4 Tips To Clean and Catch Up Your Business’ Books
It doesn’t always have to be spring to do some “spring cleaning” around your home or business. When it comes to cleaning your books, you’ll want to stay on top of that. It’s never a good feeling to be behind or unorganized when it comes to your finances, especially with your business. We have a few great tips on how to clean your books.
The lack of money is often the reason said for most business failures, but is that true? To a certain degree it is, but in reality, it comes down to poor financial management as the root of the issue. You don’t want to get wrapped up in the busy season for your industry or tax season, then fall behind in the daily bookkeeping management. We understand that you’re juggling a thousand tasks at once.
Let’s get right into the sure-fire 4 tips to clean your books:
1. Assess The Damage
In order to organize anything, you need to first assess and gather everything to see the amount of damage you must sort through. It can be a challenging step to get into, but you just have to get it done to clean your books. So, pull out that pad of paper and writing utensil you love to jot down lists! There should be a list of what is done, not done, needs to be redone, etc. Sometimes this can help those overly-anxious owners calm down after noticing that the damage is not as bad as they thought. Sometimes it can really light the fire under those lax business owners that realize they need to kick it into high gear.
2. Gather The Damage
Whatever emotions you may be feeling after assessing the damage, it’s now time to gather it all. All of the documents mentioned in your assessment lists are ready to be organized. This part will create a full picture of your business finances and help you truly clean your books. Depending on how messy your books are, this tip may become a tedious project for you. We encourage you to power through it! All of those bank statements, loan documents, credit card statements, incoming bills, outgoing invoices, cancelled checks, and any receipts are ideal to have in an organized location.
3. Get On QuickBooks
If you don’t have an account with QuickBooks already, get one as soon as possible. It’s one of the most trusted, easy-to-understand accounting software out there. QuickBooks is a tool that will help you clean your books with ease. Just to be clear, there is no software out there that is perfect. We see many struggling business owners waste time, energy, and even money trying to find the ultimate software with a short learning curve, zero potential complications, and anything else they want to avoid. However, with any transition you will have a few growing pains.
The toughest part about QuickBooks is the initial learning curve of maneuvering around the software. Once you’ve learned that, you’re good to go! You can even hire someone to install, teach and even manage your QuickBooks for you. This leads us into our next tip to clean your books.
4. Hire A Pro To Clean Your Books
It may finally be the day when you realize you need some professional help. This can be hard for some business owners to do because they feel as though they’ve failed. Trust us, you haven’t failed if you’re still in business. Hiring professionals is probably the best thing you can do for your business and its future growth. You’ll be able to finally focus on the business rather than constantly worrying or wearing yourself thin by doing all the bookkeeping or accounting at the end of each day. The money you save in hiring a professional can pay for their cost.
At Steph’s Books, we can help you clean your books. You will know the accurate cash flow and be able to see the whole financial picture for your business. This will help you make smart business decisions for your future. You can even become more profitable by hiring a professional to manage your books. Contact us today to find out all the other benefits you will receive by hiring us as your professionals!
