3 Bookkeeping Goals for Hassle-Free Accounting in the New Year

A new year is not only a great time to set some goals for the year ahead, it’s also a great time to figure out how you’re going to keep the books for your business. It’s safe to say that most people don’t look forward to doing their bookkeeping, which means it can often take a back seat to everything else in your business that needs your attention. But leaving your books to the last minute just creates more stress and hassle around tax time (which is stressful enough all on its own). So, this year, resolve to give yourself the gift of a stress-free tax season by accomplishing these simple, but life-saving goals.

1. Reconcile Your Books Early and Often

Reconciling your books means you’re checking your bills and invoices against your bank statements. If you show an invoice as having been paid, but there’s no record of the money going into your bank account, it’s time to make some calls to see if that invoice really did get paid. The same goes for your outgoing expenses.

Comparing your books might feel like a hassle, but it’s necessary to make sure nothing slips through the cracks, and if you wait until tax time to take care of it and you find discrepancies from months ago, it might be too late to correct the mistake.

Ideally, you should reconcile your books once a week, but if that’s unrealistic, make sure it’s no less than once a month. If you can schedule some time into your monthly calendar to go over your books, you’ll be more likely to stay on top of it.

If you have a professional bookkeeper you hire to stay on top of your books for you, you should meet with them regularly to go over your books and make sure everything is in order.

2. Use Technology to Your Advantage

When it comes to accounting software, Quickbooks is probably the most recognizable, but it’s not the only option out there. If you’d prefer to use a different accounting software, spend some time shopping around so you can compare, not just prices, but capabilities to make sure you get a software that does everything you need.

Then there are other types of accounting software you can use in addition to Quickbooks, such as Auto Entry, which lets you upload a bank statement into Quickbooks so you don’t have to manually enter each transaction. Finding ways to speed up the bookkeeping process makes it more likely you’ll do your bookkeeping on a regular basis.

3. Know Your Tax Dates

Most people think of April 15^th as Tax Day, but that’s only the day tax returns are due for individuals and LLCs. If you have an S Corp, your taxes are due March 15^th, and that deadline is coming up fast, so if you haven’t done so already, be sure to get your books ready ASAP.

Also keep in mind that some businesses need to pay quarterly taxes, so depending on how your business has been incorporated, you might want to check to make sure you aren’t already behind on your taxes.

If you need help achieving any of these bookkeeping goals, don’t be afraid to reach out to The Bookkeeping Doctor. I’ll stay on top of your books for you so you can focus on doing what you do best.