1. Start with Clear Inventory Goals

Before jumping into AI tools:

·         Identify what you want to solve: overstocking, stockouts, demand forecasting, shrinkage, seasonal trends, etc.

·         Set KPIs: e.g., improve inventory turnover rate by X%, reduce holding costs by Y%.

2. Choose the Right AI Tools or Platforms

·         Look for inventory management solutions that are compatible with AI, such as Canadian Smart Systems, QuickBooks Online or Shopify.

3. Use Smart Demand Forecasting

·         Use AI to analyze historical sales, weather patterns, and social trends to predict demand more accurately.

·         This helps reduce both running out of stock and overstocking.

·         AI can help reduce waste by optimizing order quantities and shelf life, which is important for both cost savings and environmental impact.

4. Automate Reordering and Stock Levels

·         Implement AI tools that automatically reorder stock when levels dip below a threshold.

·         This ensures you’re always stocked without tying up cash in excess inventory

5. Run Pilots and Measure ROI

·         Start with one product category, region, or warehouse.

·         Test how AI affects fill rate, stockout rate, turnover, and cost per unit sold.

·         Scale up after success and feedback.

6. Explore Dynamic Pricing

·         AI can adjust prices in real time based on market demand, competitor pricing, and inventory levels.

7. Use Real-Time Tracking

·         Leverage AI with barcode tech to track inventory across multiple locations.

·         This is especially useful for businesses with warehouses or stores across provinces.

8. Train Your Team to Work With AI

·         AI doesn’t replace inventory managers—it amplifies them.

·         Train staff on how to interpret AI suggestions and override them when needed.

·         Assign roles for AI monitoring, exception handling, and vendor relationship management.

9. Use AI for Multi-Channel Inventory Optimization

·         If you're selling through Shopify, Amazon.ca, physical stores, etc.:

·         Use AI to balance inventory across platforms.

·         Optimize ship-from-store, drop-shipping, or BOPIS (Buy Online, Pick up In-Store) models.

10. Ensure Data Quality:

·         AI models are only as good as the data they are trained on. Make sure your data is accurate, clean, and well-organized. This may involve integrating data from various sources and addressing any inconsistencies

Book a free consultation today and start letting AI do the work!  https://calendar.app.google/6griHQ4MaKB16UrX8

  A Chart of Accounts is… Well, it’s a quite literally a chart of accounts!  These accounts are not necessarily bank accounts, but more like departments that businesses use to categorize transactions.

Each “account” falls into one of five categories: Assets, liabilities, equity, revenue and expenses. The categories are also set up in that order.  The accounts are numbers based on their categories.  For example, asset accounts would be numbered 100-199, liabilities 200-299, equity 300-399, revenue 400-499 and expenses 500-599.  Larger companies that require more accounts may use a number range in the 1000s. (*Numbers in the Chart of Accounts may vary from company to company).

The asset category is usually set up in this order: Current assets to long-term assets.  E.g. Cash (this is usually the business’s chequing/savings account and petty cash), accounts receivable (money owed to the business), inventories, prepaid expenses, investments, buildings/land and intangible assets.

Liabilities is set up with current liabilities first (obligations to be paid within  the current accounting cycle or business year) then long-term liabilities (such as a vehicle loan that takes multiple years to pay off).

Liabilities also includes your GST/PST/HST tax accounts.  I will get into this in a different post, since there is multiple ways businesses choose to record this.

Equity represents the owner’s investments.  Equity starts with the “owner’s capital” account.  This is the owner’s investments into the business.  Equity also includes the “Owner’s Drawings”.  This is money the owner might take out of the business for personal use or to pay themselves for their work.  *Please note, I am talking about a sole proprietorship here.  A corporation or partnership will look slightly different.

An Equity category may also include what is called an “Income Summary” account.  This is a temporary account used for making end-of-month or end-of-period adjustments.

The Revenue category includes accounts for your income from service, sales, rent, interest, etc.

The Expense category has accounts for all the expenses your business might incur.  It is important to name these properly.   This doesn’t mean you make an expense account for every single thing you purchase.  For example, you might have an account called “Office Supplies” and every time you purchase office supplies, like paper and staples, you would categorize that transaction under your “Office Supplies” expense account.

Less is more when it comes to a Chart of Accounts.  Too many accounts may get confusing and unorganized.  Remember K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Silly!).

Example Chart of Accounts for a Sole Proprietorship:

Acct#:   Account Name:

100    Bank (Chequing)

101    Savings

102    Petty Cash

110    Accounts Receivable (Money owed to the business)

120    Prepaid Insurance

130    Office Equipment/Furniture

140        Land/Equipment

150    Intangible Assets (Such as copyrights, patents and trademarks)

200    Accounts Payable (Bills not yet paid)

210    GST Payable

220    Loan Payable

221    Interest Payable

400    Service Revenue

410    Sales Revenue

420    Interest Revenue

500    Gain/Loss on Disposal of Fixed Assets

510    Bank Fees

520    Bad Debt Expense

530    Cost of Goods Sold

540     Office Expense

541        Telephone/Internet Expense

542     Office Equipment/Furniture Expense

542    Rent Expense

550     Loan Expense

551     Interest Expense

*Note: When you create your Chart of Accounts, it is not necessarily set in stone.  You can add accounts anytime and if you noticed you haven’t used an account in a long time, you can make that account inactive and bring it back anytime.

