Tips & Tricks Busy Professionals Can Use to Simplify Their Lives
Compliments of Ribary & Associates, LLC
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The Next Step: Organizing Your Business Receipts

Last month's Tip outlined simple ways to keep on top of your accounting. Now that you have everything categorized and entered into your accounting software, what do you do with those receipts?

Stop! Don’t pile them back in the shoebox. Instead, create a simple system to keep everything organized and easily accessible should you need to find a record.

Option #1: The first option I recommend is keeping receipts sorted by month. This method is simple to create and keep up, and should allow you to easily locate a receipt should you need it later on. Keep your deposits separate from your expenses, file each receipt by month.

Option #2: Another option is to create a separate file folder or envelope for each expense or income category. For example, one folder for income, one for owner draws/salary, one for supplies, one for meals and entertainment, etc. This method takes a bit more time to set up, but for some, it makes it very easy to find receipts later on.

For both options you will need envelopes, file folders or an accordion file. By using an electronic accounting system, such as QuickBooks or Quicken, you can easily see the month you incurred a particular expense, or the category you entered it in. You can then go to your filing system, find the month or category for the record you need and pull that receipt.

There are of course other ways of categorizing and organizing. The trick is to find the method that works best for you. After all, you are the one that will be using it!

If you would like assistance in setting up a system that works for you and your business, give us a call. Ribary & Associates provides Accounting Support, Sales and Marketing Support and Office Organization/Process Development. We’ll help you create the systems that keep you organized and your business humming.

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