Accounting 101 for Ceramic Artists

Information

Accounting 101 for Ceramic Artists

This documents the materials and classwork that was covered for basic bookkeeping that began in March and concluded at the beginning of May, 2012.

Through a combination of working through online tutorials, doing some excercises based on a fictitious potter's business, and subscribing to the free online accounting system at WaveAccounting.com, we learned together how to set up and maintain meaningful records of our businesses that are up to date, rather than finding out how we did at tax time.  Balance sheets, profit and loss reports, accounts due and receivable do not come from the papers in a shoebox accounting system.

This was a peer-led group study effort. 

The class can be repeated in the future if there is sufficient demand, and we expect to have more sophisticated tools for real time conferencing. An experienced instructor would be welcome to take over a future class. 

Minimum number of students - 6

Maximum number of students - 12

Anticipated duration - 6 weeks

Anticipated start date - Undetermined

Required time commitment - 3-8 hours per week

Communications method - Private group discussion on the Cone6pots network and scheduled 90 minute Web conferences once a week.

Post comments and questions here.

Sign up by requesting to join this Group.

This is a fixed duration, class style study group covering basic accounting concepts and setting up our businesses on the online accounting system at WaveAccounting.com.

Participants are urged to check in and read all postings for this group at least 3 times per week.

There will be a $40 registration fee for the class. Those who complete the class with 70% or better participation will get a $20 refund or credit toward their next class.

Members: 14
Latest Activity: May 7, 2012

Discussion Forum

Week 6 Tutorials and Activities

Started by George Lewter. Last reply by Wes Stack Apr 25, 2012. 1 Reply

This set of materials completes the course materials for the class. Though the formal class is ending, group members are encouraged to stay on as members, and to post new accounting questions that…Continue

Week 5 Tutorials and Activities

Started by George Lewter. Last reply by George Lewter Apr 18, 2012. 3 Replies

Read the Introductory lesson and Lesson 3 in the dwmbeancounter tutorials. This will give you a better grasp of what accounts you need to set up for your own business on waveaccounting.com…Continue

Wes Stack's Accounting 101 Workspace

Started by Wes Stack. Last reply by Wes Stack Apr 18, 2012. 2 Replies

Just joined today. Looking forward to the course and discussions.Continue

Week 4 Tutorials and Activities

Started by George Lewter. Last reply by George Lewter Apr 11, 2012. 2 Replies

Week 4 Project - Part 1Task 1 - Understand the financial reports presented in Lesson 6 at beancounter's website, especially balance sheet and income statement - you will create and use these very…Continue

Comment Wall

Comment

You need to be a member of Accounting 101 for Ceramic Artists to add comments!

Comment by Wes Stack on May 7, 2012 at 3:02pm

Thanks George. They sent me an email notice too. I don't have an etsy account, but may consider it in the future. In the meantime, Wave accounting has been a big plus for my financial organization.

Another matter...I have some glaze tests to post. Where is the appropriate interest/discussion group to upload to?

Comment by George Lewter on May 7, 2012 at 12:46pm

WaveAccounting.com is beta testing an application to import your etsy transactions into your free waveaccounting bookkeeping system.

Comment by George Lewter on April 15, 2012 at 12:02pm

Sunday chat sessions are discontinued.  We now get together Wednesday evenings at 8 pm EDT.

Comment by George Lewter on April 5, 2012 at 7:17pm

Wes Stack and I just visited via Skype.  It was the first Skype call for both of us.  We did quite a bit of fumbling around to get the video part to work correctly, but succeeded. Then we fumbled around some more and were able to see each others computer screens and the open applications.  He showed me an Excel spreadsheet he is working on for his business and I showed him the google docs sheet I'm working on for the balance sheet exercise. 

Other than being another computer application that you have to learn how to use, Skype is far superior to chat for our communications needs. We will continue with a chat session for this class, but I think a weekly Skype session should be available for anyone interested, even if we cover the same material. 

