Managing the accounting and bookkeeping tasks for your business doesn’t have to be like eating your peas as a kid. A realistic plan with a budget, recording transactions correctly, reviewing the business financial statements for irregularities, and always keeping good notes is key.
So, if you are still reading, you know that you could use some help with knowing what to do and when to do it. Park City Bookkeepers is here to help! If you have decided to tackle these tasks on your own, here is a good checklist to ensure you are covering your bases and keep you attuned to the state of your business and save you money at tax time.
Daily Bookkeeping Tasks:
1) Check true bank balance – what is your cash position?
Cash is king. We’ve all heard that expression. When it comes to running your business machine, cash is the fuel. Start your day by not checking emails first thing. Check your cash on hand. While knowing how much you expect to receive and how much you plan on paying during the week/month is important, it is not the fuel in your tank.
Weekly Bookkeeping Tasks:
1) Document and File Receipts
Did you wrinkle your nose after reading this? Probably so. No one enjoys accounting for documents for filing purposes, but it is a necessary evil. You want to keep all invoices sent, all call receipts, and all cash payments. I suggest starting a vendor file, sorted alphabetically, for quick access. Or better yet, attach these documents directly to your QuickBooks Online file. Here is a link on how to do just that. If you’re like most business owners I meet, you probably feel overwhelmed at how far behind you are at this. Call Park City Bookkeepers to discuss how we can help you catch and stay caught up. We help audit-proof our customers by having a complete solution for document management.
2) Record transactions
This part is actually pretty fun, as far as bookkeeping tasks go. From your Home screen in QuickBooks Online, you can see the transactions that clear your bank account everyday. Stay up on these transactions and it will take a few minutes a day. Fall behind and you will likely need to spend hours at the end of the month trying to play catch up. The items are less familiar to you 30 days later and if you run into things that are unfamiliar, you can spend a lot of time wasted trying to figure it out. If you aren’t using a program like QuickBooks, you need to reconsider. The value far outweighs the cost.
3) Review unpaid bills from vendors
Take a look at your Accounts Payable Detail Report. This shows you what is currently outstanding with vendors. If vendors offer discounts for early payment, you may want to consider using some of your cash on hand to take advantage of such discounts.
4) Pay vendors, write checks
Pay any vendors by due dates to avoid late payment penalties or interest charges. Negotiate longer payment terms with vendors to improve your cash flow. Net 60 or 90 makes a huge difference over Due on Receipt vendors. To streamline our customers’ Accounts Payable process, we utilize Bill.com as well as other 3rd party sites. It saves hours worth of time over a month’s period.
5) Prepare and send out invoices
Always include a due date and make your invoice format easy to read. The easier you make it to read, the lesser chance of error on the receiving end. Email invoices to save a stamp and avoid possible mail delays. Also consider using QuickBooks’ merchant services to allow for customers to pay directly from the invoice. Bill.com can also help you with this.
6) Know your projected cash flow
Managing your cash flow is of the utmost importance. Forecasting how much cash you will need in the coming weeks and months will you budget funds to pay those vendor bills and employees. A simple template like what SCORE provides for free here or watch the below video to learn how to create your own cash flow forecast using Excel. Or, Bill.com will help you with this as well automatically when using their bill pay and AR service. We at Park City Bookkeepers include Bill.com and QuickBooks Online as part of our flat monthly fee.
Call us now for a free consultation to see how we can streamline your AR and AP processes and save you both time and money.