How often do you get “that call” from your bookkeeper where they are needing invoices, receipts, bank statements and copies of financial contracts?
I can guarantee that when you get the call 1) your bookkeeper needs it NOW and 2) you are busy with something else!
Not having these documents easily and readily available can be distracting, cost you time and possibly cost you money as well!
Knowing WHAT your bookkeeper needs and staying on top of these items will enable your bookkeeper to be set up for success which in turn sets YOU and your business up for success!
As a business owner, it is essential to understand your finances and what they are saying about your business. The “documents” play a role in dictating what that looks like. By ensuring your bookkeeper has the relevant documents, you will be empowered to make timely, relevant and educated business decisions.
In this article I will share 4 “documents” that you can and should have readily available and HOW you can make your (and your bookkeepers) life a little easier!
Depending on your engagement with your bookkeeper it may be weekly, monthly, fortnightly or quarterly, the sooner you get them your paperwork, the sooner you will have the information you need that you will be able to utilise to make the right decisions for your business.
Your bookkeeper should have you set up with a data capture app such as Hubdoc or Dext. Data capture apps enable you to capture your invoices and receipts with ease.
Purchase invoicing:
For invoices that come in via email, you can simply forward it to the dedicated email address related to your app so that it goes directly into the app giving your bookkeeper immediate access to the information.
Tax Receipts:
For receipts, having the app on your phone enables you to take the photo in the app immediately. The joy of this is you don’t need to keep (I mean lose!!!) the receipts, find the sun damaged receipts in your car months later or have to rummage through receipts at the end of each period to find each one.
It is imperative that it is a tax invoice receipt not just a payment receipt.
The tax invoice receipt will show the GST breakdown, a payment receipt won’t.
Bank statements:
As much as your bank feed is flowing directly into your accounting system, it is not infallible. It is imperative that you send your bookkeeper your bank statements regularly so that they can triple check your transactions. Your bookkeeper should ensure that bank feed items are not missing or that any entries are being duplicated.
Finance Contracts:
Whenever you buy any items that involve finance or loan contracts, It is essential that your bookkeeper has a copy of all the paperwork for that asset. This includes the finance or lease agreement and the tax invoice itself.
Different types of loans and assets are recorded very specifically and the documentation allows your bookkeeper to ensure these have been recorded accurately.
Now that you know WHAT you need, HOW do you ensure you get these to your bookkeeper in a timely manner?
The saying that comes to mind is “no time like the present!”
The simplest way to ensure these documents are available for your bookkeeper is to load them as soon as they come in. Whether it’s an invoice received via email, a tax receipt at your local coffee shop or a hard copy invoice received via mail from a provider.
This ensures you remain up to date, you don’t waste time at a later stage looking for documents and you will have peace of mind knowing it is DONE!
If you are wanting to work with a bookkeeper who is able to assist you in setting up the resources systems and processes to save you and your business time and money, I invite you to reach out to me so we can have a chat and see how I can help you.
