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 won’t 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 credit 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 sometime 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 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 a 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?