Is this way over your head? Or, maybe, it’s just boring you to death… In that case, let someone do it for you, so you can focus on doing what you love!  Visit https://www.bolensbookkeeping.site and book your free consultation, today!

Tired of trying to learn the basics of accounting and sick of having every single website try to sell you something?  Here are four accounting websites that are actually helpful, for free!

https://www.accountingformanagement.org/

https://www.learnaccountingforfree.com/lessons.html

https://accountingexamsmastery.ca/

https://www.ifrs.org/ - Okay, maybe this one isn’t so “under-glorified”, but it’s an important one and it’s free to make an account

Happy learning 😊.

Running a business is exciting, but managing finances? That’s a whole different challenge.

Are You Prepared to Handle Your Own Books?

Bookkeeping isn’t just tracking numbers. It’s about keeping your business compliant, organized, and financially healthy. You need to stay on top of:

• Income and expenses

• Accounts Receivable & Payable

• Payroll

• Accurate financial reporting

• GST filing and month-end reconciliations

• Tax prep and avoiding costly mistakes

Many business owners start handling their books solo, but as things grow, bookkeeping can quickly become time-consuming and overwhelming.

Click the link belows to book a free consultation today! Let’s make bookkeeping easy, so you can focus on what you do best. https://calendar.app.google/6griHQ4MaKB16UrX8

What is Accounting Software?

         Accounting software is a digital tool that records, organizes, and manages a business’s financial transactions.  Accounting software can be cloud-based or desktop-based.

What can Accounting Software Do?

• Automatically records transactions

• Invoice and accept payments

• Tracks sales, inventory and sales tax

• Run Payroll

• Bank Reconciliation

• Generates Financial Statements

• Multi-User Access

Which Accounting Software Should You Choose?

         Well, unfortunately, I can’t answer that for you.  Accounting software is not a “one size, fits all” deal.  Each business has different accounting software needs, and each accounting software offers different services.

I can, however, give you some questions to ask yourself, that may help impact your decision:

1. Am I looking for a desktop-based or cloud-based accounting system?  If your business is concerned about data privacy, you may want to choose a desktop software, so you can have the control and security of local storage and backups.  On the other hand, your business may prefer cloud-based accounting software because of automatic updates and increased flexibility, accessibility and collaboration. 

2. Do I need payroll services? Not all accounting software has payroll services, and some may charge extra for it.

3. Does my business sell items or services on accounts and send out invoices?  Then you will most likely need an accounting software that offers invoicing and accounts receivable.

4. Does my business purchase items or services on accounts and receive invoices from suppliers? If so, you’ll want to ensure the software you choose offers accounts payable services. 

5. Is the software I am looking into available in my country and currency?  If not, it may cause issues down the road, especially during tax season.  Also, if your business deals with different currencies, you may want to make sure that multicurrency is something your accounting software offers.

6. Am I, or the people using the software, new to accounting software?  If so, you may want to choose a program that provides plenty of customer support and helpful guides/tutorials.  I recommend looking at customer reviews and seeing if the company’s customers found their support helpful or not.

Why Smaller is Better for Smaller

• Affordable

• Available & Reachable – I have time for you!

• No hidden fees!  My contracts are easy to read, acceptably short and you’ll pay what you agree to pay, nothing more!

• I care!  You are not “just another client” to me!  To me, your business is the next big thing and Bolen’s Bookkeeping wants to help you get there

• Fully Remote, no uncomfortable meetings (Typically, my consultations are done via Microsoft Teams, but I promise, if you’re not camera ready, I won’t make you use it!  If you don’t like Teams, not a problem! Call, text or email me and we’ll figure out another form of communication)

• Smaller works harder – Clients are not a dime-a-dozen for smaller businesses, and we want to make sure you stick with us!

When you are first introduced to Canadian bookkeeping, or accounting, one of the first things you’ll learn about is Canadian GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) and IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards).  These are ethics and guidelines for the finance world. 

Compliance with GAAP and IFRS is very important.  Not only is it what the CRA wants to see, but if you follow these guidelines your financial statements will be easily comparable to financial statements from other businesses.  This lets you know how your business is doing compared to other similar businesses.

CRA Standards for GST/HST & Payroll Remittance – payroll can be a scary thing.  It’s important not to underpay or overpay employees.  You also want to ensure you are deducting the proper amounts off of the employees pay (statutory deductions, like CPP, EI, Income tax and other deductions like work gear or healthcare).

Once you learn about financial ethics, principals and compliance; accrual accounting and the double entry system are typically next.  If I have completely lost you, that’s fine, but your bookkeeper should be very familiar with these terms. 

In Canada accrual accounting is the alternative to cash accounting.  The only businesses that the CRA wants to let run a cash accounting system are farmers, fishers and self-employed commission agents.  All other businesses are expected to run an accrual accounting system.

The foundations of accounting also teach you how to create, troubleshoot and understand financial statements.  These statements don’t only tell you things like profit and overhead costs, but they can also help you properly represent your business to loaners.  This may increase your chance of getting a loan, because the loaner can see exactly what is going on with your business and doesn’t have to take your word for it.

Financial tracking and statements can also help you manage inventory, expenses, bad debts and so much more!

This post by no means covers all that the foundations of accounting have to offer (I know you don’t have time for that)!  However, I hope it has given you an idea of how important it is to know these foundations, if you are to keep a business’s books!

If you find yourself with a bookkeeper who is not familiar with these concepts, or you yourself are keeping your own books and are not familiar – you could be risking yourself a lot of time and money! It may be time to hire yourself a new bookkeeper.