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4 Daily Bookkeeping Tips to Keep Your Creative Business Finances In Order

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November 3, 2017

As a creative business owner, your mornings aren’t always consistent. Some days begin with quiet cups of coffee and peaceful meditation.

While others are a blur of granola bars, last night’s makeup, and missed deadlines. In your defense, Halloween was on a weekday this year.

Either way, the beauty of being an entrepreneur is flexibility. And while our team also embraces a fluid schedule, we hold fast and stay consistent when it comes to bookkeeping.

A daily routine for bookkeeping is imperative. When you don’t schedule the time to review and manage your accounts, the to-do’s get put on the back burner. And when tax season rolls around, you’re overwhelmed by the pile of receipts and uncategorized transactions.

Below are four tips for keeping your finances in order. For most small businesses, you can tackle these in 15 minutes or less each morning.

Check for New Transactions and Categorize Them

If you use Quickbooks Online, assign a payee and category to each one (learn how to do that here).

This step also applies if you’re using an excel spreadsheet instead of an accounting software. However, it may take more time as you’ll need to log into your bank account, copy the information into your records, and then assign a payee/category.

Why do this every day? You’re more likely to remember why you had a business expense at Target the next day instead of a month later, which saves you time in the long run.

Look Over Your Accounts Receivable and Payable — for the week, not just the day

What do you expect to receive? And what do you expect to pay in the upcoming week/month?

Avoid overdrafts, late payments, or missed bills by having a clear picture of your income and expenses for the next seven days. A daily review will help you detect bank errors and fraudulent transactions. Or you may remember you need to send an invoice to a client.

Review Your Cash on Hand

If you know your bank account doesn’t fluctuate from month to month, you may not need to check your cash flow daily. However, it only takes a few seconds, and it’ll empower you to stick to your business budget.  

Is your cash tight and unpredictable because of an inconsistent income? Then watching your bank account is critical. You’ll know if you have enough money to cover immediate or future payments. And be motivated to stay on top of late payments.

Document and File Receipts

Which is better? To spend all day organizing a pile of receipts a mere hours before your tax filing deadline? Or to document one or two each morning while you watch the news?

Call us crazy, but the latter sounds more zen — except maybe the news part.

Using your accounting software, scan your receipts and attach them to the correct transaction. If you aren’t using Quickbooks, you can organize your receipts in Google Drive or Hubdoc.

It’s up to you if you want to file the hard copies!

Now you have quick and easy tips to keep your finances in order. Remember that while your mornings and work day can get hectic, your financial health matters.

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