(805) 965-6073
DonateMeet Our Clients
Facebook
LinkedIn
YouTube
Instagram
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
  • Programs
    • Business Training
    • Consulting
    • Loans
    • WEV LinkedIn Learning
    • QuickBooks & Financial Empowerment
    • FAQs
  • COVID-19
    • Resources & Information
    • ReStart Loans
    • Donate
  • Español
    • Quién es WEV?
    • Capacitación Empresarial
    • Préstamos Para Negocios
    • Programa LinkedIn Learning de WEV
    • QuickBooks y Empoderamiento Financiero
    • Clientes
    • Instructores
    • Comunícate
    • COVID-19
    • Préstamos de COVID-19 Reapertura
    • Recursos
  • Support WEV
    • Donate
    • Empowerment is Priceless
    • Join The League
      • Join Today
      • Spotlights
    • Sponsor
    • Volunteer
  • Clients
    • Million Dollar Club
    • Client Business Directory
    • Santa Barbara County Clients
    • Ventura County Clients
  • About
    • History
    • Board of Directors
    • Our Staff
    • Instructors
    • Advisors
    • Impact
    • Careers
    • COVID-19
  • Newsroom
  • Videos

Record-keeping: Keep it Simple for 2015

mbaileyBlogNo CommentsJanuary 13, 2015

By Rachelle Barnier, CPA at Nasif, Hicks, Harris & Co., LLP

Whether you are starting a new business or have a resolution to start 2015 on the right foot with your existing business, creating and maintaining business records separate from personal records is essential. Maintaining separate business records is fundamental to helping you analyze your business profitability. The key to this practice is to keep it simple. Here are 4 steps to help you maintain separate records for your business:

  1. Establish an exclusive box or envelope to deposit weekly business invoices/income receipts and bills/expenses paid. Label the box/envelope “Weekly Business Income & Expense Receipts”.
  2. Designate 1 day per week, typically the day after your busiest business day, to go through the “Weekly Business Income and Expense Receipts” box or envelope. Record each income and expense item in your business financial record keeping system. You can use an Excel workbook, a notebook exclusively for your business financial statements, or QuickBooks if you have strong accounting debit/credit skills. Limit the amount of categories and choose basic category names to keep it simple. For income items, simply categorize these in your financials in the “Income” category. For expense items, the following categories will do: “Supplies”, “Insurance”, “Postage and shipping”, “License fees”, “Telephone expense”, “Computer, printer & software”, “Email, internet access & website fees”, etc. You always have the original receipt to reference should you need to locate more detail on the expense/income item in the future.
  3. After the weekly invoices/receipts have been recorded in your business financial statements, file each receipt/invoice in your business file box or file cabinet. Maintain this file box exclusively for your business records. Label the individual files within it with short descriptions that are comparable or corresponding to the categories of your business financial statements, such: Income/invoices, Supplies, Insurance, Postage and shipping, License fees, etc.
  4. After completing 4 weeks of above three steps, you will have one months of income and expense activity recorded in your business financial statements. Sum that month’s activity and “close” the month. Closing the month means that you don’t make any changes to that month either now or in the future. If you learn that you incorrectly recorded something for a closed month or you refund a customer for something you collected in a prior month, correct it in the existing month you learned of the error. Do not go back and change the month the error occurred. This will save you from chasing history and remembering whether or not you already made the change in the prior month.

The fundamental strategy to keeping business records separate from personal records is to create simple processes and address it weekly. By keeping it simple, you will be far more likely to stay up to date with your finances. Maintaining separate business records is key to managing your business profitability. January is the perfect month to implement these practices so you can have a successful and organized 2015!

: business finances, personal finances, profitability, simple

Related Posts

Playing With Numbers

December 9, 2014mbailey

Women’s Economic Ventures launches free, bilingual Financial Education Webinar Series to empower small business owners during COVID

October 15, 2020Lysa Urban

5 Common Costly Mistakes Business Owners Make: Part 1

January 21, 2015mbailey

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Get Updates from WEV

Santa Barbara County Office

Monday-Friday: 9am-5pm

333 S. Salinas Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93103
Tel: (805) 965-6073
Fax: (805) 962-9622

Parking is available on the street or in the parking lot off Lou Dillon Drive. WEV only has one space available in the front lot.

Ventura County Office

Monday-Friday: 9am-5pm
*Appointments are preferred; please call ahead before stopping by, as our Ventura staff members frequently work in other locations.

290 Maple Court, Suite 268
Ventura, CA 93003
Tel: (805) 667-8004
Fax: (805) 962-9622

WEV's office is located in the back of the 'Financial' building if facing the building from Maple Court.

  • About Us
  • Client Resources
  • Client Business Directory
  • News
  • Women’s Business Center (WBC)
  • Accessibility Statement

Privacy Policy Terms of Use Copyright © 2021 Women’s Economic Ventures. All rights reserved. Created by NDIC