Category: Bookkeeping

Audits ensure that financial statements reflect accurate financial data. Regular audits are crucial for financial transparency in real estate accounting. Advanced software solutions offer features for audit trails, ensuring transparency. Regular reviews refine these audits, ensuring they remain aligned with accounting standards. For real estate professionals, regular audits are crucial for stakeholder trust.

Ethical Considerations in Trust Accounting and Reporting

Adapting to these technological advancements is crucial for modern real estate accounting. This involves integrating with modern tools and staying updated with technological changes. Accurate financial data is the cornerstone of informed decision-making.

Embracing Technology and Collaboration for Good Real Estate Accounting

• This involves disclosing any potential conflicts, abstaining from self-dealing, and acting in the best interests of the trust beneficiaries at all times.
• If mathematics was not your forte and you chose a career in property management to avoid crunching the numbers, we can imagine the shock when you learned you would be managing real estate trust accounts.
• By subtracting operating expenses from rental income, investors can assess the property’s profitability.
• Factors such as location and property type can influence cap rates.
• For real estate professionals, financial forecasting is a core skill.

They should be used to store payments for deposits, bonds, upfront fees, and some rental incomes. All the rules and regulations involved with renting or leasing real estate properties can get a little confusing. These valuation pitfalls can result in you losing the trust of your investors and can even lead to compliance and auditing issues.

Disadvantages of REIT Status

• Real estate accounting involves the systematic recording, analysis, and interpretation of financial information related to real estate transactions.
• Training sessions offer insights into cost optimization strategies.
• But there are some big differences due to the accounting treatment of property.
• Trust account reconciliation is the process of comparing trust account records with bank statements to identify discrepancies, errors, or potential fraud.
• Moreover, clear protocols ensure consistent and accurate preparation.
• If only they’d put the money into a trust account, where they wouldn’t be tempted to spend it.

It ensures that properties are consistently depreciated, reflecting their true wear and tear. Understanding their nuances is essential for accurate revenue recognition. Different lease structures can impact when and how revenue is recognized. For instance, a stepped rent lease might have varying rental amounts over its term. Recognizing this revenue correctly ensures that financial statements reflect true income patterns. Regular reviews of lease agreements can highlight any changes or amendments.

• Balance sheets provide a snapshot of a property’s assets, liabilities, and equity.
• Properties often have multiple revenue streams, from rentals to parking fees.
• REITs hold real estate investments, which are depreciated over time for tax purposes.
• Known as a Sec. 645 election, it is made by filing Form 8855 with the Form 1041.
• Xero’s app store contains hundreds of apps that integrate with the accounting software.

You’ll also want to choose software that includes tools to help you market your business and properties and manage communications with your clients. If those tools aren’t built in to the accounting software you select, then be sure the software integrates with third-party apps to help you meet those needs. With the advent of technology, cloud-based accounting software has revolutionized the way real estate professionals handle their finances.

Why do property managers need trust accounts?

REITs come in various forms, each with its characteristics and investment focus. The primary categorization is based on the assets they hold and how they generate income. Equity REITs, for instance, own and manage income-producing real estate properties. In contrast, mortgage REITs invest in mortgages or mortgage-backed securities. Understanding the different types of REITs is crucial for investors to align their investment goals with the appropriate REIT category. With that in mind, this article will discuss how to assess the valuation of real estate investment trusts, including two step-by-step examples using a real, publicly-traded REIT.

Understanding Real Estate Investment Trusts – An Accountant’s Guide

An ESBT, defined at IRC § 1361(e)(1) with tax rules at section (c), holds the stock of an S corporation, with the shareholders as beneficiaries. A QSST, described in section 1361(d), likewise can hold the stock of an S corporation, with the beneficiary treated as its owner and the trust treated as a grantor trust. For more information on these trusts, see “Creative Ways of Achieving Grantor Trust Status,” The Tax Adviser, Sept. 2009, page 593. Most REITs lease space and collect rents, then distribute that income as dividends to shareholders. Mortgage REITs (also called mREITs) don’t own real estate; instead, they finance real estate.

• Understanding the different types of trust funds is essential for effective management and compliance with legal requirements.
• On the one hand, you want to be confident you can easily access money when an unpredictable bill arises because of a tenant accident.
• The frequency and amount of distributions can vary, though many REITs aim for consistent and growing dividends.
• The insights and services we provide help to create long-term value for clients, people and society, and to build trust in the capital markets.
• Be sure to compare an REIT’s debt level to industry averages or debt ratios for competitors.

