15: Bookkeeping Consistency – What You Need To Do RIGHT NOW To Stay On Track This Year, Whether You
15:Bookkeeping Consistency – What You Need To Do RIGHT NOW To Stay On Track This Year, Whether You Are A Small Business Owner, You Have An Online Virtual Bookkeeping Business Or Are A Virtual Assistant Or VA
If you are like most small business owners, virtual bookkeepers or virtual assistants, you set some amazing goals at the beginning of the year. More than likely one of these goals covered your business finances and bookkeeping, that’s why you are here, right? In today’s episode, we are diving into what you need to do RIGHT NOW to make sure you stay true to your goals. Listen in as we talk about bookkeeping consistency. We’ll also be talking about why now is a great time to start using QuickBooks Online if you are looking for a computerized software solution. You don’t want to miss the one thing you can do to stay on track with your bookkeeping this year.
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Show Notes:
If you are like most small business owners, virtual bookkeepers or virtual assistants, you set some amazing goals at the beginning of the year. More than likely one of these goals covered your business finances and bookkeeping, that’s why you are here, right? In today’s episode, we are diving into what you need to do RIGHT NOW to make sure you stay true to your goals. Listen in as we talk about bookkeeping consistency. You don’t want to miss the one thing you can do to stay on track with your bookkeeping this year.
Welcome Back…We are already in the second week of February and getting all settled into the new year. I know there is a possibility you are still working on closing out your year end and getting ready to file your tax return, but today we are going to talk about what you should be doing right now so that you can stay on track with your bookkeeping, have accurate and up to date financial information and be more organized for the next tax season. That’s right, if you are finding yourself struggling to get all your information ready to prepare your taxes for the 2020 tax season, you will want to make sure you start the processes we talk about in today’s episode right now so that you can have a much more enjoyable time preparing for your tax return next year. Are you saying to yourself…did she just say “enjoyable” and “tax season” in the same sentence? Yes, I did. If you can stay consistent with your bookkeeping throughout the year, I promise next year at this time, you won’t dread getting all your information ready because you will have it all ready to go. Just imagine…wouldn’t that be a dream come true? You can do this, I know you can, and I am here to help you make sure you stay on track.
I personally love February. It’s a short month. My birthday is in February and we have a holiday with another excuse to eat chocolate which makes Valentine’s day so special…am I right? It really seems like February slips by quickly, but it is such an important month for you as a small business owner, an online virtual bookkeeper or a virtual assistant doing bookkeeping services.
Why is it so important? You might be thinking January would be important, and you’re right. January is important too. You want to make sure you have systems in place to do your bookkeeping and hopefully you are following through, but February is where you will do some very important processes. So, what am I talking about here? Is the suspense killing you? Just like a movie where they keep you guessing, I try to make these podcasts as fun as possible…yes, while talking about small business finances and this can be pretty hard to do, so I hope you give me some grace on this, but what I’m talking about today is reconciling your bank statements.
When we start off the year with January, it really isn’t until February when you get your monthly bank statements. I always tell my clients to keep those bank statements front and center and make sure you reconcile them prior to filing them away. If you jump on reconciling those bank statements right now, so you have all of January’s information recorded and reconciled, you are on the right track to ensure you are up to date and don’t fall behind. If you let this one month slip by, you may find you let another month slip by and another and another, and guess what? You find yourself at this time next year hustling to get all your information recorded and reconciled and it gets to be a stressful mess.
DON’T DO THIS TO YOURSELF! Make a promise to yourself that you will take that bank statement you received in the mail, or if you get your bank statements online, go ahead and print them off…and keep them on your desk or somewhere you will see them each and every day until you have everything recorded and reconciled. If this is something you are already doing, then you get a gold star for the day! You should pamper yourself a little and do something special for yourself when you have finished reconciling your accounts each month. You deserve it. Staying consistent with your bookkeeping is such an important task.
Organization and workflows are key. When you record and reconcile your January information, make sure you put processes in place so that you will be able to follow these processes each month and throughout the rest of the year. Document them so you don’t forget and use this document each month. You can always make adjustments to it, but this is an excellent way to start to get your standard operating procedures set up for your bookkeeping.
Manage your documents and set up a system to have them available when you are recording and reconciling your accounts. Start a filing system where you can put all your credit card receipts for the month and a place where all your paid bills can go until you know they have all been recorded. This will help you from month to month as well to make sure you have all the information you need at your fingertips when you are recording and reconciling your accounts. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to record a transaction that you can’t remember what it was for and not being able to find the receipt. You could spend a lot of valuable time searching for this receipt when a simple filing system could save you that precious time and allow you to work on something else in your business.
Schedule time in the future to record and reconcile your accounts each month. If you know you get your bank statements by the 10th of the month, block off a few hours each month to follow through on your processes. Like Stephen Covey says, “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” Schedule the time, put it in your calendar and set a reminder for yourself each month and give this priority your full attention.
I want to mention another tip for you as well. If you have been doing all your bookkeeping manually or with a spreadsheet and you feel it is time to switch over to a computerized software system, now would be a great time to do this. It will be a perfect time to start recording all your transactions from Jan 1 and you will be able to do your bank reconciliations right in the software. I highly recommend QuickBooks Online, if you go to www.FinancialAdventure.com/QuickBooks, you can save 50% off your first 3 months. In my accounting and bookkeeping business, I specialize in working with service-based businesses and this software is really easy to set up and work with. If you ever have any questions about it, just let me know…I’d be happy to help you get it set up for your business.
And, you know I’m going to ask…what’s at least one thing you will take away from this episode that will help your business succeed and grow your bottom line? If you need some accountability, join our PRIVATE Facebook community and post your action item, we’d love to support you.
