As a small business owner my self, I know that bookkeeping is no fun, in fact, it is one of the most dreaded tasks a small business owner must do.
Sadly there are not very many tools out there that can help minimize the horror of bookkeeping, we must suck it up and get it done.
Aside from the tormenting number crunching and sifting through papers, another part that makes all that much worse is the amount of time it takes away from the business that could have been spent more productively for the good of the company.
The point of this article is to help out in the time aspect and suggest a few things that can be done to shrink the time it takes to do the books and maximize the efficiency of the actual time spent on the task.
So lets get to it and see if we can make these save us some time.
1.
Use a simple and easy to use program Find and use a bookkeeping program that is simple and does not offer to do everything but only bookkeeping.
This will allow you to learn how to use it quickly and get things done a lot faster.
The other option is to spend some time and learn how to use a more complicated program, so you know your way around it very well.
Investing some time into learning it will pay off in a long run and will save you time when actually doing your books.
2.
Organize your papers Don't just pile your receipts and invoices on the desk and create a large unmanageable pile that you will avoid until the last minute.
Have a designated place, a box or a file folder where your un-recorded papers go and then you will be able to go in there when you are ready and know exactly where things are.
3.
Schedule your bookkeeping block of time I find that recording the transactions in the morning from the day before, and doing it every day saves me time and keeps stress generated by bookkeeping away.
The key is to schedule a blog of time every morning to take care of the paperwork and since there would not be that much of it from just one day, it can be taken care of really quickly.
Mine only takes 5 to 10 minutes.
4.
Don't over-think your categories When recording your transactions, keep the types/categories of transactions as simple as possible.
Create some general categories and stick to them, don't try to get too detailed because then later when you run your reports it'll be hard to make sense of all those super detailed categories but if the data is categorized in a handful of categories you will be able to see the big picture a lot easier.
These are just a few tips but they are very important and if you are able to master them you shall save a lot of time so try your best to apply them and you will thank your self.
Sadly there are not very many tools out there that can help minimize the horror of bookkeeping, we must suck it up and get it done.
Aside from the tormenting number crunching and sifting through papers, another part that makes all that much worse is the amount of time it takes away from the business that could have been spent more productively for the good of the company.
The point of this article is to help out in the time aspect and suggest a few things that can be done to shrink the time it takes to do the books and maximize the efficiency of the actual time spent on the task.
So lets get to it and see if we can make these save us some time.
1.
Use a simple and easy to use program Find and use a bookkeeping program that is simple and does not offer to do everything but only bookkeeping.
This will allow you to learn how to use it quickly and get things done a lot faster.
The other option is to spend some time and learn how to use a more complicated program, so you know your way around it very well.
Investing some time into learning it will pay off in a long run and will save you time when actually doing your books.
2.
Organize your papers Don't just pile your receipts and invoices on the desk and create a large unmanageable pile that you will avoid until the last minute.
Have a designated place, a box or a file folder where your un-recorded papers go and then you will be able to go in there when you are ready and know exactly where things are.
3.
Schedule your bookkeeping block of time I find that recording the transactions in the morning from the day before, and doing it every day saves me time and keeps stress generated by bookkeeping away.
The key is to schedule a blog of time every morning to take care of the paperwork and since there would not be that much of it from just one day, it can be taken care of really quickly.
Mine only takes 5 to 10 minutes.
4.
Don't over-think your categories When recording your transactions, keep the types/categories of transactions as simple as possible.
Create some general categories and stick to them, don't try to get too detailed because then later when you run your reports it'll be hard to make sense of all those super detailed categories but if the data is categorized in a handful of categories you will be able to see the big picture a lot easier.
These are just a few tips but they are very important and if you are able to master them you shall save a lot of time so try your best to apply them and you will thank your self.