Tasks You Can Do To Make Your Accounting Easier

One of the biggest time suckers for a small business is trying to maintain your finances. That is why hiring an accountant to manage them for you is a smart move. You give yourself extra time and energy to focus on the important aspects of growing your business.

However, if you don’t utilise or support your accountant, you are not doing yourself or your business any favours.

With any outsourcing you choose to do, you want to ensure that your money is well spent and the service adds value to your business. Because accountants need to charge for their time, it is in your best interest to make sure you have all your ducks in a row. That way, they can get straight to the grunt work without having to chase you for more information.

Here are some key tasks you should be doing to help your accountant do their job effectively and efficiently.

Tasks To Make Your Accounting Easier

Organise Your Receipts

In this age of advanced apps and software, there is no excuse for keeping a shoebox piled full of receipts under your desk. Grab an app or use the capabilities of accounting software like Xero to save all your electronic receipts and organise them into categories.

Photograph hard copy receipts and add them to the folder, or assign them to your entries in Xero. You will save your accountant the hassle of endless hours of sorting and cut down on the billable hours you have to pay.

Meet Deadlines

A good accountant will give you plenty of warning in advance of tax time. They will tell you what they need from you to file your tax returns. Help them out by getting them what they need, when they need it. They have many clients and can’t receive everybody’s info back at the last minute. Plus, a late tax return can incur fines and fees which you don’t want to deal with!

Bill Efficiently

Talk to your accountant about the best-invoicing cycle to stay in the black and make sure you chase clients who are late to pay. Your finances can get out of whack if you have already paid for stock and employee wages, but then have to wait another month for the invoices to be paid by clients.

If you struggle to find time for this, consider an automated invoicing system that will remind you of any outstanding invoices and send reminders to clients on your behalf. Most online accounting programs have this function built in.

Communicate

Always keep your accountant up to date on any changes to your personal or business circumstances. They can anticipate problems or challenges that you weren’t aware of and assist you in coming up with solutions.

It is far better to be proactive than reactive. Also, discuss with them if you are intending to make any big financial moves in your business like buying a new significant asset or borrowing funds. Your accountant will be able to advise on the best way to handle it and if it is a smart financial move to make.

Manage Your Books Regularly

Set aside time every day to reconcile your Xero accounts, update your spreadsheets and records, produce your invoices and pay any bills that are due. Delaying these tasks for days or even weeks can lead to gaps or inconsistencies that will cause problems for your accountant and potentially your cash flow. Getting into the habit of dealing with this daily means there is less of a chance you will forget something important down the line.

Using cloud-based accounting software makes this part easy. You can create rules to reconcile transactions so that it would be a 5-minute job to get everything up to date. Plus, your accountant can log in any time to get an accurate snapshot of your finances.

Help Your Accountant To Help You!

If you have a scheduled catch up with your accountant, take the time beforehand to write down a list of questions or outline any plans you have for your business. Send this list to them ahead of the meeting, so they have time to get any information or documents ready for you.

Your accountant has a wealth of knowledge in many areas of business. That means they can provide you with sound advice on how to scale or grow your business. More than just numbers, they cover all the important parts of business.

If you would love to work with an Accountant that loves to work with you, then get in touch with us here at Accountants Plus. We make a point of getting to know your business so that we can always work in your best interests. Get in touch today.