We are answering the question: When does bookkeeping need to be done? I know, I know, you are hoping that I am about to say once a year. But you know that just sounds too good to be true!

Well, bookkeeping is not just a one-time thing. It’s definitely an ongoing process that should start at the birth of your business and only end when your business does. 

Bookkeeping cycles in months but I recommend spending time each week on your bookkeeping tasks. Set aside sometime on the same day each week to work on categorizing transactions, applying for payments, making deposits, and all of those things that are showing up in your bookkeeping software. This way when the end of the month comes, you’ll be caught up on all of your transactions, and reconciling your accounts will be easy.

Now if bookkeeping isn’t your favorite task in the world, schedule it on a day like a Tuesday or a Wednesday in the morning. That way you are not bombarded with it every Monday morning, first thing. But by keeping it in the morning it’s at the top of your to-do list so that you can get it done and move on. A lot of times if you schedule a task that you are not really super happy or excited to do, you’ll keep moving it down the list. If you schedule it in the afternoon you’ll notice that you’ll keep moving it down the list to the next day and the next day. Before you know it you’re behind because it keeps getting pushed. 

Now if you do outsource to a bookkeeper and you have a bookkeeper that’s doing this work for you, you still want to spend some time as the business owner, probably each week or a couple of times a month at least, working on your bookkeeping. It should be pretty minimal if you’ve already outsourced this and you have somebody doing it for you. But your time may be spent maybe uploading receipts to the cloud, maybe you’re following up on past due invoices, or maybe you’re sending new invoices to your clients. So there might be some tasks that you are still handling as the business owner that would still fall into that bookkeeping schedule that you need to keep.

So that’s the key here. Know that bookkeeping is not just a one-time thing. It’s not even just a once a year thing. Don’t scramble and try to get it done before tax time but rather set a schedule and stick to it. To learn more about when your bookkeeping needs to be done or if you want to know more about the WHERE and WHY of bookkeeping, sign up for our free bookkeeping course. We hope this helps you understand bookkeeping more and makes you feel more confident when it comes to your finances!