One area of running a business that does not fill most business owners with excitement is Bookkeeping. It really is one of the most important parts of running a business but it does not have to be the chore that it sounds.
When you run a business, you must keep records of your Income and Expenses accounts for the HMRC. If you want to avoid this becoming a chore and save on your accountant’s fees then it helps to have a well organised system and in a format that the accountant can easily understand. Fin-eX Consulting, based out of London, offering best outsourced bookkeeping services in UK states that at present there are cloud-based accounting applications which allow the owners to get online access of the financial data and records hence giving up-to-date information regarding cash balances and VAT etc, at any time, from anywhere.
Hence, compare to the past, it is easy to manage bookkeeping. You can also hire a bookkeeper or a bookkeeping company. But if you want to do bookkeeping by your own then here are some helpful tips to help you streamline your bookkeeping process:
- Balance and record daily sales and cash receipts daily.
- Reconcile your bank account. Enter all of your cheque details transactions once a month. Don’t let it build up. This should only take an hour or two once per month.
- Watch that customers are paying their bills on time.
- Pay your bills accurately and on time.
- Set sales and revenue targets and monitor progress.
- Watch for unusual changes in sales or expenses.
- Monitor your gross profit closely and make any necessary pricing or purchases decisions.
- Pay you’re your taxes when due to avoid penalties and getting on the HMRC radar.
- Make regular stock checks and compare to your bookkeeping records.
- Make sure your invoices, receipts and bills are in order and easy to find. NO shoeboxes of receipts and invoices please!! They will only cause you more expense and problems.
- Deposit all cash immediately with the bank or as this ensures that all income is properly recorded.
- Start new file folder each year for paid invoices and paid bills.
- If you are moving from paper to a computer system, you may want to run dual systems for a few months ensure both systems have the same totals before stopping keeping the paper records.
- Record of all your invoices and cheques in numeric order.
- Petty Cash – get a metal cash box to hold currency and coins any money used is replaced by the receipt for that purchase