subject: Bookkeeping: Quick Tips on Magical Bookkeeping [print this page] Bookkeeping: Quick Tips on Magical Bookkeeping
When you are planning to wed a bride of your life time, you will work it out to see all plans are in order and all service providers are reliable and organized. So think about book keeping for a second as your "bride" just to make sure your books are organized. Bookkeeping starts at the first occurrence of a transaction.
Bookkeeping involves the recording of every single transaction that takes place in a business from purchases, a payment, receipt of a payment to sales, in a more accurate, orderly and sequential manner. This could be done manually in a tabular book, in an excel worksheet or in a bookkeeping system such as QuickBooks.
A good, effective bookkeeping system gives you control over the key financial aspects of your company as well as help you prepare you to track the progress of the business, prepare and in monitor the tax returns.
Business owners often tend to lay their hands on certain invoices, bank statements and other documents. Therefore having all this information in an organised manner and knowing where everything is, leaves you less worried and a great value to the business.
Whether you do your bookkeeping yourself or outsource the services elsewhere, there are a few things that business owners can do to make the bookkeeping process easier, more accurate and profitable.
Choose a good accounting system. You can do this by choosing either cash-based or accrual-based accounting. If you use the cash method, you count income when you receive it and expenses when you pay them. Under the accrual method, you count income and expenses when they happen, not when you actually receive or pay them.
Keep daily records. This is one of the most basic rules: If you don't keep accurate daily records, you don't have an accurate way to track the financial condition of your business. Once you have a good system set up, accurate record keeping will take just a few minutes a day.
Monitor your checks carefully. It's good to be cautious when you're writing checks and tossing canceled ones into a filing cabinet without reviewing them. Remember: Those checks are as good as cash.
Always reconcile your bank statements. This is another basic tip that can reap big rewards. Matching your bank statement with other monthly records makes it much easier to reconcile your statements and track expenses.
Do an audit. Keeping your invoices and checks in numeric order, and keeping separate bank accounts for your business and personal funds helps keep a good audit trail. Your record keeping will be much more effective if you have a system that allows you to quickly and easily retrace your company's financial activities.
Manage your computer. Web-based bookkeeping software is absolutely essential for all businesses. The applications make it easy to track income and expenses, prepare tax documents, summarize your company's financial activities and back up records for safekeeping.
If you are unfamiliar with accounting or bookkeeping, it might be a good idea to hire a bookkeeping service to handle your transaction records. Outsourcing your payroll can save you time and money, not to mention a headache or two. If you need any assistance with getting your records in order then you should utilise the bookkeeping services of a firm of bookkeepers and accountants who can put in place a bookkeeping system for you, leaving you to focus on your core business.
In any case, good bookkeeping is imperative to your business. A good bookkeeper or accountant will end up not being an expense to your company; they will actually focus on how to make you money.
Smartaccountancy.Com for example has a wide range of network and very experienced Bookkeepers and accountants who can provide you with the full range of bookkeeping services, helping you to keep in control of your financial records.
