What are Business Records?
No, not the musical kind that spin around and create great music. Have you got records of your business, or personal, activities?
Insert your answer here .
Here are te top 3 reasons why people don’t have business records:
- 1. It is a foreign concept OR you don’t want to,
- 2. You don’t know how,
- 3. It takes too long for the value received
You do not know what you do not know
Whichever the reason, the reasons to keep records are obvious to any administratively minded or somebody who likes to keep everything in order. The recording of business activity is also varied. Slips in a packet is one option. This is anyone’s biggest nightmare (for accountants too). It involves all slips that have been thrown into a packet or box.
Is there an “Ideal Recording system”?
The ideal is to capture everything real time into a computer system of some sorts. This can range from excel spreadsheet to a online accounting package such as SageOne, Zoho and xero to name a few.
The best business recording system is one that you USE! This will allow you to produce USEFUL reports from it.
The end result of this recording is to pull out reports with relevant and useful information that helps you gain insight into your business. This will enlighten you on areas of concern or great initiatives to proceed with. I these reports, you can have a simple report or go more detailed than you could ever imagine. The level of information is based on the quality of information recorded.
For the average company, keeping everything in the same place is probably as technical as you get. Sometimes this results in monthly reports and sometimes this results in a massive packet being delivered to your accountant followed by a big bill and a set of financial statements.
How to choose an accounting system Is an important step
It really does not matter which you use. It only matters that they are accurate and complete. What does this mean? Every business transaction must be recorded. Every invoice sent to clients and every invoice paid out by you. Other expenses such as salaries and telephone etc also need to recorded. Records came come from the bank statements or from invoices.
Remember, it is not how you keep your business records but rather that is UP-TO-DATE and USEFUL!