Keeping up-to-date and accurate financial records is an essential part of managing your business. This not only ensures you remain compliant with the latest tax obligations, but it can also provide you with a clearer picture of your financial health.
While you may already have bookkeeping processes in place, periodically reviewing and updating financial records and the processes behind them is an important part of owning a small business.
Accurate financial records provide insight into the health of your business and can also help you to spot potential problems before they become too serious.
Keeping accurate financial records allows you to make more informed decisions and plan for the future with confidence.
In order to keep accurate financial records, start by having a clear understanding of the type of documents you need to track, including:
- Income
- Expenses
- Assets
- Debt
- Loans
- Investments
- Taxes
As a business owner, you will also want to track the day-to-day transaction by collecting receipts, invoices, deposit slips and other evidence that supports your accounts.
Traditionally, many of these important records would be paper-based and filled away in a safe place, but most businesses now maintain these as digital records.
If you are still using a lot of paper records in your business now is a great time to make the switch to online accounting and the wide range of apps that support the recording of financial information, such as invoice and receipt scanning software.
As accountants, we like to see records that are safely stored, readily available and easy to draw into your accounts. This is where online accounting can save considerable time and provide considerable peace of mind.
With the right systems and procedures in place you should be able to regularly reconcile accounts, forecast cash flow and performance, keep track of assets and double-check financial statements and accounts before they are submitted to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).
Put simply, having reliable information at hand will give you a better understanding of your business’s performance, allowing you to make sound decisions and plan for the future with confidence.
If you need help improving your bookkeeping processes, please contact our specialist accounting team at enquiries@stca.co.uk or 01494 552100 or your usual Seymour Taylor representative today for assistance.
This blog is for guidance only, professional advice should be obtained before acting on any information contained herein. The information was correct at the time of publishing 21 February 2023.