This liquidity is enhanced when the REIT is publicly traded on a major stock exchange. Additionally, REITs tend to offer diversification benefits, as they can own properties across a range of sectors and geographic real estate accounting locations. Because revocable trusts are both income tax and capital gains tax efficient, and revocable trusts are excellent for estate planning, revocable trusts are the most common type of trust.

These salaries are owed for the period but have not been paid making them Current. Companies disclose all the Non-Current Liabilities they owe and their values on the Balance Sheet. The one year mark is measured as 12 months from the date of the Balance Sheet. If the above $1.10 which of the following are long-term liabilities? amount at the end of the first year is invested for an additional year at 10% interest, its future value would be $1.21 ($1.10 x 110%). This consists of the original $1 investment, $.10 interest earned in the first year, and $.11 interest earned during the second year.

• This amount is the cumulative total of the amounts that had been reported over the years as other comprehensive income (or loss).
• Alongside her accounting practice, Sandra is a Money and Life Coach for women in business.
• Companies of all sizes finance part of their ongoing long-term operations by issuing bonds that are essentially loans from each party that purchases the bonds.
• The higher interest rate bonds can be called to be replaced by bonds bearing a lower interest rate.

Liabilities vs. Assets

When the corporation purchases shares of its stock, the corporation’s cash declines, and the amount of stockholders’ equity declines by the same amount. Hence, the cumulative cost of the treasury stock appears in parentheses. The final liability appearing on a company’s balance sheet is commitments and contingencies along with a reference to the notes to the financial statements. Long-term debt’s current portion is the portion of these obligations that is due within the next year. In this example, the current portion of long-term debt would be listed together with short-term liabilities. This ensures a more accurate view of the company’s current liquidity and its ability to pay current liabilities as they come due.

Liability: Definition, Types, Example, and Assets vs. Liabilities

All deductions withheld by employers must be paid to the appropriate authority. For example, income tax, EI, and CPP must be paid to the Receiver General for Canada. Charitable donations withheld by an employer would be paid to the charity as directed by the employee. Investors consider the interest rates of bonds as well as the quality of the assets, if any, that are pledged as security.

Recording Employer’s CPP and EI Amounts

This feature ensures the availability of adequate cash for the redemption of the bonds at maturity. The fund is called “sinking” because the transferred assets are tied up or “sunk,” and cannot be used for any purpose other than the redemption of the bonds. The $20,000 notes payable, due November 30, 2024 is a current liability because its maturity date is within one year of the balance sheet date, a characteristic of a current liability. The $75,000 notes payable, due March 31, 2023 is a long-term liability since it is to be repaid beyond one year of the balance sheet date. For many successful corporations, the largest amount in the stockholders’ equity section of the balance sheet is retained earnings. Retained earnings is the cumulative amount of 1) its earnings minus 2) the dividends it declared from the time the corporation was formed until the balance sheet date.

• Long-term debt’s current portion is the portion of these obligations that is due within the next year.
• Apart from bonds, a company can borrow from banks or financial institutions which will be regarded as a loan having a repayment tenure and fixed or floating rate of interest.
• Payroll deductions are amounts subtracted by the employer from an employee’s gross pay.
• This helps investors and creditors see how the company is financed.
• Bill talks with a bank and gets a loan to add an addition onto his building.

Keep in mind that long-term liabilities aren’t included with tax liabilities in order to provide more accurate information about a company’s debt ratios. Liability generally refers to the state of being responsible for something. https://www.bookstime.com/ The term can refer to any money or service owed to another party. Tax liability can refer to the property taxes that a homeowner owes to the municipal government or the income tax they owe to the federal government.

• Short term liabilities show the liquidity position while long term liabilities show the solvency of the company in the long term.
• They can be listed in order of preference under generally accepted accounting principle (GAAP) rules as long as they’re categorized.
• The portion of the vehicle that you’ve already paid for is an asset.
• Each corporation issuing bonds has unique financing needs and attempts to satisfy various borrowing situations and investor preferences.
• The amortization of premiums and discounts is an intermediate financial accounting topic and is not covered here.
• A liability is something that a person or company owes, usually a sum of money.
• For example, a company can hedge against interest rate risk by entering into an agreement.

