One of the number one struggles business owners face every day is organizing their financial records. Whether you are just starting your business or looking to get organized, start by following these tips to start and maintain healthy financial habits.
Separate your business finances from your personal finances.
Open a different checking account and credit card for your business and move all business transactions to the new accounts. By keeping your finances separate you will be able to track the health of your business better. Some business expenses are even tax-deductible, but if your business expenses are not organized, you will end up spending more time than you’d like sorting through bank records come tax time.
Organize your receipts.
Declutter your desk and start organizing your receipts all in one place. When trying to locate a receipt or an invoice, you don’t want to waste time by checking in five different places. Instead, gather all your paper receipts and get them organized into a system that bests fits your business.
Go paperless.
Once you have all your receipts and documents organized, start moving to a paperless system. This will become a more time efficient way of storing and finding your business’s documents. This will allow you to quickly and easily share important financial documents with your bookkeeper or accountant when needed and keep your office looking better than ever. You can start and maintain a paperless system using applications such as Expensify, Hubdoc, or Receipt Bank. All these apps allow you to attach a receipt to each transaction.
Track and review all transactions.
Be sure to track all transactions made for your business. Many small business owners skip over this step, but, to have a strong, healthy business you need to have a clear understanding of where your money is coming and going. Schedule a time once a week to spend a few minutes review the transactions your business has made each day and understand how it is affecting your business.
Ask for help when needed.
Unless you have started a bookkeeping business, odds are you probably don’t know everything there is to know about the financial health of your business, and that’s okay! Ask your bookkeeper to go over what is affecting your business financially and what you need to do to set and achieve your financial goals. Making sure you have a clear understanding of your unique business and what needs to be done to make it successful.
Set a clear plan on how you are going to get your records organized and be sure to stick to it till the end. Once you have organized your business’s finances, you will find you now have more time to focus your business. As a business owner, where is your time best spent? Searching for a receipt from six months ago or actively spending time growing your business?
Need more help organizing your finances? Contact Heidi Adams with hla Bookkeeping today for more information.