You are probably already aware that as an owner of a small business you need to be constantly ready for any changes in the market in your industry. Every single detail is important to keep your start-up competitive even with the biggest companies.
One of the most important things you have to watch out for is your company’s budget. You cannot allow yourself to over the budget, no matter how much you need that new IT expert or the web designer to help you with rebuilding your website.
However, to successfully build a budget that will able to support all of your important expenses throughout the moment, you will need to track all of your expenses and profits that go in and out of your business. With the right accounting skills, you will be able to keep yourself and your company ahead of the curve. You do not want to bother your employees with work such as sorting through various accounting paperwork even though that’s not their usual task.
As a start-up, you are probably handling all of the paperwork by yourself, but as soon as your company starts growing and adding in more branches, teams, and employees, tracking all of your expenses, profits and taxes can become quite impossible.
If you come to a situation where you have to go through the accounting as fast as possible, the chances of you filing a tax wrong increases. I guess you already know how big the fees for an incorrect tax filing can be, right? Not only will you have to pay for those fees, but you will also have to go back to fix all of those errors.
So, if you do not want to find yourself in such a situation you should definitely read up on some business accounting tips, and fortunately for you, this article is exactly that.
Keep a record of your expenses
For proper bookkeeping, you need to have a record of all of your expenses. And a good bookkeeper will not record every single cost, but will also label it and categorize it, so you will have an easier time navigating through all that data.
However, tracking where all of your money is going can be quite confusing, especially if you are paying for cash. We recommend that you get a few business credit cards for yourself and your employees which will make tracking your purchases much simpler. Instead of stacking hundreds of paper receipts in your drawers, you can sort through all of your employees’ payments electronically.
We should also note that there you can use one of the accounting software to easily track all of the data you have gathered for your business.
Hire a professional
Naturally, as an owner of a business, time is not at your side. You simply cannot be a bookkeeper and a leader to your employees at the same time. Especially if you are at that time of the year where sales and leads are boosted. Not only will you have too much data to analyze and sort through, but if you do not have any prior bookkeeping experience, you probably cannot deal with such information so easily.
However, if you decide to hire a professional accounting firm, you will suddenly notice how much more free time you will have to grow and lead your company. A professional accountant will be able to handle any kind of data you provide him with and they will process it as accurately as possible.
There will not be any mistakes that might cost you money at the end of the year. Of course, even if such a professional does make a few mistakes, the company that provided the accountant will cover you the costs. Sanjay Gupta CPA is one of those firms that will provide you with all the necessary accounting services that will ensure that all of your data will be processed on time and correctly.
Record your income too
Just like it is easy to lose track of your expenses, the same can happen to your income and profits. All of your sales bring in revenue which means that you will need to have a record of all of them. This includes other cash infusions such as loans, donations and so on.
If you do not have proper documentation about your company’s income, there is a risk that you might underpay your taxes which might lead to unwanted fees and penalties from your government. So, if you want to maximize your profits, make sure that all of your taxes are correct and up to date.
Business and personal costs should always be separated
It is very important that when you open up your small business that it will have its own bank account instead of using your own personal one. If you use your personal bank account for your own and your company’s payments, you will have a hard time tracking and recording which expenses are from your company. This will lead to accounting complications that might end up creating a problem with your taxes.
Of course, at first, it might be a bit hard to get used to handling two separate bank accounts, but after a while, it will get easier and it is definitely worth it.
Use accounting software
If you decide that your business is still small enough to deal with the bookkeeping task on your own or with your employees or partners, then you will probably need some help. But if you do not want to pay for a professional accountant since they are still a bit expensive for your company’s budget, then you should get yourself an accounting software.
After quick research of the top accounting applications, we found out that you should use QuickBooks as it is considered to be the fastest and easiest to use. All you need to do is link the software with your bank account or your credit card and you are set. It will have a history of records of all of your revenue and expenses and could maybe even calculate your taxes.
