Effectively managing your business’s financial records is crucial to successful operations. Access to your company’s financial health facilitates informed decision-making and allows you to monitor your progress towards established objectives.
A recent survey revealed that despite acknowledging its significance, 60% of small and medium-sized business (SMB) owners lack confidence in handling their financial matters and accounting processes. This presents a pressing issue that demands a solution.
To aid SMBs in tackling this challenge head-on, presented here is a concise guide encompassing all the essential insights for maintaining accurate financial records. This piece comprehensively addresses the fundamental daily, weekly, and monthly accounting responsibilities, enabling SMBs to grasp their economic trajectory firmly. Adhering to these meticulously crafted checklists ensures comprehensive coverage and offers a swift and uncomplicated method to guarantee no detail goes overlooked. And let’s be frank: it undoubtedly contributes to a less burdensome and stressful professional life. So, without further ado, let’s embark on this informative journey, shall we?
Daily Accounting Checklist:
Allocate 1 to 2 hours daily
It might sound far-fetched, but major corporations engage in daily book closures. For example, generate day-to-day profit and loss reports for designated products or sectors within the company. However, such frequency isn’t necessary for your typical small to medium-sized business (SMB).
To ensure precision and current financial insights, create a daily accounting checklist encompassing these vital accounting responsibilities:
Document and reconcile transactions within the general ledger
Your central accounting responsibilities should revolve around documenting transactions. Grasping the day-to-day transactions holds immense significance, serving as a compass to monitor your company’s available cash and outstanding liabilities. The process of recording transactions encompasses the meticulous recording and authentication of incoming and outgoing funds, meticulously tracked within the general ledger.
Settle and document expenditures.
Recognizing the potential challenges in managing many receipts, invoices, and vital records, it remains paramount to maintain an audit trail, both for taxation purposes and internal records. This meticulous trail proves invaluable when discrepancies emerge during the monthly balancing of accounts.
Regarding bills and obligations, the mantra remains consistent: settle them promptly to sidestep penalties, uphold positive vendor relationships, and prevent unwelcome debt.
To streamline this endeavour, contemplate integrating expense management software into your operations. This facilitates the tracking of everyday business expenses, encompassing everything from communication tools to contractor payments and rent, all seamlessly monitored through a unified dashboard. Additionally, businesses can effectively oversee travel and entertainment expenditures, shedding the persistent headache of manual expense report submissions.
Automating credit card reconciliation adds a layer of convenience, furnishing real-time insight into each transaction and effortlessly monitoring the spectrum of credit card rewards programs tied to routine business spending.
Furnish a synopsis of the available cash balance.
Cash remains an indisputable monarch. Its absence can thwart your business’s survival. Ergo, dispatching a daily report detailing the cash balance to senior stakeholders assumes pivotal importance. This practice ensures your enterprise maintains a healthy bank balance to sustain operations, acquire further inventory, and meet payroll commitments.
Weekly Accounting Checklist:
Allocate 4–8 hours per week
The objective of this weekly accounting checklist is to vigilantly monitor the cash flow across all business activities, ensuring the seamless operation of your enterprise.
Deposit Cash and Checks
Most of your incoming payments are electronic, reducing the need for daily bank visits. Opting for a weekly routine strikes a balance, promoting steady cash flow while accounting for paper checks or cash transactions. Additionally, confirming check clearance is crucial before allocating funds to other expenses or bills.
Issue Client Invoices
Maintaining a regular invoicing schedule minimises the occurrence of delayed payments. Weekly invoicing leverages the recency of your provided product or service, reducing inquiries or disputes regarding charges. Delays in billing can contribute to overdue payments, making consistent invoicing vital.
Process Employee Payments
The frequency of reimbursing employees correlates with their transaction frequency on behalf of your business. Traditional management of this process often leads to errors and back-and-forths, potentially impacting your financial stability. Implementing expense management software simplifies this process, ensuring timely and accurate payments and subsequently boosting employee motivation.
Adopting a weekly or bi-weekly payroll schedule addresses employee payments and underscores the significance of payroll tax management and employee timesheet verification. This is especially important for employees exceeding the 40-hour workweek, potentially necessitating overtime pay. Closely monitoring of timesheets prevents surprises and facilitates appropriate budget allocation.
Implement Effective Controls
Controllers, accountants, and bookkeepers are crucial in safeguarding company assets, which rely on robust controls. From access regulation to internal audits and cybersecurity protocols, these controls mitigate the risk of errors and vulnerabilities.
A minor input error can snowball into inaccurate financial statements, not to mention the potential impact of data breaches or fraudulent activities. Guard against such scenarios by:
- Regularly reviewing internal controls every week to maintain their efficacy.
- Embracing intelligent expense management software to automatically detect false claims, duplicates, and unusual employee spending patterns.
- Enhancing cybersecurity through tools to shield sensitive data from cyber threats and breaches within your IT infrastructure.
