, Goods for resale (books), Raw Materials (printing paper and toners). I have listed them all and recorded the value of each of them on 30 June 2026.

The only things you will omit here are monies owed to customers (by way of their advance payments for your goods or services) which you have decided to settle by yourself outside the business.

Note that some amounts, such as Debtors and Creditors, must be the SINGLE VERIFIABLE amount for the item as at that start date. Others, such as machines that have been in use for some time should be the best estimate of their current value.

3)
Names and Amounts of Long-term (Multi-Year) Liabilities.

4)
Names and Amounts of Short-term (Single-Year) Liabilities.

We had only one short-term liability that we owed a book-trade supplier of nursery and primary school books.

5)
Owner’s Capital: the difference between all the assets as one and all the liabilities as one.

Step 3: The FUN part. Bring out your notebook. Let's see how all those figures appear on our accounts.

For each asset or liability, assign two pages of the notebook for EACH non frequent item, or five to 10 pages for EACH frequent item like Cash.

Draw up the ledger account form for each, on its first page only, exactly as shown in the image below.

Enter the amounts you listed already.

A ledger account has two columns for money: the LEFT (a.k.a. DEBIT) and the RIGHT (a.k.a. CREDIT).

It's very easy like ABC to know which side to enter value for each account. Just remember this:

There are 4 categories of accounts:

1. Assets your business owns

2. Liabilities & owner's capital it owes

3. Expenses it incurs to earn revenue. Don't confuse these with investments in assets.

4. Revenue it earns

Assets and Expenses have one thing in common: they are things or ways the business UTILIZES its resources.

Liabilities (including owner’s capital) and revenues have one thing in common: they are SOURCES of resources.

To avoid confusion, you must see CASH exactly as you see raw materials and goods in store, because that's what it is like.

So, we have assets and expenses (UTILIZERS), and we have liabilities and revenues (PROVIDERS).

Birds of a feather flock together. So:

For both assets and expenses: values enter their accounts via their LEFT door (a.k.a., Debit side) and exit on the right.

For both liabilities and revenues: values enter their accounts via their RIGHT door (a.k.a. Credit side) and exit on the left.

Now, here's the secret of all accounting secrets: while birds of a feather flock together, accountants insist that birds of all feathers must ENVY one another. So:

Whenever any account welcomes a value, which must be via it's appropriate door, another account must also welcome the exact same amount of value via it's own appropriate door.

Very simple. That's the DOUBLE ENTRY Rule accountants always whisper only to themselves.

Once you learn to OBEY that simple rule, you have gotten your visa to the Kingdom of Accounting.

Now, go ahead and enter those your listed figures in your lovely notebook.

I hope you bought a hardcover notebook.

After entering the figures, if you like, prepare a “Trial Balance”.

As the name clearly says, a Trial Balance is a simple tool (a list) by which you test to be sure that you entered everything correctly.

A TB has two money columns. The LEFT as you'd expect is for ASSETS and EXPENSES. The RIGHT is for LIABILITIES and REVENUES.

If indeed everything was done right, the total of the LEFT column will EQUAL the total of the RIGHT column.

It's the balancing of the Trial Balance that gives a bookkeeper peace of mind.

Now you see why accountants INSIST that accounts must ENVY one another.

A balanced Trial Balance is our source of peace of mind. A good thing born of envy.

As you come back to this page every 2 days, and see my daily entries, you will sooner than later perfect your bookkeeping for your business.

Every day, I will be waiting for you in the comments section to clarify anything.

Record Every Kobo like Tilapia Publishing has your back.

Now, there's one last thing remaining: help every other business owner who needs this see this.

Share this lesson.
Share it now.
Share it.

Ready to go?

Let’s grow.

11/07/2026

ALL SALES CREATE Cost But Not all costs produce revenue.

That is the First Natural Law of Business Accounting. This law is the root of an accounting rule called “The Cost Matching Rule”.

Matching Rule simply says that all costs incurred by a business must be coupled (matched) with clearly measured revenue.

It is, of course, a legitimate question to then ask: what then is to be done with those costs that generated NO revenue?

The right answer is not difficult. Both the successful and unsuccessful costs were intended to generate revenue. The revenue from the successful costs will carry the unsuccessful costs as well.

