Accounts Management

Guys I need some ideas on book keeping a sole trading firm.

It's a small electronics retailer and my father didn't keep much records. We've recently moved to a bigger building and the increment in rent and the months closed for renovation took a real hit to my father's finances so 6 months in we're getting some okay amount of profits but not even close to the level of expectation.

My father was operating several businesses even before I was born and only now am I actually interested in and actively involved in running the outlet. So far from what I've seen the whole thing is very, very unorganized and I really think that proper documentation, book keeping and managing the cash flow can greatly improve the performance, or at least, give me a clear picture of what's going on.

So do you guys have any recommendations for cheap/free accounting softwares? Or any other methods I could try? I could hire a book keeping firm but I'm keeping it as a last resort as I don't want to have any additional expenses.

I've got some background on accounting so I'm making my own formats and accounts, but its going to take me a long time to prepare them, let alone perfect them. Plus what they taught in school is pretty damn different that the real thing! So any help is appreciated

i studied some very basic business book keeping at uni this semseter but it could be of a great deal of help to you. Im in no way an accountant though so theres no point in me looking at your books but i could send you the lecture slides?