Monthly Bookkeeping Tasks

Bookkeeping is a part of every small business. Whether you have a bookkeeper, an accountant, or you are doing it yourself. There are many tasks that need to be completed each month to stay on top of your bookkeeping. Some of these tasks may be handled by your bookkeeper or accountant on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis however the business owner still has responsibilities each month.

First, and foremost, you must have some type of accounting software or a way of tracking all the finances of your business. Very small businesses may be able to use excel in the beginning however accounting software is very inexpensive and can assist with many of the monthly bookkeeping tasks while saving you time and avoiding the headache of manually entering all your income and expenses.

Monthly Bookkeeping Tasks:

1. Categorize all business transactions

In your accounting software, you will need to categorize all the transactions in your business bank accounts. It is important to remember to never use your business account for personal expenses. This will save significant time when trying to organize income and expenses for the business.

Remember to review your accounts throughout the month as well to monitor your business transactions.

2. Organize those business receipts

The best thing about accounting software is it can organize all your receipts in one location. You can scan your receipts and upload them into the accounting software. There are also other apps that integrate with the accounting software for receipt management. By keeping up with your receipts monthly, tax time will be stress-free knowing you don’t have to look for those receipts from 12 months ago.

Remember to keep all your receipts and maintain them for tax purposes.

3. Review your performance

This is where the accounting software will assist you in reviewing your financial performance. You will be able to create your balance sheet, income statement and statement of cash flows (to learn more about the financial statements click the links above). By reviewing this information, you can determine if you have enough income to cover your expenses, or if your revenue is increasing or decreasing. You will be able to monitor the cash flowing in and out of your business.

Take the time to review your financial statements to get a bigger picture of how you are doing financially in your business.

4. Send invoices to your clients

This will be different in every business, some will do this monthly, some may bill on a bi-weekly or weekly basis, and some may do it throughout the month as work is completed. However, it works in your business, it is important to set aside the time to send out your invoices in a timely manner and follow up with clients who have not yet paid.

Look at online payment options for your clients to help you receive your money more quickly and make it more convenient for your clients to pay those invoices.

5. Quarterly taxes

For the self-employed business owner whether a sole proprietor or an LLC owner, quarterly tax payments must be made. It is a good idea to set aside this money monthly instead of waiting until the end of the quarter. You may want to have a separate account to save for your quarterly tax payments. Next week, I will talk all about quarterly tax payments.

Most business owners set aside 25% of their income for tax purposes.

6. Plan ahead

It is important to plan ahead especially if your income is irregular. The following are ways to help you plan ahead.

- Create a budget and stick to it

- Monitor your cash flow throughout the month

- Never stop marketing your business

- Set aside 3-6 months’ worth of expenses

- Review your past financial history to project future cash flow

Monthly bookkeeping is an important task for every business owner, whether you have someone to assist or you are keeping up with it yourself. These monthly tasks will help you stay organized, avoid tax time headaches, and keep you ahead of the game in your business finances.