Tips to Stay on Top of your Bookkeeping

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Top Tips to Stay on Top of your Bookkeeping

Are you overwhelmed by your bookkeeping? Feel behind or don’t know where to start? 

Bookkeeping can be a daunting task if you aren’t 100% clear on what to do, how to do it, or let’s be real, if you just don’t want to do it. 

We have highlighted our top tips that we believe are what you need to stay on top of your Bookkeeping. 

Set Yourself Up For Success

Before we get started, I need to sneak in my two top tips for setting yourself up to make bookkeeping much easier for yourself. 

First and foremost, invest in an online accounting tool! These tools make bookkeeping easier by automating recurring entries, providing out of the box reports and connecting directly to banking. This means all steps I’m about to list below will be even less daunting! 

Second, separate business from personal bank accounts and credit cards. This will make bookkeeping much easier and reduces the possibility of missing any activity..

Once you’re set up, start to implement the following activities on the recommended cadence that I outline below:

On a Weekly or Biweekly Basis

Update your books (enter sales and expenses) on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. The more you update, the less daunting the task will be. 

On a Monthly Basis

1. Reconcile your bank and credit card accounts AT LEAST once a month. The more you reconcile, the easier it is and the less time it will take! 
   1. Reconciling helps prevent you from missing anything and when business decisions arise or new ideas come up, having up to date records can ensure you’re making decisions on accurate information!
2. Review your numbers on a monthly basis at a super high level – sales, expenses, payables. Without spending too much time each month, do a feel test and ask yourself these questions: 
   1. When you look at your sales, does that align with how much you felt you worked? Were you overworked for how much money came in?
   2. When you look at your expenses, does your stomach drop? Are you surprised how much money went out the door?
   3. When you look at your payables, are you nervous you don’t have the cash to pay those bills?
3. Estimate monthly how much money to put aside for income tax and sales tax – and then put it aside! When tax times come and you owe money, you won’t blink since you have the money you need tucked away! Bonus, if you have good enough cash flow to overestimate, you’ll have a nice little surprise left over!

Now, does that feel so bad? We understand this may never be your most favourite task but we can assure you that, the more you stay on top of it, the easier it all becomes! It becomes more a part of your weekly routine and regular maintenance means less transactions in one sitting!

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If you have any questions about staying on top of your bookkeeping or finding ways to overcome your bottlenecks, reach out to us! We not only specialize in bookkeeping it self, we help create efficient processes that work for you!