If you are running a small business it can be all too easy to put the chore of doing your expenses to one side until you reach a point where it is a bit of a mess and you need to sit down and sift your way through it all.
It is much better to find an efficient way of tracking your expenses that is easy to do, and lets you know in an instant exactly where you stand with your money.
Here is a look at some ways keep on top of your expenses. There is an overview of why you need to keep a track of your spending, plus details of several options that should make the task of collating that data a whole lot easier.
A lack of resources
It is perfectly understandable that when you are running a small business you don’t have the time or the manpower available to commit one person to receipt management and expense tracking.
You obviously want and need access to that sort of information so that you have an element of control over almost every dollar that you are spending in the business, so the solution is to find a way to get that level of data but in a more cost-effective way.
One viable solution would be to use a business credit card for a lot of your normal expenses. This idea has the added bonus of virtually offering you a source of unsecured business finance as you get to spend money on credit and then pay it back when the statement comes in, which is also good for cash flow.
The added bonus on top of that is that a business card allows you to track expenses more easily as all the expenditure is laid out in front of you on the statement, rather than adding up all the receipts individually.
Make the most of software
As well as using a business card to keep track of your spending it also makes sense to consider using a software program that allows you to automate your expenses tracking.
There are a number of user-friendly programs around that provide you with an app on your smartphone to automatically update your expenses every time you spend money and get a receipt.
All you have to do is take a picture of the receipt with your mobile phone and the information is then relayed to the expenses reporting software. The data can be securely stored on the cloud which also works as a handy backup and ensures you don’t lose vital data.
If you get into the habit of logging your expenses as you go using one of the expenses tracking programs, it should make the task of putting all the information together much easier, plus you then get a real-time system where you know exactly how much has been spent each week and month.
Timely and accurate records
It is not just you that wants everything to be in order with your expenses, the tax authorities also want you to keep an accurate record of your business mileage and expenses.
It is simple, you can’t expect to deduct what you can’t prove, which is why you need to keep a log of this data to be able to use it at a later date.
Collecting all of this information doesn’t have to be time-consuming or expensive, so make the most of the options available to you, like using a business credit card and expenses software programs.
That has to be better than burning the midnight oil trying to add all of your receipts up by hand.
Harvey Faulkner writes articles about small business matters; bookkeeping, taxes and a number of other issues that people generally need help with when just starting out or growing their already established business.
