6 Tips on How to Keep Your Bookkeeping Records Under Control
Business owners face many challenges daily. One of the best ways to reduce stress is to make sure that your transactions are kept in order. Many people are guilty of procrastinating in this aspect because they find the task daunting. Fortunately, there are things you can do to overcome this. Here are six tips to get your books under control quickly and keep your business running smoothly.
1. Mark Transfers
Credit cards are often used in daily business transactions, accumulating points contributing to, for example,an upcoming vacation. When categorizing credit card payments, it is essential to know that they are a form of transfer. It means that these transactions will only affect your balance sheet, not your P/L.
2. Use Smart Invoices and Bill Payments
A common issue many business owners find when looking through accounting records is finding double payments. This problem occurs when an invoice is marked as paid in accounting software before the transaction is imported. By waiting for the invoice to be transferred and then marking it as paid, you avoid the hassle of going back and fixing double payments records.
3. Add Customer to Non-Invoice Transactions
Sometimes, an invoice doesn't contain a customer sale. To make sure that the transaction is tied to the customer, and to maintain the correct record of sale in the books, add the customer to a non-invoice purchase. If you do this, your Income by Customer account will be able to show accurate records of all customer sales. A benefit of this is that you won't miss out on evaluating your customer value on a later date.
4. Use Accounting Software
The best way to simplify bookkeeping activities is to use software. Accounting management software will assist you in sending invoices, getting paid, tracking expenses, balancing accounts and more.
5. Continuously Track Sales Tax
Nothing is more stressful than having to figure out at the last minute how much sales tax you owe. You cannot afford to make any mistakes either, as the government can penalize you heavily for doing so.
To make sure this never happens, keep a record of the sales tax as you go. Not only will this keep your sales tax report accurate, but you also won't have to worry about forgetting to apply tax later on. Be sure that you apply tax to the right type of transactions according to the rules and regulations of your region.
6. Group Similar Transactions
Don't waste your time categorizing similar transactions separately, especially if it happens regularly. To know which transactions you should combine, search by description, and group them accordingly. With that done, you can even combine categories to complete other actions more quickly, such as adding sales tax and marking them as reviewed.
Conclusion
Simplify as many tasks as you can and use software to assist you in your bookkeeping activities. You will save a considerable amount of time and effort this way, rather than trying to do it all by yourself, which will free you up to take care of other essential business functions.
If you’re looking for Bookkeeping by QuickBooks Certified ProAdvisors, get in touch today! We’re happy to help.