In practical terms, matching means that if you recognize a certain revenue in a certain period, the associated costs should also be recognized in that same period of accounting.

The complementary rule of cost matching is “The Revenue Realization” rule.

It says that revenue should be recognized only (1) if it has been earned and (2) in the exact period it was truly earned.

These two rules, revenue realization and cost matching, are the foundation upon which is built the Accrual Basis of Accounting.

Together, they determine when you record your financial transactions. They ensure that your financial reports reflect the economic reality of your business rather than just the movement of cash.

This revenue rule is straight-forward. Yet, as straight forward as it is, I know many small business men who violate it.

It says, simply, that revenue should be recorded in the specific period when it is earned, regardless of when the related cash is actually received.

When is revenue considered "earned"?
Well, that is a matter of objective reality.

When your business has finished or substantially finished the work.

Or when your business has transferred control of the goods to the customer.

Consider Tilapia Publishing which publishes books. Sometimes, in fact most times, a lecturer will pay for the publication once all the proofing and formatting have been done. Some pay before that.

Suppose a lecturer pays us by 30 December this year, but we won’t be able to deliver the books till perhaps two weeks in January.

Yes, we must record the receipt of the money this year, but we cannot record it as a SALE.

As 90% of that job is going to be done in January 2027, we cannot record the sale in 2026.

The opposite of course follows. If the lecturer paid Tilapia Publishing only 70% in early December, and we finished the work before the close of the year, we will record 100% of the sale in 2026 accounts, and not 70% that has been paid for.

The primary purpose of this rule is to ensure accuracy in reporting of income.

There should be neither an overstatement, nor an understatement of income.

It ensures that your financial success is measured by the actual value you delivered to customers, and not simply by your debt collection abilities.

The Cost Matching rule which complements the revenue realization rule is clearly aimed at creating a logical connection between the "effort" (expense) and the "result" (revenue).

For example, suppose we buy printing paper in December but used it for a job in January.

Under the Matching Principle, the cost of the paper cannot be recorded as an expense in December. Instead, it must be "matched" to January or later when the revenue from that sale is realized.

Without cost being matched with revenue, your business might appear to have a massive loss in the period you buy supplies and a massive profit in the period you sell them.

Now hear this:

I wanted to give you a piece of my mind, but I won't: that until you follow these rules in your business, stop telling people that you follow Record Every Kobo like Tilapia Publishing.

But I believe you will do the needful. So, here’s what to do:

As you have learned from this teaching, share it to everyone else who need it.

What is good for you, is good for other small business owners.

So, share freely as TILAPIA BOOKS PUBLISHING has freely given you.

Let’s grow!

10/07/2026

SOME BUSINESSES ARE Just So “Wicked” That They proclaim how limited the owner's wisdom really is.

They force the owner to wonder aloud, in frustration, where he or she kept his or her thinking cap when plunging into the business!

However, I'm assuming that the business you are doing right now is really worth your while.

It is not doing too badly. In fact, you see much potential for it.

The way you keep the accounts of your business should reflect the fact that you still have faith in your business.

Hence we have the…

ALWAYS ALIVE rule

…which assumes that your business will live for a really long time, if not forever!

In technical accounting language, it's called the Going Concern Principle.

Why is this assumption necessary?

If we did not assume continuity of operation, there would be drastic change in the way we value assets and liabilities recorded in our accounts.

Here is a simple fine example.

At Tilapia Publishing, we invest in printing machines. Suppose I got a printing machine for 5 million naira on 1 January this year.

I will record that I have a machine worth 5m.

I used the machine to print many books this year, including the one below. From all of the books we printed this year, I made printing services revenue, let's assume the sum of 20m.

By the end of the year a portion of the value of that machine is gone.

The question now is, how much should my accounting records show as the value of the machine at the end of the year?

If I say that I'm shutting down Tilapia Publishing in less than 12 months after 31 December this year, then the value of the machine will be whatever I reasonably think I can get by selling it off in a fire sale within next year.

So, if a fire sale will fetch me 2m on 1 January next year, it means my net profit this year will be down to the extent that includes 3m cost of printing machine usage.

