Little Known Tips to Keep Your Books In Order All Year

When keeping your finances in order, either for yourself or for your business, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by all the things you need to do with bookkeeping and accounting. But, it doesn’t have to be so difficult! Carolina Money Minders wants to make money management easy for you. That’s why we created this list of simple tips to keep your books in order all year long. Read on to find out ways to keep your financial books organized.

Have a place to keep receipts and other forms of payment or expense

Keeping receipts is a smart way to keep track of payments and expenditures for your company (or yourself). You should decide whether to use a box to hold paper receipts or if a computer programs tracking expenses and payments would be more effective. The most important thing is that you keep your receipts all in one place, making them easy to record when tax time comes around.

Keeping a ledger

Ledgers are a great way to keep track of receipts that come in and then to notate whether these are business expenses or a profitable sale. Ledgers keep an updated summary of expenditures and revenues and will be very useful to you--but only if you actually use it. Train yourself to post in the ledger each day or each time a receipt is received.

Create and analyze business reports

One crucial way to know if your business is performing well or not is by creating business reports. You can do this by comparing and contrasting your sales with your expenses. You’ll want to learn how to create and analyze pages like a cash flow analysis, a balance sheet, and a profit and loss forecast. Carolina Money Minders can help you learn how to make these reports and then how to read them accurately.

Rely on accounting software

Computers can easily take the headache out of keeping ledgers and managing receipts for you. Accounting software can be used to easily track sales, profit numbers, expenses, and other financial items. Very small business could use personal finance software, but all others should use business/professional finance software.

Keep personal finances separate

It can be tough to distinguish your own bills from business expenses, but it’s very important if you want to do your taxes correctly. You should have a separate credit card and bank account for yourself and for your company. It might seem like a pain to get separate financial systems, but you’ll be really glad you did it once you have to start filling out tax forms.

Stay organized and on budget

Finally, the best way to keep your books in order all year long is by staying organized. Keep your workspaces neat and tidy and take care of all paperwork that comes in by organizing it in appropriate places. When you set a budget for your business, stick to it with diligence. You’ll be able to more accurately assess your profit and to have less stress when you stay on task and on a budget.

Keeping your financial books and your money organized throughout the year can be tough, but remember that you don’t have to do it alone! If you need help sorting through the finances of your business, email Carolina Money Minders today! We can help sort out the mess and get you back on track. Please contact us today for more bookkeeping and accounting tips.