It’s a fact: if you want to succeed in business, you need to learn how to keep your finances in order. Since your business needs a continuous flow of money to continue running, you can’t be blind about your company’s money situation if you want to maintain your operations and make sound decisions for the future of your business.
But how exactly can you make sure that you have the best accounting systems in place? Here are some best practices that you need to embrace:
1. Keep track of all your expenses.
This should be a given, right? But if you think that doing a simple spreadsheet will get the job done, wait until you’re ordering from 20 different suppliers. As your business grows, you will need a more efficient way to keep track of your expenses, and one of the best ways to do this is by outsourcing accounting and bookkeeping services where you get to work with professionals who can keep track of all your expenses, keep and organize your receipts and manage all incoming bills into your accounting system, so you can maintain a seamless cash flow.
2. Decide on the right accounting method.
You can choose from two accounting methods: cash and accrual. The simpler method between the two, cash accounting happens when you only record transactions once all payments have been made or received. Accrual accounting, on the other hand, is when you record every transaction when it is made even without any payments.
Both methods have their pros and cons, so you can work with a strategic planning consultant and your outsourced accounting in deciding the right accounting method for your business.
3. Keep your business finances separate.
Personal and business bookkeeping and accounting should be done separately, no matter how small your business is. Doing this will give you a clearer picture of what your current business finance situation is, so you can make smart decisions in improving or maintaining it. Separating your business finances will also make it easier for your bookkeeper and accountant to organize records for tax filing and generate accurate reports for long-term financial forecasts.
4. Organize and store accurate records.
Accuracy is very important in accounting and bookkeeping because your data will guide you in making important decisions that will dictate the future of your business. if you can’t organize and manage accurate records yourself and you also don’t have the budget to hire an in-house accountant or bookkeeper, you can go with outsourced accounting services where you still get to enjoy the benefits of having these professionals on your team without the hefty expenses.
5. Always perform routine accounting reviews.
No matter how busy you are in running your business, you need to make it a habit to perform monthly reviews, you can do this yourself or with a company that offers tax and accounting services. According to the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), it’s very important to balance your books at least once a month, so you’ll always know the status of your finances. Make sure that you check all accounts payable and receivable, all invoices and billing, and even your payroll to know if there are discrepancies that need to be addressed and just to see the overall health of your finances.
Whether you’re a startup or a long-time business, it’s very important to stay on top of your finances through a sound accounting system. The good thing is that you don’t need to spend a lot of money and resources in hiring your own accountant because you can always find accounting and bookkeeping services for small businesses that you can trust online. Profit Solutions can take the task of accounting off your shoulders. Contact us at (877) 875 0910 or email us at [email protected].