Mastering Bookkeeping Basics: Essential Tips for Small Business Owners

Image by ijeab on Freepik

If you’re a small business owner, you aren’t alone. There are more than 33 million small businesses located across the United States.

Bookkeeping is there for a reason: to keep an accurate record of the financial transactions that take place in your company. These would include purchases, receipts, sales and payments.

Today’s advancements in the digital world mean thousands of accounting software programs are available to help you keep track of your business’s income and expenses, etc. Quickbooks is the gold standard for small businesses and the most common software package chosen for basic bookkeeping. The program is considered user-friendly, and there are tons of tutorials online to assist you in using Quickbooks.

It doesn’t matter if you are a sole proprietor, in a partnership or have a C Corp, S Corp, LLP or LLC, the IRS has the same requirements noted for your business.

The experts recommend that every small business needs three basic bookkeeping components for maintaining accurate records. These include a profit and loss statement or an income statement that features items of income and expenses over a specific period. A balance sheet is the second essential that contains a company’s assets and liabilities. A general ledger is the third element that documents every financial transaction. All three components can help your bookkeeping service maintain your business’s up-to-date records and organize and classify everything properly.

Never wait until tax season rolls around to begin keeping your company’s house in order. Regular bookkeeping should be done monthly, and skilled professionals at an accounting firm can keep your finances running on track and headed for a profitable future.

Operating a small business can become an incredible adventure. Unfortunately, many business owners make common mistakes often resulting in costly fees and penalties. It’s not easy performing multiple time-consuming tasks, but small business owners can leave that to a dedicated bookkeeping service that will keep the business healthy with accurate financial statements. Letting an expert keep an eye on your cash flow is one of these benefits.

Taxes can be complicated, too, and no small business owner ever desires a tax audit by the IRS. The right accounting firm can assist a company in staying aligned with the changes in tax laws and financial regulations.

Taking a proactive approach is always the wisest decision for a business owner, and the experts you choose can help you maintain a stable and profitable small business. At Kerkstra Tax, they take pride in their integrity, expertise and unparalleled personal service. Let these pros crunch the numbers and give you the financial clarity you deserve.

“Small businesses are the engine of our economy and the heartbeat of our communities.” – Karen Mills, former Administrator of the Small Business Administration

Related