Balance: Not Just a Neat Trick on the Yoga Mat

Clearing A Path for Money

When you invite friends over, what’s the first thing you do to prepare? If you are like me, you spend a good portion of your prep time making sure your house is in order. That giant pile of laundry on the couch gets folded and put away, that pile of mail gets sorted and filed, the shelves get dusted. Why treat Money any differently. Your relationship with money is just as important as your relationship with a spouse, relative, friend, or co worker. It’s even more so because a bad relationship with Money can affect all the other areas of your life. So why not start the new year clearing out your financial clutter and starting fresh with a few helpful tips.  Tip #1: For tax purposes you should hang on to paper records for 7 years. Unfortunately electronic copies can be considered tainted because they can be altered by a software program.  Tip #2: Keep everything! If ever audited, accountants will look at your ledger file first then ask for the paper back ups. When in doubt keep it!  Tip #3: Organize your files in a simple three step process:  Open Inbox: the first stop for all mail (snail or email) invoices, bills, receipts. They all go here, so they can get entered into QuickBooks and sorted to their respective files once entered. File Cabinet 1: Accounts Payable This file cabinet or folder will hold all the files related to your vendors like Home Depot, Staples, your landlord etc. It’s a great resource if a question comes such as rather or not you paid an outstanding invoice. File Cabinet 2: Accounts Receivable This file cabinet or folder will hold all the files related to your customers. Here you will keep track of sales orders, invoices, and other customer related files including check stubs from paid invoices. File Cabinet 3: Banking and Employee Information This file cabinet or folder is great for keeping copies of banking deposits, bank statements, employee information, and insurance information.

Remember a well organized business is a prosperous business. Even if you are in the start up phase of your business take care of these records now because the further you delay, the more likely your company is to lose money.

Think of your accounting system as a well care for hot air balloon. If there are holes in your financial systems, money will seep out of those holes in the same way air seeps out of a ill cared for hot air balloon.

In Health, Wealth, and Prosperity,

Denise Cooper CEO/ Founder