Basic Tips in Proper Record Keeping for the Small Businesses

Keep good records in your small business. This will help you cut back on taxes and big headaches when it comes to tax filing time. The key is to make your record keeping as streamlined as possible, so that your records are accurate, and it won’t to take up time and attention to maintain. Here’s how.

Have a System for Storing Papers

Organize your system by date, by expense type or some other system you want. But the most important thing is that you have a system at all.

You’ll need a filing cabinet to help avoid paper clutter. Order your filing cabinet by date, or by expense (e.g. , supplies, meals, equipment, etc.)

Print All Digital Receipts

Anytime you make a business-related purchase online, print out the receipt right then and there and file it.

It’s easy to forget to collect receipts from online orders. Start getting into the habit of printing these receipts it so you don’t have to go receipt-hunting later.

Set a Date for Organizing Records

Even if you’re the most organized business person, you can’t just wait until the end of the year to organize your records. It will be a nightmare.

Once or twice a month, go through all your receipts and other records and make sure everything is properly filed and recorded. Enter expenses into your bookkeeping program.

If you don’t have a set time to deal with them little tasks can pile up quickly. Pick a time to organize once or twice a month and put it in your calendar.

Keep Essential Paperwork in One Place

Papers like W-2s, DBAs, FIDs, NDAs, assignment of IPs, accounts payables and sales records should all be kept in one place, ideally with an offsite back-up as well.

Small businesses that get their employee’s W-2 or 1099 when they first sign on and then have to ask for it again later on because they lost it, often end up looking unprofessional to their staff. Even worse, if the papers for a staff member who’s left can’t be found, you run the risk of not being able to write off their expenses.

Hire a Bookkeeper

Are you earning more than $20 or $30 an hour? If so it’s probably time to hire a bookkeeper.

Bookkeeping is an important task that needs to be done. You should easily be able to hire someone for $20 an hour to take over the task for you, so you can put your attention on actually doing things that bring money in the door.

Use these basic tips to streamline your business and leave more time for creativity.