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A great motivation in daily bookkeeping is to understand why it benefits you, the business owner. One thing is certain; it is a task that has value for your business.
Daily bookkeeping is not just a simple record. As a matter of fact, doing daily bookkeeping tasks can provide your business with one of the most reliable data when measuring overall performance. Also, proper bookkeeping can give you the necessary information, which can help in terms of general strategic decisions together with a trustworthy benchmark for income goals and revenue. It is no wonder that the task is part of the core of financial management in the business. Feel overwhelmed? Don’t worry; you are in the right place to guide you on how to do your daily bookkeeping.
Top 12 Daily Bookkeeping Task List
When it comes to day-to-day bookkeeping, different tasks need to be completed. Surely, it is helpful to have a to-do list since bookkeeping involves various essential information, as it is also a fundamental accounting process. For that reason, it is not surprising that there’s plenty to do for bookkeeping, even if you will do it daily.
Here is a complete daily bookkeeping task list that will definitely give you an idea on what you should do in your daily bookkeeping:
1. Daily Accounts Management
Under this task, you will need to record any purchase transaction and sales. In short, the daily accounts management task is focused on recording the day-to-day overall business transactions. Generally, it is helpful to utilize reliable accounting software to ensure precise and neat records. The software we use at Nave Bookkeeping LLC is QuickBooks Online which is one of the most user friendly means to keep track of what’s coming in and out.
If you don’t have a trusted tool to use, you can reach out to professional bookkeepers to guide you on which software to use.
2. Daily Email Management
When you already have digitized business operations, you will only have to manage and check the daily emails. The important emails include the customers’ emails. Also, this task involves paying bills electronically, sending invoices, and many more. There’s plenty of work to do and, at times, may be a bit overwhelming. That’s why many businesses just opt to get daily online bookkeeping services.
3. Record Management
Undoubtedly, up-to-date record management is one of the most vital daily bookkeeping tasks. This task circles around filing and archiving the entire business record of the day. The proper way to complete this task is to record the information both physically and digitally—this will ensure that all the records are kept safe. Your digital files should also reflect in folders exactly what you filed physically so when the time comes, it is easy to find. If you want to take it a step further and stay just digitally, these receipts will fade over time so if you scan it and attach it to the transaction in your software, it will be easier to track and helps with any red flags for being audited. If you are using QuickBooks Online, there is an efficient way on how to use the QuickBooks App to eliminate bringing back stacks of receipts to the office.
4. Invoice Management
Since bookkeeping is truly a fundamental part of the accounting process, there is no question that you also need to manage invoices when doing daily bookkeeping tasks. Part of that to-do list is to deposit checks and cash into your bank account and recording it accordingly in your QuickBooks to update your account receivables and indicating which bank account these deposits are going into. Part of running a successful business is to collect money for services you rendered or products you sold while matching up with invoices to control past due invoices and collect payment on time. Many businesses leave invoices past due later than 30 days or even 60 to 90 days without realizing it and start scratching their head wondering where all the money went to. This area of your daily task is more important than you realize because if you pay your bills and payroll on time but don’t collect on time, there will be a shortage of cashflow. Yes, accounts receivable sits in your balance sheet showing that customers owe you money, but if you wait too long and can’t collect, it is like you are working for free or giving away products for free so manage your invoices, collect what you earned and worked hard for and you will feel great about paying your bills rather than stressed.
5. Communicate
Consistent communication is part of the task of bookkeeping. There’s a need for that because information from other employees is relevant to tasks involving petty cash reconciliation, travel expenses management, reimbursing employee expenditures, and many more. Once again, daily bookkeeping is certainly a laborious task—this makes having a professional bookkeeper partner more beneficial.
6. Budget Management and Allocation
The power of daily bookkeeping is gaining the necessary record that can help with the business budget management and allocation. If you make your daily bookkeeping a daily habit, you can pinpoint the unnecessary utilization of resources and manage unnecessary expenses while handling budget constraints. There’s a lot to work on with this task and the more reason to outsource and partner with a virtual bookkeeping company.
