If you are the proud owner of a small business, you well know how difficult it is to manage everything with few personnel and resources. There is a lot going on all the time, and things can get disorganized pretty quickly. Especially in the finance department, it’s quite difficult to manage accounting and everything related to it, including taxes, payroll etc. Fret not, for there are certain simple tips that you can keep in mind as a small business owner which will certainly go a long way in helping you keep the health of your accounts in ship-shape:
Hire a professional accountant: While it is quite common to see one person handling various accounts and human resources related areas in a small scale business, it’s imperative that you hire a professional accountant to take care of your financial matters exclusively. Instead of saving money by having a non-professional moonlight as an accountant, you could be losing more money in the form of erroneous tax filing, inaccurate payroll etc. Hiring an accountant and getting them to sort things out turns out to be a much more economical and efficient option.
Keep business and personal expenses distinct: Do not use your personal credit cards for business transactions. Similarly, do not give your wife or kids your office credit cards to use to go shopping. You’ll end up in financial disarray as you won’t be able to account for your expenses when you do your reporting at the end of the quarter or financial year. Plus, you well be in even greater chaos when you have to file your taxes at the end of the year! Keeping the finances of your home and office separate is the best policy to help keep things accounted for and organised.
Conduct regular audits: Hiring a great accountant is no good if you don’t get together with them and do regular checks on the health of your business. It is important to conduct regular financial audits to see how things are going in each department of your business. This way, if anything is going wrong or right, you well be able to deal with it accordingly well in time. Also, checking to see what is going right also helps you get new investment ideas. Also make sure that you are up-to-date on your invoices. If there are payments to be made, they should be made on time and if there are collections to be had, that should also be taken care of to avoid financial losses.
Know your tax rules: There are many rebates that are available to small business owners with regard to income tax. Make sure that you are in the loop about these laws for your state, and discuss them with your accountant in order to file the most accurate returns. You may be suffering huge losses in improper tax filing every year.
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Keep these simple tips in mind and chances are that you would not go wrong with the financial health of your organisation. A good accountant or accounting firm can help you with all these and more.
Kristen is a freelance writer who writes on different topics such as finance, business and credit. She holds bachelor degree in electronics. Her famous articles includes article on saffery.com. She loves to travel and make new friends.