The Sprint of Summer race is on!

The Season of new scheduling demands, shifting of tasks to fill-in for employees on vacations or even those moving to part-time hours to meet demands of child care. With the start of the ‘summer schedule’, often, it is easy to let the ‘less than exciting’ tasks fall to the bottom of the to-do list. Let’s be honest, the last thing on any business owners mind is bookkeeping, no matter what season we are in. It seems to be, except for a few of us, the most dreaded and frustrating parts of running a business. Here are some bookkeeping tips to maximize your efficiency while minimizing your time needed.

Create a list.

It can be overwhelming staying up-to-date, making sure that everything in a business gets completed, especially if you are already dreading working on your books. A simple “to do” check list laying out tasks to be done weekly, bi-monthly, monthly, on specific dates, or at the end of the month can help with the stress. At the end of the week taking the necessary time to manage the checks, invoices, credit card charges, or bills received that week, using software such as QuickBooks, can save the hassle of doing it all at the end of the month. Plus, bonus—if for some reason books are not balancing, there is a lot less information to go through to find and fix the problem if you books are updated every week or bi-weekly, depending on the volume.

Create your own checks and balances process.

Having checks and balances in any task is a good idea, especially in the bookkeeping world. Human error always occurs, and may even be increased when working with numbers. Developing your own checks and balances process helps to minimize any mistakes made. For example, checking to make sure a paid invoice was recorded in the books and is recorded at the right amount in both the bank and your records. Catching errors will help to decrease the workload, amount of time spent finalizing your records at the end of each month, and could even eliminate additional fees the result for late or incorrect payments. This is also especially helpful at the end of the year, as you will be confident in the information obtained to process your tax return.

Plan for the future.

Bookkeeping experts plan for future company growth, technology demands, and employee changes. Using current and accurate financials will help when your company’s budget needs change. Your financials need to accurately support the swiftly made decisions that sometimes need to be made, whether determining to hire a new employee, or managing sudden changes in the expenses or revenues from one month to the next. Planning ahead allows you to avoid missing due date, dreaded late fees or past due AR. Using technology to set reminders, or highlighting important dates, or working ahead, can be helpful to confirm even the small tasks are done on time and accurate. Keeping forward motion is extremely efficient for long term success.

The Sprint of Summer shouldn’t equate to delayed bookkeeping. Plan, prepare and organize tasks, by simply creating and implementing processes and procedures. This will minimize the anxiety associated with managing your books, and who knows, you maybe even feel satisfied rather than exhausted at the end of the season.

If you need help developing procedures for your company’s bookkeeping needs, we recommend you contact your bookkeeping and organizing expert.