At striveX Accountants, we help lots of business owners to take control of their finances and bookkeeping through training and support. If you are a small business owner and your goal is to grow a thriving and sustainable business, having solid internal finance processes in place from the very beginning will help you get there.

As a business owner or entrepreneur, we know you like to look forward, not backwards. But by implementing just a few simple bookkeeping tips and tricks, you can ensure that you always have up to date and accurate financial statements which can assist with your decision making and forecasting. If your past financial records are accurate, predicting the future will become much easier.

To help you to this, we have prepared our top bookkeeping tips:

Keep your business and personal banking separate

If you are a sole trader, you are not legally obligated to have a separate business bank account however it makes things much easier for you and your accountant if you do. Keeping things separate mean that you can integrate your bank account to your accounting software and when it comes to your year-end you will have the ability to simply export your full years’ worth of financial transactions in one simple sweep.

Have separate deposit accounts for quarterly VAT, tax planning and monthly payroll to ensure cash flow is smooth and accounted for

Cash planning is a vital part of forecasting and a great way to do this is to review your cash at the end of each month and put aside cash for VAT, payroll, and taxes. Doing this each month means you are always up to date, keeping the cash separately so that when the payments are due it is no extra stress.

Find an app to record your mileage (like ours!)

A really great way to ensure you are personally reimbursed for your travel on behalf of the company is to record your mileage throughout the year. Again, with lots of these tips we are helping you to put processes in place which automate these tasks and mean you don’t have to recall a years’ worth of trips to the post office nearly a year after you’ve done them!

Register with HMRC for VAT and payroll submission and payment reminders

Another great tip to ensure you are never behind on submissions with HMRC is to ask them to remind you! You can sign up for reminders from HMRC to submit and then pay your payroll and VAT.

Choose the right bookkeeping software

The type of software you choose will depend on what you need to get out, and at the top of the league in cloud accounting software’s, there is little to differentiate the top players. This can make choosing a software very overwhelming. We have a separate article all about how to choose the right accounting software, available on our website.

Keep track of cash payments

Any cash received by the company should be deposited and recorded in the company bank account or into petty cash. It can be tempting to keep that cash in your wallet to pay for materials or business supplies however this can make things really messy when it comes to bookkeeping, for example you may forget who paid you that money and when and then you may forget where you spent the cash, on what and when. It is important to make sure that your bookkeeping is accurately reflecting every transaction within the company.

Know when to outsource if it becomes too much or too difficult

If, as a business owner you are doubling up as a bookkeeper and it becomes too much or too difficult, it is important to know when to outsource. Outsourcing your bookkeeping is not only cost effective, it ensures financial accuracy and means that you get to spend that extra time doing what you do best.

To summarise, reporting historic financial data accurately is essential when it comes to forecasting for your business. Using and implementing automation to your advantage can save you lots of time and ensure nothing is missed. Outsource your bookkeeping or speak to an accountant if it becomes too much.

If you’ve enjoyed this article and would like to find out more about how we help our clients, take a look around this website www.strivex.co.uk visit our contact page or give us a call on 01628 560427.