subject: Small Business Bookkeeping [print this page] Bookkeeping is the written records and history of a business's financial transactions, including sales, payroll, and purchases made by the company. Bookkeeping can often be a stressful and overwhelming activity for even the most financially stout company. The following will help you trudge through the rough patches and make bookkeeping a manageable task:
Keep a trail. Always have a record of all checks and check numbers that come into and leave the office. Keeping the checks in some sort of numerical order will save you time when you need to search through the records.
Consistency is key. Be sure to have rhyme and reason to all your bookkeeping. This will keep clutter to a minimum.
Keep track of all your bank deposits and receipts. A good way of doing this is designating a book that will contain all important banking documents. Organize said book by month. This will allow you to find any of these documents with ease.
Form a petty cash box and designate an amount that will always be in the box. For example, if the petty box should contain $500 and an employee takes out $150 to buy office supplies, there should be $350 and a receipt from an office supplies store for $150.
Be sure to keep all invoices as organized as possible. Use a filing cabinet and arrange all invoices in alphabetical order. Another time saving tip is have all invoices preprinted on a company letterhead. Not only will this save you the hassle of creating an invoice for each order, but it will make your company seem more professional.
Deposit cash immediately. Never let money build up on your desk. Get in the habit of making one deposit a day. This will prevent money from being tossed around inadvertently.
In addition to these ideas, there are also many computer programs that can help put all the finances of your company in order. Products like QuickBooks and TurboTax can take the hassle out of bookkeeping. QuickBooks training classes are offered all over the country and can teach you simple and effective ways to soundly handle the bookkeeping for your company.
