For most small businesses, whether physical or freelance, making money is great until you have to undergo the bookkeeping process. Keeping track of your finances can be a very tedious task for many businesses. When most people are starting out and receiving part-time incomes, they were not too concerned about it until it reaches the period of making tax payments.
Every entrepreneur gets the chills when it comes to payment of tax. It is painful giving away a percent of your hard earned money just like that. Unfortunately, you do not have much of a choice, either way, everyone else is also doing the same. The pressing questions are, how does one keep track of their expenses? Alternatively, what expenses qualify as write-offs? It also gets confusing when you are receiving money from several sources randomly throughout the week.
Tax submissions
Your taxes need not be scary as many presume. As long as you take your time to carefully do your homework, all will be good. When using a paper or pen or a computer for that matter, you need everything simplified. Take time to break down your sources of income. The breakdown should be on payments. Keep track of all your payments as they go. Similarly, track the expenses incurred during operations. There are several different types of expenses that deduct your tax time so follow every penny spent in your business. This helps you arrive at a net loss or profit figure. Remember to track down the number of hours invested into the bookkeeping each week. This is essential for determining an hourly rate if necessary. Several spreadsheets such as Excel can keep track of this.
Get help
Accounting classes on programs such as Excel can give you a head start when maintaining your finances. There are many bookkeeping apps and software today. However, a good number are quite complicated for simple folk. You can perform your financial accounting on your computer using Excel, provided you know what you are doing. Nevertheless, it is always recommended to hire the Exceptional Bookkeepers in Melbourne to do it for you.
Why do people like Excel
Those who started out doing their bookkeeping speak highly of Excel for its simplicity. In addition, one can personalize their worksheet or workbook with it. This program ensures that you use the best functions that best suit your business. Among the top functions are MIN, MAX etc. The figures assist in coming up with a table where you count your days, calculate a sum, and find out the lowest or highest figures. These functions can be set to assist in summing up your expenses and incomes, pointing out transactions, noting the days from invoice to payment, arriving at an hourly rate, among other ideas.
Things to consider
When carrying out personal bookkeeping, it is just as easy to get confused with the complications of adding up the figures. Always try to focus on simplicity. Not all businesses are similar, so if you can personalize your books to fit your business operational model, the better. If you are not confident in your ability to track income and expenses as well as the tax laws required to make your submissions do not shy away from seeking professional assistance.