When serial bonds are issued, the bonds have differing maturity dates, as indicated on the bond contract. Investors are able to choose bonds with a term that agrees with their investment plans. For example, in a $30 million serial bond issue, $10 million worth of the bonds may mature each year for three years. Most bond issues are sold in their entirety when market conditions are favourable. However, more bonds can be authorized in a particular bond issue than will be immediately sold.

When a business lists long-term liabilities in their accounts, the current portion of this debt is separated from the rest of the debt. This allows business owners to see how much money the business has right now and whether it can pay its current debts when they are due. On a balance sheet, your long term liabilities and short term liabilities are added together to determine a business’ total debt. Noncurrent liabilities, also called long-term liabilities or long-term debts, are long-term financial obligations listed on a company’s balance sheet.

LO4 – Identify, describe, and record bonds.

Your P&L will help you understand if it’s financially worth pursuing those vanity metrics. To be considered successful, the company will need to generate a profit of $40,500, or 4.5 percent of revenue. But this comes down to the difference between basing profit margins off of revenue versus contribution margins. Most people would argue that the brokerage is a nearly $1-million company.

Dealing with Rental Income and Property Management

Negative cash flow – when more money is going out than coming in – can occur even when deals are closing regularly. For instance, investing heavily in marketing, paying high office overhead, and dealing with slow  commission payouts alldrain cash resources, offsetting even significant revenue. Real estate accounting might seem intimidating, especially when showing homes is more comfortable than crunching numbers. But ignoring this crucial aspect of the business can lead to serious financial missteps.

Top 10 Best Bookkeeping Services Near New York, New York

Good real estate accounting involves accurately tracking financial transactions related to real estate and ensuring compliance with relevant regulations. If you own rental properties, efficient record-keeping is crucial. Keep track of tenant rent payments, security deposits, and expenses related to each property. Implement a system to manage lease agreements and track any outstanding payments.

Working with Professionals

Real estate accounting software helps agents save a lot of time and money while improving productivity levels. The goal is to provide a digital interface that performs most of your financial transactions. It’s also best to find a system that automates some of the most routine accounting chores like reconciliation and transaction matching. Real estate accounting software is a comprehensive, all-in-one financial logging, management, and auditing solution that can help you scale your business. In the real estate sector, you want to keep track of your books and expenses so that you can easily manage your taxes and plan for any down times in the industry. Most online systems come with invoicing, expense management, reporting, cash-flow monitoring, and client management features.

Why Am I On Quickbooks Desktop?

There are many bookkeeping software options for agents to choose from. Real estate accounting and financial reports show exactly where a real estate company stands financially. Bookkeeping transactions generate various real estate company financial reports, with all your financial data in one place.

What are the duties of a real estate accountant?

Key differences in accounting practices in real estate accounting include specialized knowledge and understanding of property valuation and management. Accounting is much more complex when it involves real estate transactions. Understanding the basics of real estate accounting is essential for property managers, investors, and professionals in the field. Key components include tracking rental income, expenses, depreciation, and tax implications.

Importance of Proper Accounting Practices

As assets used to produce income, rental properties can get depreciated over 27.5 or 39 years for residential buildings. Appliances, furniture, and improvements depreciate faster over 5-15 years. Bookkeeping needs to factor timeframes, depreciation methodology (straight-line most commonly), allowed deductions, and recaptured depreciation if sold. Upon selling, intricate tax calculations on capital gains also apply made easier through strong bookkeeping.

They can help you make a tax plan for the coming year and let you know what to keep track of throughout the year. This isn’t a straightforward service where you do work and get paid by a client. Even if you’re a Business-of-One, real estate agent bookkeeping your finances can be quite involved and include an array of expenses, income and deductions that can quickly get complicated to track. But being a real estate agent involves some complicated financial stuff.

Best real estate accounting software

• He is an expert in resource and process optimization resulting in greater operational efficiencies.
• Not tracking mileage for business-related travel can result in missed deductions and incorrect expense reports.
• A robust credit history separates finances, enhances credibility, and unlocks diverse financing.
• Alternatively, you can download MREA chart of accounts on the KellerInk website.
• The best part of Bench’s services is that, unlike real estate accounting software, there is no learning curve.