Comment by George Lewter on April 5, 2012 at 6:00am

I am on Skype now, and would like to test the conferencing capability as a better alternative than chat for our weekly meetings.  Skype can be downloaded and used computer to computer for free. You need at minimum a microphone and speakers, and a Webcam for video.  Most newer laptops have these features built-in. My Skype ID is geoglaznclay.  The only downside to Skype is that we won't have a transcript to post. I guess I should check into recording the session.

Comment by Troy Bungart on March 27, 2012 at 11:03am

George there are a few different types of accounting spreadsheets available to me on google docs. What am I specifically looking for?

Reply by George Lewter 3/27.  I will be posting a file with Joe Potters accounts, transactions, and T-accounts in Excel and PDF format. I think I can put them on google docs, and I think I can get you access to them.  But I don't know if you get to use copies that you can work on on your own or if you will be working on my originals.  I will look into that and get back to all of you.

Generally you can set up spreadsheets to do whatever you want them to.  There are a whole slew of preformatted sheets on the supplemental sources page for this group.

Comment by George Lewter on March 27, 2012 at 8:51am

If you would like to use a spreadsheet application and don't have Excel, you can use google docs online by simply registering for a google ID. Or you can download the free Open Office software to run it locally on your machine.  Both work nearly identically to Excel.

Comment by Sharon Ivy on March 25, 2012 at 6:36am
I'm out of town with no DSL service and pretty sure chat won't be easy using my phone. Will catch you folks next week.
Comment by George Lewter on March 18, 2012 at 9:24am

If you are looking at the discussion forum with other people online at the same time, you have to refresh the page frequently to see the latest replies. Chat, on the other hand, will refresh automatically every time someone says something.

Comment by George Lewter on March 15, 2012 at 5:13pm

Chat starts as a little window in the lower right corner of the cone6pots windows. If you click the little gear it will give you the chance to connect or disconnect from chat. When you are connected the main room is always open. Click its header to expand it and then drag the header up or down to the size you prefer. 

 
 
 

Videos

  • Add Videos
  • View All

Use These Links to Support Us

Low cost flat lapping disc can be used on you potters wheel if you, drill bat pin holes in it, and provide a trickle of water to cool it. At amazon.com, 120 grit for aggressive material removal. Click the image to purchase 

Members have had great things to say about John Britt's new book, Mid-Range Glazes. Click the image to buy from Amazon.com

Purchase Glazes Cone 6 by Michael Bailey, The Potters Book of Glaze Recipes by Emmanuel Cooper, or Making Marks by Robin Hopper, all available at amazon.comMastering Cone 6 Glazes by John Hesselberth & Ron Roy is now out of print.

Harbor Freight is a great place to find unbeatable prices for better HVLP spray guns with stainless steel parts and serviceable economy models, as well as detail guns, all tested by our members for spraying glazes, as well as compressors to power the guns. As yet no one has tested and commented on the remarkably inexpensive air brushes at harbor freight.

The critter siphon gun is a spray alternative that is well liked by some of our members, and is available at amazon.

Amazon is also a competitive source for photo light tents for shooting professional quality pictures of your work. They also have the EZ Cube brand favored by several of our members. You might also want to purchase the book Photographing Arts, Crafts and Collectibles . . .

If you are up to creating videos of your work or techniques you might want to invest in a flip video camera

Following are a few scales useful for potters. Ohaus Triple Pro Mechanical Triple Beam Balance, 2610g x 0.1g, with Tare $169.00

And finally a low cost clone of the OHaus. The Adam Equipment TBB2610T Triple Beam Mechanical Balance With Tare Beam $99.62

ebay is a great alternative for many tools and the equipment used in the ceramics studio - kilns, wheels, extruders, slab rollers are often listed there both new and used.

Tips for Members

If you just want to spout off, it is best accomplished as a blog posting. If you want to get more guidance and ideas from other members, ask a question as a new discussion topic. In the upper right corner of the lists for both types of posting, you will find an "+Add " button. Clicking it will open an editor where you create your posting. 4/16/2014

© 2024   Created by Andrea Wolf.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service