Accounting Essay

Whether or not I like to admit this, accounting is a daily part of my life. Although I don’t often think about it, I use basic accounting skills in every aspect of my financial planning and budgeting. These skills help identify what I have, where it goes, and figure out where I would like it to go. Through this essay, I will analyze my family’s current financial situation and use this information to estimate our future financial stability, and if I will need to work after separating from the military, or if my family can afford for me to be a full time student and stay at home mom.

My initial decision to separate from the military was done purely from emotion. I had just returned to work from maternity leave, when a supervisor said some not so nice or appropriate things to me concerning my family planning. It was after this conversation that my husband and I decided that the military is no longer the job for me. We didn’t think about the financial burden that may occur from my separation, but knew that I could get a job elsewhere and we would figure out all the specifics as time went along. As the date of my separation quickly approaches, I am now realizing and focusing on the importance of my financial contributions and what may happen if I am unable to obtain a job soon after separating.

In order to determine my family’s current financial position, I need to create a working budget. The first step in this process is to calculate how much money we earn each month after taxes. Using our pay stubs and bank statements I have determined our joint monthly income to be $8049.49. Next I will need to list and calculate our monthly expenses. After reviewing all of our bank statements, I have listed the following main categories: home, auto, utilities, food, personal, activities. Each main category contains several related expenses.