Getting your business organized like a boss!
Hello fellow business owner!
The 3rd quarter is well underway and that means we are past the halfway mark through 2019! Where did the time go?
So let's do a quick check in! How's your business doing so far this year? Or a better question is how is your document management going so far?
Ready to pull your hear out will all the unorganized, black hole of your back office?
Receipt and document management ideas to the rescue!
Hopefully you haven't run away screaming in terror at the mention of your office. I'm going to show you some easy ways to armor up and slay that unorganized beast!
Idea 1:
If you are a die-hard paper person, ya know the person who needs to touch, hold, and feel the paper in your hands, I suggest you develop a filing system that works for you. The key here is it has to work for you otherwise you won't stick with it.
Buy a expanding file box with multiple dividers to organize and contain all those precious papers. I use this one for all those pesky receipts for the year.
Each tab is labeled for each month and I put in 6x9 envelopes for each month to hold anything small. After I enter in the receipt into my accounting software, I file the receipt into its respective section and BAM....my 2019 receipts are all contained in one spot for easy access.
For all my new age entrepreneurs who LOVE the idea of a paperless office, I have some solutions for you too!
Idea 2:
Get yourself a scanner, nothing fancy, just something to scan your documents and receipts to upload onto your computer. I have a Neat Scanner that I use and it gets the job done.
After you enter your receipts into your accounting software, send them thru the scanner and upload to your computer or store onto a cloud drive like Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc. Name your document something that will help you easily identify what it is.
Example: Google 5.31.19 $6.00 (Name, Date, Amount)
Now setup your document folders a way that make sense to you.
Example: Receipts - 2019 - January, February, March, etc.
See how easy that was? Let's say at the end of the month you are reconciling your bank account and you see a transaction that you don't remember. You can easily go into your computer or cloud drive and see what receipt you have, or find that you don't have it and need to investigate further.
Scanning and uploading your receipts a little too hands on for you? How about this solution:
Idea 3:
Along the same lines as scanning and uploading your documents, you could use a document management program like Hubdoc. This program does have a monthly fee ($20) but you get unlimited storage of your documents and can easily upload them by just taking a picture.
I use Hubdoc for some of my clients as it has more benefit then that! Hubdoc will go thru to different vendors and fetch invoices, bills, and bank statements that automatically get uploaded to your account. You don't even have to hunt them down! Plus, all your receipts are automatically organized into folders. Win-Win! If you would like to see what all the fuss is about, you can visit Hubdoc here.
Now document and receipt management isn't the best way to spend your time but let me tell you this, You and only YOU are responsible to keep documentation on your business. You will absolutely HATE yourself if the IRS came a knocking and wanted to see your backup for a transaction that happened 3 years ago and you LOST IT!
Thankfully, the IRS will accept digitized documents and receipts if they are accurate and can be readily stored, preserved, retrieved and reproduced. So as long as you can provide a copy if asked, you are good! So if you can digitize your documents, then DO IT! Also remember to make a backup and store in a separate location!
Now that you have organized documents and receipts, how long do you need to keep them? As a rule of thumb, receipts and documents need to be kept between 3 to 7 years (that's how long the IRS can perform an audit). If you fraudulently filed your taxes or are trying to get away with not filing (which I know none of you are doing :) ), the IRS has no time limit to audit. So let's not do tax evasion OK? IRS Publication 583 is a great starting point if you want to know more about the document requirements of a business.
There you have it! Your armor is shaped, sword is sharp, and you are ready to battle the mighty paperwork beast!
If you are still feeling overwhelmed by the idea, or just don’t have the time to sit down and organize everything? I am here to help! Schedule a FREE introductory call with me and let’s work together to get your business organized.
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