Having a complete understanding of the financial status of a business is extremely crucial and assists to analyze when to enhance the growing efforts. Some business owners like to dive deeper into the numbers and the world of business accounting. However, others could feel they are completely out of their depths. Making the calculations efficiently and recoding the cash flow is not only crucial for some legal reasons but also for tax purposes. The errors could be costly to fix. This is the reason some bookkeepers opt to hire accountants, bookkeepers, or tax agents in Melbourne.
Sometimes people like to handle accounting and bookkeeping on their own. It is a good idea to have an understanding of common errors that are made in business accounting and ways to avoid them.
- Not keeping track of receivables and payables
The basic aspect of efficient accounting is to record receivables to ensure that the funds to the business are efficiently tracked. It is vital to issue an invoice and record the receivables whenever these are received. Unreconciled receivables and payables may create some confusion and could lead to overpayment of taxes. These could lead to hassles at the time of book closures.
- Inefficient budgeting
Budgeting has the ability to either make or break a business. Glossing over expenses may give you a fake idea of how much you require making to break even or profit. This concludes with premature celebration when you make a budget or go over. It could also be paying more taxes than mean less profit than expected for the business. You may have a detailed scan of your expenses at a daily level and re-evaluate the budget on a regular basis. A thorough budget provides you with an idea of how your business is moving on.
- No paperwork
It is extremely crucial to efficiently handle the documentation especially when it is tax season. Putting off doing the books till the end of the week or a month is tempting, it is an easier way to get behind on financial statements, sales tax payments, reports that should be filed, and bill payments. Moreover, when it is tax time, it leaves a lot of work to do to catch up. Give yourself a checklist of tasks that you need to complete and keep the paperwork organized neatly in files. The delayed bills could also lead to bounced checks. If you have to rush to catch up on books, it is easier to make costlier mistakes. The small business accountants always pay attention to keeping the documents up to date.
- Mixing personal finances with that of business
Almost 25% of the businesses don’t have a separate bank account for their businesses. Mixing the financial accounts can make it tougher to sort the personal expenses from the business transactions that could be the biggest headache at the time of tax season. This has the ability to cause you to miss an expense that you could list as a business deduction, or you might get in some trouble deducting inappropriate expenses. Unless you are a sole trader, opening up a distinct business account and not mixing business and personal expenses is a good idea.
- Poor Communication
Poor communication between you and your bookkeeper may lead to serious mistakes in the records, filing reports and result in everything from impossible to reconcile statements to inaccurate key financial data. Technology doesn’t prevent accounting mistakes because of the “garbage in and garbage out” business adage. The person who enters the accounting numbers in the software and technology applications is required to transfer these efficiently and enter these at the right place and at the right time. The bookkeeping services provider must know when to file paperwork and how to interpret facts about taxes, assets, and other matters.
- Not backing up the data
Data backup is crucial for every business as there are many ways to lose data. Natural disasters, accidents, ransomware, and computer damage are some of the ways data can be lost. It is necessary to back up the accounting data of the company regularly. If the accounting software like QuickBooks is hosted on the cloud, the cloud providers assure that there is a regular backup of all the accounting data and you will be assured that the accounting data is safe.
Many small businesses take pride in the company that they have built. They feel that they may handle anything on their own. But it is sometimes best to invest in outside assistance.
At Reliable Melbourne Accountants, we can save your money while keeping your books ordered. If you need any assistance with taxes, payroll, or small business accounting services, you may contact us now.