It also allows for easy connection to your accounting software and eliminates the need for manual work. Did you know that Landlord Studio offers bookkeeping and accounting tools designed specifically for real estate investors? Our bookkeeping solutions save you time and effort, allowing you to generate profit and loss reports in real-time and prepare for tax season quickly. For an affordable solution to your accounting needs, you can download our rental accounting spreadsheet template or create a free Landlord Studio GO account. A cash accounting method for a real estate agent is the simplest of the two options.

From there, the company’s net income—the “bottom line” of the income statement—is added to the prior period balance. The steps to calculate retained earnings on the balance sheet for the current period are as follows. Most software offers ready-made report templates, including a statement of retained earnings, which you can customize to fit your company’s needs. First, revenue refers to the total amount of money generated by a company. It is a key indicator of a company’s ability to generate sales and it’s reported before deducting any expenses. We’ll explain everything you need to know about retained earnings, including how to create retained earnings statements quickly and easily with accounting software.

Shareholders can use retained earnings to calculate share value

Since the entity makes operating profits, a board of director’s approval of the dividend out to shareholders amounts to USD 50,000. The entity makes a net profit after tax amounts USD 100,000 for the period 01 January 2017 to 31 December 2017. If you look at the formula above, you will know how the dividend would affect the https://pic2net.ru/uchenye-testosteron-tolkaet-zhenshhin-k-finansovym-riskam/. Then top management will consider paying the dividend to the shareholders.

• These reduce the size of a company’s balance sheet and asset value as the company no longer owns part of its liquid assets.
• You’ll learn to better understand and use retained earnings in your small business.
• The growing retained earnings balance over the past few years could suggest that the company is preparing to use those funds to invest in new business projects.
• It might also be because of different financial modelling, or because a business needs more or less working capital.
• So, each time your business makes a net profit, the retained earnings of your business increase.
• Learn how to find and calculate retained earnings using a company’s financial statements.

Factors Affecting the Size of Retained Earnings

Instead, the retained earnings are redirected, often as a reinvestment within the organization. Some benefits of reinvesting in retained earnings include increased growth potential and improved profitability. Reinvesting profits back into the business can help it expand and become more successful over time. The dotted red box in the shareholders’ equity section on the balance sheet is where the retained earnings line item is recorded. In simple words, the retained earnings metric reflects the cumulative net income of the company post-adjustments for the distribution of any dividends to shareholders.

Where to find retained earnings in the balance sheet?

However, established companies usually pay a portion of their https://tourlib.net/books_ukr/pendereckyj7.htm out as dividends while also reinvesting a portion back into the company. The retention ratio helps investors determine how much money a company is keeping to reinvest in the company’s operation. If a company pays all of its retained earnings out as dividends or does not reinvest back into the business, earnings growth might suffer.

What is a statement of retained earnings?

The schedule uses a corkscrew-type calculation, where the current period opening balance is equal to the prior period closing balance. In between the opening and closing balances, the current period net income/loss is added and any dividends are deducted. Finally, the closing balance of the schedule links to the balance sheet.

Retained Earnings are reported on the balance sheet under the shareholder’s equity section at the end of each accounting period. To calculate RE, the beginning RE balance is added to the net income or reduced by a net loss and then dividend payouts are subtracted. A summary report called a statement of retained earnings is also maintained, outlining the changes in RE for a specific period. Retained earnings can typically be found on a company’s balance sheet in the shareholders’ equity section.

As stated earlier, dividends are paid out of retained earnings of the company. Both cash and stock dividends lead to a decrease in the retained earnings of the company. As stated earlier, companies may pay out either cash or stock dividends. Cash dividends result in an outflow of cash and are paid on a per-share basis. These are the long term investors who seek periodic payments in the form of dividends as a return on the money invested by them in your company.

• Calculating retained earnings will provide valuable information to people you rely on to maintain a financially successful business.
• Therefore, the company must maintain a balance between declaring dividends and retaining profits for expansion.
• Much like any other part of a business, there can be downsides to retained earnings.
• The amount of additional paid-in capital is determined solely by the number of shares a company sells.
• And since expansion typically leads to higher profits and higher net income in the long-term, additional paid-in capital can have a positive impact on retained earnings, albeit an indirect impact.

The ultimate goal as a small business owner is to make sure you accumulate these funds. You can use them to further develop your business, pay future dividends, cover any debt, and more. And it can pinpoint what business owners can and can’t do in the future.

