When I say the word, accounting, what's your reaction? Well, odds are, unless you are an accountant or a bookkeeper, you're not very excited to hear that word. Because of that reason, accounting can be a blind spot for many small business owners. Unfortunately, it's something that deserves your attention, and we do need to spend some time working on. First of all, let me define what I mean by accounting. Accounting in its simplest sense, is the recording and reporting of financial data.
There are two areas in which we can use this recording and reporting. First of all is for taxes. We need to report to the government how much we made, so that we can determine what we owe. The second area though, is often overlooked, and that's strategic. That's where we're reporting to ourselves, to make strategic decisions, about what we're going to do with the business, in the future. Now, whether we're talking about the tax side or the strategy side, we want to devote some attention to making sure that our accounting is accurate, and up to date.
Here are four areas, and four tips that you can use, to stay on top of your accounting. Number one, is to choose an accounting program. I'm referring to a software recording program. Choose some software program that you're comfortable, committing to, using, and recording into, on a regular basis. It really doesn't matter which one you use, but if you're on the fence, I recommend asking your accountant. Typically they have a preference that they like their clients to use.
Number two is, we must track all incoming and outgoing transactions. That means, any kind of expense that we have, any kind of income that we have, we must put into that accounting program. Now, this one thing is one of the least attractive responsibilities that small business owners may face. For most business owners, this just sucks the life out of you. If that's the case, I recommend this is one of the first things that you delegate to someone else.
Either hire a bookkeeping company, an accounting firm, or just find some person you can delegate this to, so that they are the ones making all of those transactions enter the accounting program. And number three is filing tax returns. How often you need to file returns, depends on the size of your business, and the industry that you're in. It's a good thing to ask your accountant, how often you should do this. As a general rule of thumb, though, the bigger your business becomes, the more often you'll need to file.
And finally, number four is generating financial reports. There are two reports in particular, that you'll want to generate as a business owner. A profit and loss statement, sometimes called an income statement. And your balance sheet. At minimum, I recommend that you generate these reports on a quarterly basis. This will begin you on that process of becoming more strategic, when it comes to your accounting. Accounting may not be the most attractive thing when it comes to small business.
But it is a necessary thing, and, if done properly, can be a powerful tool, to help your small business succeed.
Author
Updated
3/31/2015Released
4/15/2014Skill Level Intermediate
Duration
Views
Related Courses
-
Management Tips
with Todd Dewett7h 50m Intermediate
-
Introduction
-
Welcome48s
-
-
1. Finding Your Most Valuable Customers
-
2. Setting Fees and Prices
-
3. Solving Problems
-
4. Working with Family and Friends
-
Managing family and friends2m 59s
-
5. Creating a Business Plan
-
6. Starting a Hobby Business
-
7. Discovering Your Most Valuable Service or Product
-
8. Bootstrapping Your Business
-
9. Creating Culture
-
Building company values2m 34s
-
10. Getting Organized
-
Managing your time4m 45s
-
-
11. Marketing with Social Media
-
Deciding on your channels3m 11s
-
-
12. Business Entities and Compensation
-
13. Small Business Accounting
-
14. Finding Your Marketing Message
-
Refining your message4m 56s
-
-
15. Documenting Business Systems
-
16. Balancing Work and Life
-
17. Increasing Sales in Your Business
-
Developing your sales system3m 15s
-
18. Testing Whether You Have an Idea or a Business
-
19. Hiring Service Providers
-
Selecting and hiring vendors2m 51s
-
20. Hiring Employees
-
Crafting a job and pay range3m 58s
-
Interviewing candidates7m 25s
-
-
21. Motivating Employees
-
Developing people and paths4m 24s
-
22. Seeking Capital
-
Crafting your pitch5m 40s
-
-
23. Working With Difficult Customers
-
Working through complaints6m 11s
-
-
24. Letting Employees Go
-
Making a smooth transition5m 58s
-
25. Generating New Sales Leads
-
26. Maintaining Focus as a Business Owner
-
Avoiding opportunity traps5m 26s
-
27. Thinking Like An Entrepreneur
-
Getting rich your own way4m 16s
-
28. Dealing with Competition in Business
-
29. Avoiding Blind Spots
-
30. Creating a Customer Experience
-
31. Networking for Small Business
-
32. Building Accountability into your Small Business Culture
-
33. Dealing with Business Failures
-
34. Improving Sales Systems
-
35. Giving Back
-
36. Setting Goals for Small Business
-
Measuring your success3m 31s
-
37. Channeling Your Motivation
-
Why you deserve success3m 8s
-
-
38. Building a Small Business Exit Strategy
-
Exit strategy options5m 7s
-
39. Building Customer Loyalty
-
The role of customer loyalty3m 47s
-
-
40. Building Employee Loyalty
-
41. Structuring a Small Business
-
42. Branding Your Small Business
-
Crafting your company story3m 39s
-
-
43. Dispelling Big-Business Illusions
-
44. Understanding if Entrepreneurship Is Right for You
-
45. Managing Remote Employees
-
Leading from a distance3m 11s
-
46. Crowdfunding Your Business
-
Understanding crowdfunding3m 29s
-
-
47. Cultivating Entrepreneurial Curiosity
-
48. Growing into a Mature Business
-
Putting it all together5m 50s
- Mark as unwatched
- Mark all as unwatched
Are you sure you want to mark all the videos in this course as unwatched?
This will not affect your course history, your reports, or your certificates of completion for this course.
CancelTake notes with your new membership!
Type in the entry box, then click Enter to save your note.
1:30Press on any video thumbnail to jump immediately to the timecode shown.
Notes are saved with you account but can also be exported as plain text, MS Word, PDF, Google Doc, or Evernote.
Share this video
Embed this video
Video: Understanding small business accounting