Not that I have ever done it, but I do know people in business and do keep a second set of books. Why? They keep one set to show how much money they have made, and another to . But isn’t that the purpose of the first set of books? No, those are the books shown to the government to determine how much tax is due. The second set of books is often more accurate than the first set of books because they show all the income. In addition, since the second set is always more accurate, businesses use set of books for making reliable business decisions: maintaining inventory, purchases, pricing, etc… And it’s not just cash businesses that keep this additional set of records. Businesses from cemeteries, restaurants, politicians, churches, and so many more.
And in case you were wondering, keeping a second of books is perfectly legal. According to Timothy P. Connolly, CFA:
“One of the dirty little secrets of finance is that (certain organizations) maintain two different sets of “books,” or accounting ledgers…. One set of books is for the financial statements that they present to shareholders when they file their quarterly reports with the U.S. SEC, and that set is prepared according to GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles). The other set is the books they keep to pay their taxes to the IRS.
The government, it turns out, doesn’t much care for “generally accepted” and is often only concerned with what actually happened.”
So what does this have to do with teachers. It is because is often necessary for teachers to keep a second set of books to keep more accurate information than what your school requires from you – especially when it comes to grade books. They do this for a couple of reasons, but the most important is to use one that meets the requirements of maintaining accurate data for statistical analysis. Many teachers see a grade book as just a place to keep grades that will allow for up to the minutes averages. Others are not really “computer people” (or as my son calls em a “luddite”) and use them just because they have to. Too bad, because your books are the lifeblood of your business and they should be the lifeblood of your approach to practice management