Accounting routines is something you’ve probably heard about. The reason we talk about routines in accounting is apparent – it’s something you’ve got to do on daily basis, something you got to do with some form of discipline and routine in itself. I would say that there’s very little creativity in accounting itself, as it’s something that has strict rules and basic fundamental structure that needs to be followed. As such there are routines that you’re strongly advised to take a habit and applying to your everyday business life.  Continue reading →

Your bread and butter, something that tells you which accounting entry you’ve decided to be most appropriate for specific transactions, which documents are obtained and where they are stored etc.  Continue reading →

Number one thing when it comes to accounting is making sure it’s accurate – all your figures need to add up correctly, be accounted for using compliant measuring procedures and obviously be supported with source documents for all entries. Accounting is keeping proper books about your company’s financial performance. How else would you ensure you’ve really got a viable business for an example?  Continue reading →

Making mistakes is first off only human of you honestly. We all do them in our everyday lives and with that in mind you’re no different. No offense. Now, to help you with the most common pitfalls people do, we’ve listed down a few so you’d know what to avoid for sure:  Continue reading →

We’ve covered quite a few tips and advice for you by now. You what’s generally expected in accounting and what to watch out for when it comes to common mistakes done. However, since accounting is a continuous process done on daily basis there are things to be done every day:

• As we mentioned before, one of the most important things in accounting is having and keeping source documents for all your entries. Now, when making an entry, make a habit to prepare or obtain a document for it and store it in orderly fashion – i.e. all purchase invoices in one place, all sales invoices in another etc. Make some sort of ordering for you but don’t forget to store a source document for the entry.
• It’s for your own good to have a daily routine when it comes to accounting procedures – when are you accounting for expenses, when are you checking the bank etc. Make yourself a schedule and do make it a habit again to follow it. Accounting is a collection of habits if you will.
• Every now and then it happens that you mess something up in your accounts. It happens and it’s perfectly normal. A point to take away from this is however that you should fix your mistakes when they become apparent and as always, leave a source document explaining the entry. When accounting entries is just debit one account and credit the other (or multiple accounts), its not telling the reason why this entry was done and what triggered it. That’s something a source document is for.
• In case you’re not the only one doing accounting entries in your company please make sure you’ve got clear roles and responsibilities communicated to everyone involved in accounting – everyone needs to know who is doing what exactly and when.
• Do you know where everything is? Keep order both on your desk and in your computer. It sounds simple and so obvious, but truth of the matter is that experience shows otherwise – documents laying around and piling up, files gone missing from the computer, too many working files for one thing etc. Keep order and see your life going a lot easier.
• You no doubt have various reporting dates – if not for investors or similar, surely you’ve got some reports to be filed for government bodies or tax officials etc. Something I strongly recommend is having those deadlines in front of you and possibly also a list of materials you need to obtain beforehand or statements you need to prepare for those reports. Have your list of actions ready and try to schedule those things to be done timely.

Accounting is a process of little things you do on daily basis. It’s best to be on track and make sure that what you do you do timely, accurately and with ease. Accounting as everything else in life should not be done with stress and believe me, those little best practices are what make sure you’re having as little stress as possible when it comes to your companies accounts.

Keeping your business going is an everyday job mostly – there are things you’ve got to do to keep it all running smoothly and to ensure you’ve got your customers happy, you’ve got your invoices paid and last, but not least have your accounting in order. If you don’t have this last thing, you can kiss your business goodbye pretty soon, trust me. I’d say it’s like the basic foundation you start building on a good and sustained business. Why so? Continue reading →