So I'm reading this in bed and made the mistake (and now laughing about it) of asking my wife what she does to account for misc dept expenses. She's the accounting office manager with a 70 year old family owned new car dealership. This dealership is extremely unusual in accolades it receives from customers and other businesses on how well it's run.
I know better to ask such questions. Her tongue instantly turns into a calculator tape, complete with a list of accounts of what goes where. So I just had to ask.... "who do you charge the Starbucks Coffee to?" Yes, they provide it free, with free WiFi, bottled water, and large screen tv in a living room setting. Or chose the cafe-atrium setting with preserved olive trees.
I got the whole run down of pre-setup accounts for everything from tree-trimming to department supplies, blah, blah...blah, blah...blah, blah.
Short answer: They never charge the customer. Either the department is charged or it is split between departments as a cost of doing business.
My thought: if a business isn't smart enough to build in the cost of doing business, they're not smart enough to do work for me.
This doesn't mean you shouldn't account for every penny of expense. My wife tracks every penny so the owners don't have to and why she's been there for 24 years. She's funny in being able to run a tight ship and be extremely well-liked at the same time. She's very protective about the family's business. Shouldn't we all be? |