Monthly Accounting Checklist:
Allocate 10 to 12 hours per month
As another productive month concludes, the moment arrives to finalize your monthly financial records. Employ this comprehensive monthly accounting checklist as your guide to ensure a streamlined process:
Ensure Equilibrium in Your Records
Verifying the alignment of your financial accounts is a pivotal monthly task. The month’s closure tends to be a bustling time for accountants due to the meticulous tracking of accounts receivable and payable, guaranteeing accurate financial statements.
The crux lies in attaining a harmonious balance. Should your chequebook, bank accounts, and general ledger exhibit disparities, it signals an underlying error requiring resolution. Conversely, if all facets seamlessly correspond, you can heave a sigh of relief (until the next cycle arrives).
Conduct an Audit of Inventory Data
Allocate dedicated time to replenish fast-moving products and pinpoint sluggish items that could benefit from price adjustments. Precise inventory figures hold significance in calculating the cost of goods sold (COGS), a pivotal metric on the income statement.
Monitoring the velocity of items and their sluggish counterparts makes necessary recalibrations seamless. This strategic balance prevents stockouts of popular items while avoiding the accumulation of excess inventory. Employing tools like Gantt charts aids in both inventory tracking and resource allocation.
Evaluate Accounts Receivable
The month’s culmination presents an opportune juncture to assess all invoices and grasp the composition of aged receivables. Timely dispatch of email reminders to customers nearing the invoice due date, or direct customer outreach, can be invaluable.
Analysis of aged receivables facilitates forecasting future cash flow and aids in determining the necessity of reserving funds for pending payments.
Generate Comprehensive End-of-Month Reports
This marks the occasion for crafting your profit and loss statement (the income statement), balance sheet, and cash flow statement. It’s prudent to contrast actual figures with estimates from the previous month. Uncover areas where you exceeded projections and instances where you fell short.
Leveraging report builder software streamlines report creation, diminishing the likelihood of human errors. You can furnish polished reports for internal and external stakeholders with a mere click.
Assess Month-to-Month Fluctuations
Comparing the present month’s balance sheet, let’s say, October 31, 2022, to the preceding month (September 30, 2022) provides insights into your adeptness in handling assets and liabilities.
Comparing Leading Accounting Systems: UBS Accounting vs. SQL Accounting
Navigating the intricate landscape of accounting is significantly eased with the right software. Among the options drawing considerable attention across diverse businesses are UBS Accounting Software and SQL Account Software. Delving into the distinctive attributes of these systems sheds light on their prominence within the competitive realm of accounting software.
UBS Accounting:
Streamlined Operational Efficiency
UBS Accounting has etched its mark with its user-intuitive interface and robust functionalities. This software is engineered to streamline accounting procedures, reducing time consumption and mitigating the risk of inaccuracies. Within UBS Accounting’s domain, you can seamlessly manage an array of tasks, spanning employee particulars, salary computations, tax deductions, and monitoring compliance adherence.
A distinctive facet setting UBS Accounting apart is its adaptability across varied business frameworks. Be it a fledgling startup or a more expansive enterprise, the software’s scalability ensures harmonious growth alongside your business trajectory. It’s akin to donning a bespoke suit tailored to perfection, irrespective of proportions.
SQL Accounting:
Performance Amplified
Residing on the opposite end of the spectrum, SQL Accounting assumes the role of a powerhouse driven by its advanced capabilities. If your quest involves a solution fortified to address intricate calculations and reporting demands, SQL Accounting might be the answer. It’s akin to enlisting a financial prodigy within your team.
Among the standout attributes of SQL Accounting, its module like SQL Payroll‘s prowess in managing diverse payment structures takes the spotlight. The software’s remarkable flexibility guarantees precise calculations regardless of hourly wages, monthly salaries, commission-based remuneration, or even multifaceted compensation schemes.
Elevating Accounting Process Through Precision Software
In the ever-evolving landscape of business operations, an accounting process is a critical function that demands the utmost accuracy and efficiency. The complexity of this task necessitates software solutions that simplify processes and cater to the diverse needs of businesses, whether large or small. This exploration of UBS Accounting and SQL Accounting has illuminated two pathways to a seamless accounting process.
As businesses strive for accuracy and effectiveness in managing their payrolls, the choice between UBS Accounting and SQL Accounting boils down to each organisation’s specific requirements and aspirations.
In your journey towards refined and efficient payroll management, consider A-Plus Computer Centre as your strategic partner. With a proven track record of providing innovative solutions to businesses of all sizes, A-Plus offers a comprehensive suite of features that empower you to navigate the intricate world of payroll effortlessly. Experience the next level of precision, efficiency, and peace of mind with A-Plus Accounting Software. Make the choice that aligns with your growth aspirations and sets your business on the path to enhanced payroll management. Reach out to us today to learn more about how A-Plus can transform your payroll processes.