• It’s the number that indicates how much capital you can reinvest in growing your business.
• Say, if the company had a total of 100,000 outstanding shares prior to the stock dividend, it now has 110,000 (100,000 + 0.10×100,000) outstanding shares.
• This could come from many reasons, but one of the main reasons is the entity operating loss.
• When reinvested, those retained earnings are reflected as increases to assets (which could include cash) or reductions to liabilities on the balance sheet.
• The “Retained Earnings” line item is recognized within the shareholders equity section of the balance sheet.
• It may also be directly reduced by capital awarded to shareholders through dividends.

Companies will also usually issue a percentage of all their stock as a dividend (i.e. a 5% stock dividend means you’re giving away 5% of the company’s equity). Generally speaking, a company with a negative https://home-improvement-ideas.net/page/2/ balance would signal weakness because it indicates that the company has experienced losses in one or more previous years. However, it is more difficult to interpret a company with high retained earnings. Retaining earnings by a company increases the company’s shareholder equity, which increases the value of each shareholder’s shareholding. This increases the share price, which may result in a capital gains tax liability when the shares are disposed. Another way to evaluate the effectiveness of management in its use of retained capital is to measure how much market value has been added by the company’s retention of capital.

Numerous data visualization formats, including cards, tables, maps, and charts, are available in Power BI. Axes, colors, and labels are just a few of the variables you can change to personalize the images. To make the most of data analysis, it’s important to share the obtained insights and hypotheses with all the stakeholders within a company. In this particular example, to make these findings actionable, it would be necessary to bring together the finance, sales, and marketing teams to devise a comprehensive strategy for the next year.

Adding unnecessary data visualizations

This ensures that users can only access the information that is relevant to their role, and not sensitive data that could be detrimental to the company if it falls into the wrong hands. Zoho is a comprehensive suite of business software and Zoho Books is its accounting component. The free version includes all the capital maintenance features you need to get your finances in order, including expense and mileage tracking, reconciliation, invoices and email support. One of its best features is that it can integrate with other Zoho products, such as Zoho CRM, making it a good choice if you’re already using other Zoho software for your business.

Daily cashflow forecast dashboard template

Users can also create and send custom invoices, secure payments through WePay and provide accountants with access. The plan also comes with unlimited storage, unlimited access to personalized support at no additional cost and a mobile app to upload and match receipts to expenses in real time. The Profit and Loss dashboard provides a detailed view of the company’s financial performance over time. It includes an overview of the company’s revenues, expenses, gross profit, net income, and KPIs related to each. This dashboard allows finance teams to easily identify potential problems in their spending patterns and make necessary adjustments accordingly. Power BI financial dashboards are powerful data visualization tools that enable businesses to gain valuable insights into their financial performance.

Use Cradlepoint NetCloud Manager for real-time visibility.

When choosing free accounting software, it’s important to consider your needs. Consider what’s important to you and your business, then find software that offers those features. Whether you need to review the month’s AP report or confirm balance sheet figures at year’s end, Bold BI can help you achieve your goals.

1. It can also create a yardstick to make it easier to track other accounting metrics.
2. Instead, you get a clear, comprehensive view of your financial health at a glance.
3. With this information, the finance team can allocate resources optimally, ensuring efficient production processes and cost control.
4. Once the charts are in place it’s very important to focus attention by adding attributes to the graphs.
5. When you overload your financial dashboard with too much data, it becomes overwhelming and hard to read.

Click “Get Data” in Power BI Desktop to establish a connection to your data sources. Excel, SQL databases, SharePoint, Salesforce, and many more data connectors are supported by Power BI. To connect, choose the suitable connector and adhere to the instructions.

Accounts receivable dashboard for QuickBooks

No more fumbling around trying to visualize data in spreadsheets or slides. With our DIY Dashboard Designer, anyone can pull the metrics they need, visualize KPIs in a variety of ways, and build meaningful dashboards–no code or design skills necessary. By leveraging the DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) language, you can create advanced formulas to analyze financial data more effectively. Now that we’ve covered the key components of the Power BI financial dashboard, we’ll move on to building a Power BI dashboard in the next section. This ChartMogul dashboard outlines a company’s subscription and revenue details. This Freshbooks dashboard outlines a company’s revenue and expense details, along with their customer growth…

It enables NetApp users to monitor their sustainability efforts and identify areas for improvement. With a powerful combination of simplicity and deep data analysis, the dashboard has become an essential is my company required to file an incurred cost submission resource for businesses and individuals committed to sustainability. If you’re a freelancer, you may not need all the features that come with more comprehensive free accounting software.

