Top tips to follow during bookkeeping services for veterans

If you're a veteran-owned small business, you're in good company. As a veteran, you likely have many traits that prepared you for small business leadership and practical skills that can help you as a founder or entrepreneur. Bookkeeping services for veterans help manage the day-to-day finances for small businesses to keep the finances running smoothly. Purchases, sales, invoices, payroll, and more fall under the bookkeeping tasks. Bookkeepers ensure the accuracy and compliance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). 

As a veteran, you likely have many traits that prepared you for small business leadership and practical skills that can help you as a founder or entrepreneur. And while every business has challenges and obstacles to overcome, the good news is that many resources are specifically available to support veteran-owned small businesses and veteran entrepreneurs. 

Here are some top bookkeeping tips to become a savvy veteran business owner: 

Keeping the accurate financial records for your business cannot be over-emphasized. Fortunately, you learned this skill on active, and today, automated and the online systems have made the recording and storage of financial records easy, swift, and seamless. As a business owner, consider having a software that ensures all your organization's financial operations are thoroughly tracked, recorded, and stored securely. This includes how the cash was spent, whether cash or credit cards were used, whether the employees were reimbursed, etc. The accurate records make it easy for the accountants or auditors to do their work when the tax time comes or in the event of an audit. 

Sorting and keeping track of all the receipts in a business seems tedious and time-consuming. However, if it's made a part of each and every transaction, it can save you a lot of headaches in the future. Although receipts come in different sizes and shapes and tend to fade over time, you can ask for your staff to bring a photocopy or scan them into a receipt management software before collating them datewise so that they correspond with all your financial records. Categorize them by their particular deduction for easy recall when you require them.  Some accounting software programs will permit you to attach an electronic version of all your receipts to the transaction.  Some will import the transactions from your credit card and the bank account websites. 

Treat this just like a government credit card.  You didn't use it for your expenses, so don't use your business card for personal expenses.  But, if you use your business credit card to pay for your personal expense, or vice versa, track that expenditure and separate it as soon as possible. Mixing the business expenses with your personal expenses will make it difficult for you to keep accurate financial records for your business and deny you tax deductions. Business expenses are tax deductible, so take the advantage of this and separate your business and personal expenses after purchases.  Besides, you may lose asset protection if you mix all your business funds with your personal funds while doing bookkeeping services for veterans. 

Occasionally, clients or vendors are also late with payments, hurting the cash flow to your business and causing a disruption in your accounting. Consider hiring someone to keep a track of your accounts receivable or simply use a monthly reporting software to monitor how much is outstanding smoothly and automatically send out reminders to late payers. 

Consider taking out the taxes at the point of sale or just at the time of payroll generation to avoid creating a backlog that will give you a headache at the end of the year. Just like receipts, the longer you stay between a transaction and proper recording/accounting processes, the higher the chances of making more errors. Whenever you collect the taxes as soon as the sale is made or the payroll is generated, you will not be liable for a single lump-sum tax at the end of the year, nor will you face the penalties for the delayed payments on the taxes.  Also, if your business is taxed as a single proprietor or partnership, don't forget to pay your estimated personal taxes, including self-employment taxes. 

You should avoid using cash when making the payments for your business because it can be very challenging to track these expenses. Consider using the credit or debit cards, bank transfers, or online payments. You can view these transactions and show that all the items purchased are business expenses (to avert the issues with taxes and write-offs). 

Proper bookkeeping is an essential aspect of any business. You should consult a pro for expert advice and service like Better Profits to avoid making expensive bookkeeping mistakes.