Accounting Tips for Small Businesses
Accounting is a task of extremely high importance for any business. Big corporations hire lots of accountants to take care of this task while medium enterprises call on accounting firms to maintain proper accounting. Small businesses however, find accounting problematic as many of them are still on their way to stability. Here are some accounting tips to help small businesses.
Keep things simple and organized
Money walks in and out of your business in many ways. Thus, it is easy to lost track of what comes in and goes out. Once you lost track of these transactions, things can get complicated and it is almost impossible to correct these mistakes. A simple way of avoiding these accounting mistakes is to take account of everything day-by-day. Record what comes in and out separately; how these transactions happened; and who are involved in these transactions. Most experts recommend that you use accounting software like Xero, QuickBooks, etc., to do automatically record transactions.
Track Receipts
Receipts will surely help you avoid headaches in the future. They are the proof of all the transactions that you did, when they happened and with whom. However, receipts come in various shapes, sizes and even color. On top of that, some receipts use ink that fades overtime. A helpful solution is to photocopy receipts in a standard sized paper and make notes about the transaction on the paper itself. After which, fasten them on a folder separately; depending on the type and/or purpose of the transaction. Lastly, you can also store your receipts in your computer by scanning them and keeping them organized in a secure folder locations (e.g. secure cloud servers, file vault software). In that way, you can be sure that you have a record of your receipts for future reference.
Remember to Get Paid
It may seem a bit odd but some small businesses actually don’t track their invoices properly. This results to late payments or even missed payments from clients. Keeping invoices will help you know who pays on time and customers who face difficulty in paying. This would help you to provide them with solutions and keep them as customers.
Call in a Professional Accountant
If you really want to do your accounting tasks properly, you need to have an accountant. Accountants are well educated with the different strategies and principles used in accounting. For the best advices, hire a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). They will be able to help you in your taxes, invoices, payments and give you insights on where you can invest more and what you can improve in your process. (See: Why You Need to Hire A CPA over a Regular Accountant).
Small Businesses need not to be afraid of accounting tasks. One only needs to work hard and be committed to accounting tasks properly and look for an accounting professional to help out and guide owners in both finance and accounting.
Need more help in handling the accounting tasks of your business? Why not consult with our accounting professionals at D&V Philippines?