Some principles of your business will never change: the monitoring of incomings and outgoings; tax submissions; collating your transactional evidence through the year. However, the means of doing so are being digitised and simplified, evolving with the pace of our online world.
Hence, for 2017, imagine upping your bookkeeping nous, perfecting it with a couple of small adjustments to controlling and logging your cash flow. Bright Ideas can get you started on the path to success with the following suggestions:
1. Don’t be lax with your invoices
Running in circles around a difficult client – one who keeps forgetting to pay, or loses track of your invoices when they’re delivered – is going to harm your sustainability. Everyone has bills to pay, and your cash flow has to be exact, planned to a T so you don’t land in the red.
Try to be stricter with your invoice collection, no matter the size of the project you’ve accomplished. Consider charging interest or late payment fees for missed deadlines, setting the standard for your working relationship.
2. Reassess your expenses
HMRC is very diligent about checking that your expenses are categorised properly. Now might be the time to list all of your regular outgoings, and identifying what is eligible for tax relief. Remember, some justifications rely on the nature of your work: for example, uniforms and safety wear are allowed, but that fancy business suit won’t be.
3. Sync your bank feed with accounts software
Monitoring your incomings and outgoings is all the easier with a real-time display of your bank feed in your bookkeeping software. Reconciling your accounts will help to root out any unrecorded purchases or unpaid invoices, so you can easily flag and resolve discrepancies.
4. Log receipts electronically
Keeping track of expenses can be arduous if you’re trying to match bank statements with flimsy receipts. Therefore, you’ll do well to upload them on a digital system – removing the pain of emptying folders and drawers for evidence.
Cloud-based solutions are the way to go, seeing as there’s virtually no chance that data will be destroyed or tampered with. FreeAgent lets you photograph a document on your smartphone, which is then instantly uploaded to a digital library.
5. Get a bookkeeping health check
Like a car that’s been on the road for some years, an MOT (so to speak) is vital for assessing where your accounts and bookkeeping fall short; even the tiniest mistakes in your approach can make a difference.
These can snowball over time, causing fruitless headaches when they spill over into a real issue. Consider hiring an accountancy service, like us, that can give your records a look-over every six months, or every month if you prefer.
For 2017, free your mind and schedule with these bookkeeping tips. Take Bright Ideas along for the ride if you want – we have multiple packages to suit your venture, tailored for freelancers and contractors. Call us on 0161 669 4221 or email info@biaccountancy.com for more information.
