Whether you are just starting out or you’re already a bit further down the path, an area that will continually provide challenges when running a business is the vast paperwork associated with bookkeeping. With the emergence of cloud software services, electronic communication and document storage — now is the time to look at how you can minimise the paper war and maximise efficiencies for your business. Making bookkeeping easy for a start-up business is all about getting simple systems in place that will save you time and money.
Here are my top five tips for reducing paperwork:
- Create a simple filing system
Creating a simple filing system that allows you to easily store and retrieve documents is important for both physical and electronic document storage. Remember general financial documentation must be retained for five years and payroll information for seven years. Creating a good online directory of folders that mirrors your offline storage for filing electronic communications will allow you to easily store and retrieve electronic documents. Try an online storage system like Dropbox that enables you to retrieve documents from any computer with an internet connection, freeing up valuable disk space on your pc and also minimising risk with an offsite backup option in the event of a disaster.
- Invest in accounting software
Speak to a professional partner of the accounting software you want to use in your business. Investing a few hours at the beginning to have your software implemented and customised with help from the partner to suit your business requirements is a wise decision. Cloud accounting software such as MYOB LiveAccounts is a great starting point for a new small business. If you need something with all the bells and whistles then take a look at MYOB AccountRight Live range.
- Open it, action it, file it
Handle the paper flowing through your business once. Mail, email, faxes should be opened, actioned and filed in one process. Your accounting system is a management tool and you should be relying on it to provide you with reliable information. Enter supplier bills as soon as you receive them and set up the terms on your supplier cards then use your accounts payable system to manage your cash flow and pay bills as they fall due using accounts payable reports. Take the time to enter complete information for your customers and supplies also means you can rely on your accounting system as an address book, simple CRM.
- Electronic document storage and accounting integration
Online applications such as Shoeboxed, Receipt Bank and Invitbox provide a seamless solution to taming the paper wars. Capture all the important data from your invoices, receipts and other annoying bits of paper and integrate with your accounting software to reduce time on data entry. You can use smartphone apps to capture info on the go or any of the other variety of capture methods. Electronic storage of financial information is recognised by the ATO if the information is easily retrievable and able to be read and understood. You can also buy a good quality scanner and capture and retain all the information yourself. Setting up a good naming convention for files is important to be able to retrieve information easily.
- Deal electronically
If you want to reduce paper in your business, endeavour to deal with customers, suppliers and other agencies electronically. Send invoices and statements to customers via email, opt in for electronic statements from your bank, ask your suppliers to send bills electronically, set up your accounting system to take advantage of live bank feeds (where your bank transaction data is automatically fed to your accounting software) and lodge government paperwork electronically.