Tag Archives: accounting software

why you should reconcile your bank account

Reconciling your bank account: what the point?

Why should you reconcile your bank accounts?

In the accounting world, one of the main activities each month is reconciling bank accounts. The point of reconciling your bank accounts is to verify you’ve entered all the transactions listed on your bank statement correctly. It’s how you discover mistakes – yours or the bank. Continue reading

How I Use Automation in My Business

I’ve been asked to share how I automate some of my business processes. However, I will start by saying that what works for me, may not work for you. But I do hope you can apply my example to your own business situation. Remember, it’s all about choosing the right tools to best serve your ideal client.

The contact request form on my website adds a contact record to my CRM (contact relationship manager) software as well as QuoteRoller, the software I use to prepare proposals for prospective clients. The proposal is emailed to the client and another application, RightSignature, is used for electronic signature acceptance of the proposal.

The next step is to have QuoteRoller create an invoiceID-100157962 in Freshbooks, the time and billing software I use. The invoices and payments automatically go to Xero, my accounting software.

Did you notice no printing of paper was involved in this process? Even better than that, only a minimal amount of typing was involved.

By narrowly defining the services I provide, I was able to set up a catalog of services in QuoteRoller so that preparing a client proposal is done with a few mouse clicks and minimal editing.

By choosing software tools that integrate AND understanding how that data is shared, I set up a reliable and accurate business system that supports my business process.  If client information changes, I update ONE system and the rest automatically get updated.

Where should you start building your business system? Start with documenting your business processes and then think about what tools you need in order to support and automate those processes. Please do not over think this. Keep it simple! Focus on the tools and processes you need in order to best serve your ideal client. I wrote about software integration here.

By the way, most of the links in this post are affiliate links which means I may earn a few coins if you sign up via my link. It is no way effects the price YOU pay for the subscription. I only support software that I firmly believe are solid products. This is also not an all inclusive list of the tools I use for my business. If you peruse my blog, you can read about some of the other tools I use.

If you’d like help with this process, get in touch. I’d be happy to assist.

When to Set Up Accounting Software For Your Business

ID-10058688I am often asked when a business owner should set up accounting software for their new business. The short answer: the moment you decide to start a business.

The moment you decide to start a business you start incurring expenses; web domains, business licensing, logo design, product development, legal fees, etc. These start-up expenses must be tracked not only to get all those deductions on your tax return, but to know the financial facts about your new business.

Xero cloud accounting software has partner editions available for as little as $9 per month for start-up businesses. As your business grows there are subscription levels to grow with you. This also allows you to stay with the same software as your business grows and avoids the additional expense of converting to new software. Once you know how to use the software, your learning curve is limited to learning features newly added to the software or just now becoming important to your business.

Here’s something else to consider. The sooner you set up accounting software for your business, the sooner you build the habit of tracking income and expenses as well as building a budget and learning to read your financial statements.

Budget is not a bad word

Just say the word “budget” and people change the subject. Their eyes glaze over.

Budgets are useful for personal and business purposes and don’t have to be some giant detailed document that rules your life. It’s a guide; a plan; and it’s certainly not cast in stone. A budget reflects what you think/hope/want to happen. It can help you make decisions – whether to spend or not your money, look for another or additional job, or raise your prices.

Let’s create a quick budget. Grab a piece of paper.

Write down all your fixed expenses for the month. Examples would be rent, insurance, utilities, software subscriptions, loan payments, etc. Include amounts put aside for equipment purchases and taxes.

Now write down your best estimate for your variable monthly costs. These would be merchant and/or bank fees, independent contractor fees, continuing education, office supplies, salaries and travel expenses.

Total up all those numbers you just wrote down. That’s your “break even” point; how much you have to sell just to keep the doors open. Now add in how much the business should be paying you each month (if not already added in above).

If nothing else, just writing down a quick budget like this can quickly streamline and prioritize your to do list.

Take a look at your accounting software to see if it has a budget feature. If it does, enter the numbers from the budget you just created. This will allow you to run budget versus actual income statements which can be very helpful. And don’t be afraid to change your budget. It’s a tool, not a ball and chain.