That is 5m original value upon purchase on 1 January this year, minus 2m value derivable upon fire sale on 1 January next year, equals 3m value used up in the course of this year.

Suppose all other costs of Tilapia Publishing, direct and indirect, amounted to 17m, then my accounting will declare ZERO profit for this year.

But, that profit report will definitely be completely different if I assume that Tilapia Publishing will continue to exist far into the future.

In this case the question becomes: how long do I think the printing machine will serve Tilapia Publishing before we are forced to scrap it?

If the answer is 3 years, it means the 5m original value will be spread over the course of 3 years, after subtracting the value of the scrap at the end of year 3.

If the scrap value is estimated to be 200k, then each year will be allocated the sum of 1.6m as cost of that particular machine’s usage that year.

1.6m x 3 equals 4.8m, plus 200k, equals 5m.

So, in this case my net profit this year will be down to the extent that includes not 3m cost of printing machine usage, but only 1.6m.

Total costs for the year will therefore be 17m plus 1.6m which equals 18.6m.

Now 20m minus 18.6m is 1.4m.

So instead of declaring a ZERO profit this year, I declare a 1.4m profit this year.

The revenue is the same. But the profit report is different because of the difference in assumption about the life of the business.

This is just one of several important reasons why accounting practice stipulates the Going Concern assumption.

By the way, accounting for your business is not the only activity calling you to assume the longest life possible for your business.

Marketing also requires you to look far into the future.

Dr. Ben, Associate Professor of Marketing at IAUE Port Harcourt, said that much in his book which Tilapia Books published earlier this year.

09/07/2026

THE WORLD’S MOST Violated Accounting Rule is the first rule I want to set for you. By the way, how many days or years of “Accounting Prison” do I even deserve for violating the very rule I now want to set for you?

In the world of small businesses, the truth is that all have sinned and come short of the glory of accounting. And of all the cardinal sins of business accounting, this is the one the devil himself supervises.

But know still that the business world’s heavens and earths may pass away, this rule of accounting will endure.

The SEPARATE ENTITY rule.

It says simply that the business is different from the owner, and therefore its financial affairs must not be mixed up with the private affairs of the owner.

One thousand and one more reasons can be given in support of this rule. But I assure you that you don’t need them.

If you insist on one, this should be enough: if the purpose of accounting for the business is to know the state of affairs of the business, there is no way that can be determined if you muddle it up with affairs that do not relate to it.

This rule has very practical implications. Several of such, indeed.

Just one or two of them is enough.

Assets that belong to you personally, which means assets you have not included in the records of the business, cannot be used by the business for “FREE”.

The question is a very simple one: if the business has real need for that asset, and you did not own one, what will the business have done? It surely would have hired it and paid the rental fee for it.

So, if your business uses an asset you treat as a private asset, the account of the business must include a charge for the use of that asset.

The opposite is apparently equally applicable. An asset that belongs to the business cannot be used by you personally, for “FREE”. If you do, you must be charged an appropriate fee, typically what the business would have charged if it rented it out to another person.

The reason is obvious, and we have stated it already. There is no way to truthfully know the actual performance and therefore the state of affairs of the business, unless we account for everything concerning the business.

The biggest trouble with regards to this rule has to do with the mingling of expenses. I have fallen afoul of this rule so many times.

Now, before you rush to crucify me, I will say to you what the Lord said to them: whoever has never mixed up their personal expenses with that of their business, let him or her be the first to throw the spear.

But there is a regrettable good news here. The good news is that if you have the discipline and skill to do proper bookkeeping for your business, that process presents an opportunity to separate the wheat from the chaff.

In my case, since I do my record keeping every day, and update my reporting or do my balancing every week or two, I will always straighten things out almost 100%.

But the old saying, which my wise father used to say to me, and used to tell me that his own father used to say to him, remains true: that is to say, prevention is better than cure.

The best thing of course is to be disciplined enough to respect this rule. Don’t mix things up at all. In fact, why mix things up if you will eventually have to separate them?

Meanwhile, do not forget that it works both ways. This indeed is a double-edged cutlass.

Just as you should not throw your personal expenses into the expenses of the business, so also you should not throw the expenses of the business into your own personal account.

What is sauce for the goose, will forever be sauce for the gander.

