How to Organize Your Finances

I am thrilled again to be participating in Janet Barclay’s Blog Carnival . This months theme is Financial Organizing. Please take a few minutes to visit the carnival and enjoy all the great tips offered by Professional Organizers.

Are you confused about Organizing Your Finances?

Looking  for the perfect system?

To be honest there is no perfect cookie cutter system…however there are tips that can help YOU to keep on top of this very important task…Now I need to be clear here…I will be suggesting several tips on how to “Organize Your Finances”…not how to “Do your Finances”.

I am a huge believer in hiring experts…it is good for the economy (and our economy needs it right now) and unless you are an expert in this particular area I would leave it to the experts. The carnage of not doing this particular task correctly can be devastating….Ok I will get off my soap box now

After working with over 100 small business owners these are some of the critical financial issues that have been identified during the process of helping them to Get Organized in their office.

• late income tax filing
• important financial documents that have been lost or misplaced
• late sales tax reports
• payroll remittances that are incomplete
• unpaid bills that were filed with other papers
• uncollected receivables…can you imagine

If you are spending valuable time trying to figure out the tax exemption rate of something or a percentage of something related to an expense you are wasting your valuable time that YOU could spend on growing your business and adding to your bottom line….financially that is.

Here are some very simple and creative ways to “Organize Your Finances”

• Have a folder, envelope or ziploc bag for each month of the year for receipts..keeping like items together
• Use the Batching principle for getting the receipts in the folder
• Keep a separate file with invoices to clients and unpaid expenses, check these regularly to keep cash flowing
• Save valuable time by using online banking

I have an awesome Bookkeeper that I meet with quarterly and a very skilled Accountant who I meet with annually. They are both worth every dollar I pay them and I know that they are skilled at helping me to maximize my deductions and increase my income….you can also look for a bookkeeper or accountant who are wiling to barter services. I did that in the first 5 years of my business. It was an awesome way to get a needed service and your accountant could be a great source of referral business.

Moving forward you can create a system that you can manage yourself or you can delegate this necessary task and free up valuable time while keeping the economy moving.