Recommendations for accounting

Doulado is not an accounting system, and we don't currently have plans to add an accounting system or track expenses or payments related to your business.

Here are some reasons:

  • You business may incur expenses and income, or other situations outside of the scope of care
  • Accounting systems typically need to (or should) connect to your bank to be most effective, which our company is not equipped to support
  • Accounting systems are complex and need to account for a wide variety of situations
  • When tax laws are updated, accounting systems need to reflect new expense categories

So then what should I do for accounting?

We recommend the approach we use internally at Doulado:

  1. Separate your business and personal expenses. There is no reason not to, and it costs nothing if you use the right tools. If you choose not to do this, the rest of the recommendations below will not help you.
  2. Create a free business banking account using an online bank. You can get virtual or physical debit cards and move money, because...well, it's a bank! We recommend and use www.mercury.com
  3. Use a free accounting system to track and categorize your expenses. You simply need to categorize your income and expenses. We recommend and use www.waveapps.com
  4. Log in regularly (e.g., weekly or monthly) and review your imported transactions, and categorize them appropriately (e.g., travel, meals, office supplies, etc.). Set a reminder if needed!
  5. Remember that you can deduct portions of your home expenses like rent or mortgage, as well as utilities. See more at https://www.irs.gov/publications/p587

What about taxes?

At the end of the year, an accounting system will let you export some basic things you need, like an Income Statement and Balance Sheet. With these two things, you can empower yourself and fill out your own taxes using an online system like TurboTax or TaxAct. Doula businesses are often simple enough that you may be able to fill out your forms yourself.

Here are the things you can do, in order of cost:

  • Cheapest ($0): Fill out the forms yourself and mail them to the IRS. It's possible!
  • Middle (~$100): Use a system like TaxAct or TurboTax to go step by step and answer questions. They will guide you through and submit the taxes for you.
  • Expensive (~$500+): Use a tax professional to submit your taxes for you.

What about credit cards and points?

It's true that expenses for your business are beneficial to put on a credit card, due to convenience, points and the ability to pay later (although you should pay credit card balances off every month!). Here are some ideas you can do to still use personal credit cards and keep things separate:

  1. If you have more than one personal credit card, use one specifically and solely for business expenses. You can connect your accounting system to the one you use for business and import transactions automatically
  2. If you only use one personal credit card, then you can connect it to your accounting system. It will import personal transactions as well, but as part of your regular review, you can delete the personal ones and leave the business ones.
  3. Set a reminder or alarm for yourself so that every week, you log into your credit card and be diligent about recording your business expenses.