And by that I do not just mean that the business should treat you fairly as you treat it fairly.

I also mean that as you have heard this teaching, and learned from it, you should share it to everyone else who needs it.

What is good for you, is good for other small business owners.

So, share freely as Tilapia Books Publishing has freely given you.

08/07/2026

BE HONEST TO YOURSELF: Do You Know, 100%, how much profits (not sales) you made last month or quarter or year?

Any business that does not record every kobo, and therefore CANNOT know its TRUE profit, no matter how well it seems to be doing, is surely losing some profits.

What Shall My "busy-busy" BusYness Profit Me, to win the whole world's business, and lose its soul - the profits?

Yes, to record every kobo since you cannot afford an accountant, you must learn to do accounting by yourself.

Luckily, Record Every Kobo like Tilapia Publishing is here to teach you how to easily do it, BY YOURSELF, with pen and paper. Or, if you prefer computer, by using a simple Excel template.

If you can give your business 10 to 12 hours a day, 60 to 70 hours a week, why not spend 10 to 15 minutes a day, about two hours a week, to protect all your hard won profits and know how bad or well you're doing?

Are you a foodstuff retailing business, or packaged water, or catering and basic restaurant, or gadgets and electronics, or cloths shop, or Logistics and delivery service business?

Or car wash, or big laundry, or cleaning and fumigation, or beauty and makeup, or fish and poultry farming, or soap and insecticide production, or school, or event planning and organizing, or any other type of small business?

You must keep proper records if you don’t want to lose money unnecessarily. I will show you how I do it every day at Tilapia Publishing. And I will guide you to do it at your business.

We shall start with Tilapia Publishing’s transactions for 1 July 2026. We will keep going nonstop, everyday.

But before we kick off, we shall lay the foundation with what I call...

“THE 15 RULES OF SMALL BIZ ACCOUNTING”.

I will treat them LATER one after another. But here are their key points:

✅ SEPARATE ENTITY rule says that the business is different from the owner, and its financial affairs must not be mixed up with the private affairs of the owner.

✅ ALWAYS ALIVE rule says that the business must be assumed to exist forever.

✅ PERIODICITY says you must record transactions daily and then prepare periodic reports, whether weekly, or monthly, or yearly, whichever you choose, to determine whether the business is progressing or not.

✅ REVENUE REALIZATION says that no revenue should be recognized unless it's measurable and reasonably certain to be collected.

✅ COST MATCHING says that all costs must attach to some (expected or realized) revenue.

✅ CONSISTENCY says that, once you choose a way of accounting for an item or transaction, endeavor to maintain that method to help in making comparison across periods.

✅ HISTORICAL COST stipulates that your claims about the assets you own, the liabilities you owe, the costs you incur and the revenues you earn, must be actual, not imputed.

✅ SUBSTANCE OVER FORM rule says what matters is the substance of a transaction, and not the form it took, or the name it’s labeled. For example, goods "sold" on “SALE OR RETURN” basis is not a sale at all, but something lent out.

✅PRUDENCE teaches us that if you must estimate a future value, you should choose a lower value for revenue and higher value for cost.

✅ CASH IS NOT PROFIT, obviously because, not everything you earn comes as cash, and not every cash you get is legally or entirely your own.

✅SALARY ILLUSION says if you work in your business, treat yourself as an employee by drawing the exact salary you would have paid another to do all you do in the business.

✅ REVENUE VERSUS NET PROFIT says that the owner is entitled to only the net profits of the business, and not its revenue.

✅DISCIPLINE IS THE REAL ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE says that in keeping the accounts, pen and paper can be enough if you have the discipline to be consistent, for even the most sophisticated accounting software will be useless unless you have the discipline.

✅ IMPERATIVE IMPREST says that there is no known better strategy to control "small" expenses that silently drain you dry, except by imprest system, a.k.a Petty Cash Fund.

✅RECORD EVERY KOBO says that (1) human memory is notoriously imperfect, and (2) the truth about the performance of the business cannot be known unless you account for every single kobo.
...

I will fully treat each of these rules subsequently.

Before I get into them, tell me from your personal experience, what you have to say about any one or two of the above Great Rules.

I'm waiting in the comments below.

Record Every Kobo like Tilapia Publishing

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