5 Ways to Better Manage Your Bookkeeping
10/15/20 • 11 min
5 Ways to Better Manage Your Bookkeeping
Keeping good books for your company can feel overwhelming at times. As soon as you get behind, it seems impossible to catch up or keep up. I wanted to discuss 5 ways to get ahead and stay ahead.
Separate Business and Personal
In general, you should not have any personal expenses running through the business. I wont even touch on the legal implications of this, but they can be severe. Everything gets muddy when you are using bank accounts and credit cards for business and personal use. Not only that, it just creates even more transactions to sort through each month. You should have separate bank accounts and credits cards for your business. Are there times when you make a mistake or simply need to use those for personal purposes? Sure. But that should not be the norm and you need to avoid that at all costs.
Weekly Bookkeeping
I know this appears to be adding more work but in reality, it can really help to stay on top of things. If you can, set aside some time each week to enter transactions. The further you get behind, the harder it is to catch up. Every day/week/month you don’t have your books up to date, the workload only grows. Even if you plan to do it weekly and miss a few weeks here and there, you will still be way ahead of the game.
Use the Right Accounting Software
Having a good accounting software can make all the difference. We use QBO but that might not be the right solution for you. There are plenty out there and some make accounting extremely easy. If you are having to fight with your software, it will deter you from doing your bookkeeping and you won’t get it done.
Utilize Technology
Technology has come such a long way as it relates to accounting. There are so many good app integrations that can save you time. The best way to approach this is to figure out where your pain points are and then look for apps to help. One thing that is crucial is setting up the bank and credit card feed. This will bring all the transactions into the accounting software and all you need to do is categorize things. Not only does this make it easier but it all but assures that you have captured all the transactions.
Hire a Bookkeeper
Lastly, we always feel it is best to hire an outside bookkeeper to help you. There is just so much you need to be doing as the business owner. Bookkeeping is something that is so important, you do not want to get behind.
How do you make sure that the bookkeeping in your business is getting handled in a timely fashion?
5 Ways to Better Manage Your Bookkeeping
Keeping good books for your company can feel overwhelming at times. As soon as you get behind, it seems impossible to catch up or keep up. I wanted to discuss 5 ways to get ahead and stay ahead.
Separate Business and Personal
In general, you should not have any personal expenses running through the business. I wont even touch on the legal implications of this, but they can be severe. Everything gets muddy when you are using bank accounts and credit cards for business and personal use. Not only that, it just creates even more transactions to sort through each month. You should have separate bank accounts and credits cards for your business. Are there times when you make a mistake or simply need to use those for personal purposes? Sure. But that should not be the norm and you need to avoid that at all costs.
Weekly Bookkeeping
I know this appears to be adding more work but in reality, it can really help to stay on top of things. If you can, set aside some time each week to enter transactions. The further you get behind, the harder it is to catch up. Every day/week/month you don’t have your books up to date, the workload only grows. Even if you plan to do it weekly and miss a few weeks here and there, you will still be way ahead of the game.
Use the Right Accounting Software
Having a good accounting software can make all the difference. We use QBO but that might not be the right solution for you. There are plenty out there and some make accounting extremely easy. If you are having to fight with your software, it will deter you from doing your bookkeeping and you won’t get it done.
Utilize Technology
Technology has come such a long way as it relates to accounting. There are so many good app integrations that can save you time. The best way to approach this is to figure out where your pain points are and then look for apps to help. One thing that is crucial is setting up the bank and credit card feed. This will bring all the transactions into the accounting software and all you need to do is categorize things. Not only does this make it easier but it all but assures that you have captured all the transactions.
Hire a Bookkeeper
Lastly, we always feel it is best to hire an outside bookkeeper to help you. There is just so much you need to be doing as the business owner. Bookkeeping is something that is so important, you do not want to get behind.
How do you make sure that the bookkeeping in your business is getting handled in a timely fashion?
Previous Episode
You Get What You Pay For
Would you like to buy a Lamborghini for the price of a Honda Civic? Obvious answer, right? So why does a company, who is getting poor service, expect to get better service somewhere else but at the same price?
As the old saying goes, “you get what you pay for”. While in certain situations this may not be the case, I have found over the years that a majority of the time, this holds true.
Being the owner of a service company, I have seen this situation play out far too often. Countless times I have had prospects approach us looking for someone new because their current solution is not working. We go through the process, they love everything they hear and then it all falls apart when we talk pricing. It can be extra frustrating when they tell you all along the way how much better this will be and how much value we can bring. Yet, they aren’t willing to pay more?
I am not doing this podcast just to complain (although I do think I have a valid reason to do so). I am writing to the other business owners who have run into this situation and to hopefully provide some remedies.
Next Episode
The Biggest Challenge Facing Companies Going Remote
Let’s face it, the world will never be going back to normal. We’ve experienced such a shift in the way things are done, I truly believe there is no way to completely reverse it at this point. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I think we have all learned a lot about ourselves and our businesses. I think many people are realizing that working remotely can actually work. I am not just talking about the 3 person company. Very large Fortune 500 companies have also realized this and are potentially making permanent changes to their business model.
I am a firm believer there are countless advantages to running your business remotely. However, what I wanted to touch on today was the one major drawback to running a remote business.
How do you build a company culture if everyone is working from home?
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