Brilliant Bookkeeping Tips


Posted May 21, 2018 by merrchant

If your goal is to grow a flourishing business, then it is important to have a safe and experienced pair of hands handling your books.

 
If your goal is to grow a flourishing business, then it is important to have a safe and experienced pair of hands handling your books. Incorrect bookkeeping can severely your business and even result in heavy penalties – but having accurate financial records will save you a lot of trouble.

It doesn’t really matter if you do your own accounts or have an accountant, the job of a bookkeeper is to keep well-maintained records of all the financial transactions related to the business – assets you own, liabilities that need to be paid off, cash-in-hand, to state a few. Also, based on these records, a good bookkeeper will be able to assist you better when planning for future.

While bookkeeping software isn’t the most glamorous job in the world, it still makes as one of the most important jobs. Somehow, every other role ultimately ends up being dependent or related to bookkeeping. It’s like karma – you can’t escape bookkeeping. LOL.

Like every goal saved is worth a goal scored, every penny you save is worth a penny you earned. So, follow these brilliant bookkeeping tips:

Personal vs business finance
The first tip to good bookkeeping is maintaining separate financial records for your business and personal transactions.

You aren’t legally obliged to maintain separate accounts if you are a sole trader but you should do that anyway; because if you don’t, your books are soon going to turn into a nasty nightmare.

Separate and clear records
Maintain a clear record for both: personal and business transactions to help you get the right information at the right time.

Pay special attention to the purchase/sales invoices, and cash book.

Your purchase and sales invoice files should have a chronological record of all the purchase and sales made during a given amount of time along with the method of payment. Moreover, you should keep all the unpaid invoices together in a different section to help you eliminate any confusion.

Credit control
While a full sales ledger is a sight to behold, having excessive creditors aren’t going to help your business thrive. Setting strict deadlines for your clients is a good way to control credit. You can even go ahead and blacklist those customers who have failed to pay your bills even after several warnings and take legal action against them. Don’t shy away from chasing and pushing your creditors. All this will help you avoid a cash-flow crisis. And of course, it goes without saying that you must not have any unpaid bills of your own.

Track your expenses
You can claim business expenses against tax, and therefore, it becomes crucial for you to keep a track of all your expenses. Categorize all your business expenses and don’t forget to add up all the expenses that you think might be unimportant. Maintain clear records of everything from business trips to corporate entertainment so that all of these can be claimed.

Plan, Plan, Plan!
Maintaining records also helps you analyze where a little bit of planning can help you save your hard-earned money.

Look at the previous year’s books and learn from your mistakes and keep them in mind when you plan for future.

Identify the key expenses of the year and include them in your business plan. Anticipate business costs like IT upgrades or insurance premiums in advance.

Make sure your bookkeeper works out a rough estimate of your tax bills and set aside the required sum of money before they are due, as this is one important debt deadline you don’t want to miss at any cost.

Hire an accountant
If you are like one of those individuals who are firm believers of advertising being a waste of money in marketing, and hiring accountants a waste of money while handling finance – I recommend you change your perspective. ASAP.

Don’t hesitate in hiring a certified accountant (based on the size, location, type and budget of your business). While hiring an accountant might seem like a waste of money right now but you’ll realize it’s quite profitable in the long run.

Accounting software
Dealing with books and heaps of files is so 80’s. Switch to an accounting software that helps you carry out your business monthly and has a plethora of features like Accounting, Tax management, HRM, CRM, Reports, etc.

Merrchant or Xero for instance, not only have all that but also have 24x7 customer support to help you whenever you need them.

The best part, though? You can save everything on the cloud. That means you can access your files from anywhere, at any time (and can, of course, control the access to your files).

Don’t break your stride to deal with a heap of paperwork. Be smart and make use of these brilliant bookkeeping tips.
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Issued By merrchant
Website Online Accounting Software For SMEs | Invoicing Software | Merrchant
Phone +918888839939
Business Address 142/2 GNT Market, Dhar road, Indore, India
Country India
Categories Accounting , Business
Tags accounting software , bookkeeping , bookkeeping software , online accounting software
Last Updated May 21, 2018