For example, the dashboard shown below was built by Coupler.io’s data analytics team for PlumbBooks, a company offering bookkeeping services. Their clients wanted to have a financial report that would allow them to monitor their revenue and profit in a simple and understandable format. Their data in QuickBooks, however, was too detailed and unfocused for this purpose.

On the second page of the dashboard, you’ll see a comprehensive overview of billable hours for a team that charges its clients by the hour. This dashboard automatically receives fresh data from Harvest every 15 minutes. It transforms information about the team’s billable hours tracked into a detailed visualized billing overview. You can see how many hours the team worked for every client and how much of this time is already billed, not billed, or not billable. You also have a bar graph that shows the same data structured by the amount to pay. This financial dashboard example allows analysts to evaluate the relationship between price per unit and total profit.

Once the charts are in place it’s very important to focus attention by adding attributes to the graphs. These attributes include arrows, comments, lines, boxes, or anything that pops out from the screen and grabs your attention. There are lots of visual options when it comes to designing a dashboard. In our course on dashboard creation in Excel, we go through all the various types of charts and graphs you can design in Excel, following our simple step by step approach. With over a decade of editorial experience, Rob Watts breaks down complex topics for small businesses that want to grow and succeed. His work has been featured in outlets such as Keypoint Intelligence, FitSmallBusiness and PCMag.

And since your leadership can access dashboard reports from a smartphone, tablet, or a simple URL, decision-making suddenly becomes incredibly fluid and agile. Financial dashboards are essential for streamlining your reporting processes and enhancing performance tracking. You can enjoy even more features with Klipfolio PowerMetrics, making data visualization simple and comprehensive. For example, place all cash flow metrics in one section and revenue metrics in another.

If you need a relatively short-term bookkeeping solution with a reasonable upgrade fee, Sunrise’s free plan is worth checking out. Lendio sets itself apart from other bookkeeping solutions with its dedicated bookkeeper services, but those services come at a hefty premium. As I mentioned, its free plan is self-service — which works for small businesses but cash basis or accrual basis accounting: what’s better might not be sustainable as your business expands. GnuCash’s initial setup and somewhat dated-looking interface might turn a lot of potential users off. But if you’re willing to tough out its tricky installation and don’t need your accounting solution to be particularly pretty, you’re left with a solid application that covers a lot of bases for free.

This dashboard provides a comprehensive overview of paid and unpaid invoices issued by vendors. It can help you prioritize vendor payments, manage unpaid bills, and stay on top of your cash flow. Assess liquidity at a glance and improve the accuracy of your forecasts. This executive dashboard uses Xero metrics to show key accounting KPIs like accounts receivable and payable, income and expenses, profit and loss reports, recent payments, and more. Zoho does offer a forever-free plan as long as revenue falls under the threshold of $50,000 for the fiscal year. Since its launch last year, the BlueXP sustainability dashboard has been a valuable tool for tracking progress and measuring impact.

Further, you can customize your dashboards to the specific needs of the end-user. Therefore, your CFO and staff accountants don’t have to use the same dashboards since they have different needs, all while still tying back to a single source of truth for consistency. The current ratio measures your company’s ability to pay its short-term liabilities with its short-term assets. A current ratio higher than 1 indicates that your company can cover its short-term obligations. This metric is useful for assessing liquidity and managing working capital effectively.

When looking for free accounting software, you’ll want to consider features that are important for small businesses, such as invoicing, time tracking and expense tracking. You’ll also want to find software that is easy to use and available on multiple platforms. The Executive Dashboard provides an overview of the company’s overall performance. It includes detailed information about current and past performance and projections for the future. This dashboard provides actionable insights and allows executives to review their company’s overall financial health quickly and make quick, informed business decisions.

Keep track of all of your payments, invoices, expenses, etc. in one place with zero fees. Akaunting is a free, open-source, and online accounting software for small businesses and freelancers. Below is an example of some brainstorming that you can do before you actually begin the dashboard creation in Excel. Notice that it’s mostly just rough notes and ideas about how the page should be structured, and what type of data needs to be included.