7. Preparation for the Tax Season
Money is left on the table if you don’t do your taxes on time. Not only are you hit with penalties, interest on top of the penalties are accumulated daily. This is why bookkeeping really needs to be done daily to make everything easier for tax season. The records are important when it comes to providing the essential information that fits to meet the tax requirements efficiently. This will help you get your tax return quicker or if you have to pay taxes, at least you can avoid penalties and interest associated with late tax filing.
Furthermore, when it comes to taxes, you need to be prepared as always. One way to do them is by collecting all the receipts for all finance expenditures and such to keep a well tallied detail for your company. As mentioned before this will help raise any red flags when it comes to being audited. Software like QuickBooks Online can make this easier and more efficient.
8. Categorizing Transactions
This is one of the most redundant task but truly an essential responsibility. As a business owner, if you do this kind of work, you might be too preoccupied and miss some of the other essential tasks. All the expenses and income should be categorized correctly so you maximize your tax return when the time comes while ensuring that there’s progress every day. If you feel that this is taking away from your core work as a business owner and taking you away from bringing new business in, it is a great time to partner with an online bookkeeping company.
9. Petty Cash Management
Not all businesses use petty cash but for those that do, petty cash is more important than you realize. With this in mind, it is an automatic part of daily bookkeeping to include a petty cash book. Under this task, there’s the need to be strict in writing slips every time cash is taken out and concise descriptions on what the cash is used for. At the end of each month, reconciling the petty cash book is the month’s last task.
10. Adjustment of Entries and Making Business Reports
At the end of each day, checking through all the journal entries is the foundational building blocks for your reports. That’s why any records that need adjustments and modifications need to be done right away. Once this task is completed, pulling reports completes your end-of-day work.
11. Research Updates About The Legal Processes
Bookkeeping also means you need to always abide to the rules when it comes to paying taxes and other legalities. Always ensure to check if the process you are following is up to date to avoid any possible problem in the future. Remember that transparency should always be a priority and pay attention when doing your bookkeeping because something that should land in the balance sheet instead of the profit and loss is an easy mistake but problematic if compounded and missed when doing your taxes.
12. Prioritize Security
As a person who has access to the finances of everyone in the company, it is your duty to keep every detail secured from possible breach. If the business is using a database to keep every information, ensure that only the important personnel can access them. Doing so, will help the company and prevent data theft, which no company would like to experience. Looking into Cyber Insurance is not a bad idea.
Common FAQ
Bookkeepers handle all of the day-to-day books for company. Their main responsibility is to organize and track expenses, income, and other bookkeeping necessities. Thus, seeing to it that all the money coming in and out of the company are noted accordingly.
Accountants help with the overall financial recommendations. They earn 4 year degrees or even get master degrees so are involved when it comes to financial laws and looking to the future of the business. Make sure you understand the real difference between an accountant and a bookkeeper so you can manage your expectations as well as understand what you are paying for.
New businesses, especially, but also, long existing businesses must always keep a pulse of the daily finance status in their company. It will help them identify their next step towards the growth of their business. By hiring professional bookkeepers, transparency and accuracy is achieved while business owners can focus on growing their business.
Absolutely, especially if you have a lot of transactions. For accuracy and up-to-date books, it is almost mandatory. For those companies that have inventory and payroll, to manage cashflow and keeping the business running efficiently and effectively, there is no way around this.
The actual process of bookkeeping involves four key activities that are 100% practical:
- Identify, analyzing and recording financial transactions.
- Recording and adjusting journal entries that credits and debits proper accounts.
- Posting entries to ledger accounts and the unadjusted trial balance.
- Closing the books for a reporting period.
The two types of bookkeeping are single-entry and double-entry bookkeeping systems. Each has its advantages and disadvantages, and choosing the right approach depends on your business.
