Bean Counter Bookkeeping

Saw this great tool from Amy at The Red Chair Blog and thought I would pass it along

There are so many facets to personal Financial Planning:

  ~Insurance

  ~Short Term Savings

  ~Long Term Savings

  ~CD's, Annuities, Bonds

  ~Retirement Accounts

  ~Daily Living Expenses

  ~ College Funds

Need I go on or did you already tune out?  Whether you listen to Dave Ramsey, Suze Orman, or the way the wind blows the fact is, you need to LISTEN.  The more you read about, absorb, and learn the better choices you will make. 

Here is a great blog I enjoy reading.  The Wodrich's talk about easy, simple concepts that start to put a few things in perspective.  So go on, head on over to see what CHIP and PAM WODRICH have to say today. 

~Elizabeth

For some companies there seems to be no end in sight to this gloomy economy. With constant restructuring it seems at times we can never get it right. Is there ever a time when your company will hit a point it is performing at its optimal level? Where there are no more improvements to be had, no more tweaking to be done. Will you, the business owner, ever be able to sit back and know you have created a well-oiled machine?

Sadly, I believe the answer is no. Even if you have the perfect product or service coupled with the exact price point that produces the right profit for your lifestyle it will never be right. It can never be constant. There will be employee turnover, technology advances, upgrades and new versions, system crashes, and general wear and tear. There are tax increases and rate changes. Laws are passed and guidelines change.

Companies evolve just like families evolve. They age and mature and although at the beginning they may need constant hand-holding that ease up over time there becomes new challenges and new issues. I have come to realize, much like families, the only way for companies to last through the years requires much of what a good mom gives to a family. Here are a few attributes I believe a great mom has: love, care, patience, and guidance. A good mother doesn’t push, she encourages. She creates clear rules and is firm to those standards, bending only when compassion overrides the punishment. She knows when to walk away – she knows when she has done all she can do. She doesn’t judge other mothers but learns from them. She is not perfect but she is sincere, trustworthy. You can count on her.

How has your company evolved over time? Are you in the new stage or have you reached those “teen-age years?” What can you give your company that you are holding back? Are you creating a foundation for you company that will propel it to prosper through 2010?

What would your mom say…?

As I type it I am still in disbelief... Year-end is only a 40 days away!!  Are your books all caught up to-date?  With the holidays, parties, events, and extra commitments it begins to feel very overwhelming. 

Here is my advice to you - JUST 15 minutes.  That is all you should take a day.  If you are in the process of catching up don't plan on doing it in one sitting.  It will never happen.  Attack the pile in 15 minute increments. 

Go ahead and set that timer then pull that paperwork in front of you and take only the alloted time to work on it.  It will help you to make fast, decisive decisions and you WILL see results. 

Let me know how it works ~ Elizabeth

Remember when receiving mail used to be fun?  It meant a postcard from Grandma or a Birthday Card from Auntie.  Now with all this technology those messages come in the form of an e-card or, if your Granny is tech-savvy, a text.

So when you open you mailbox you are now probably only seeing those dang bills and, lets face it, junk.   How do you handle your stack of mail? 

Are you Sifter and Setter?  Do you sift through your mail as you come in the door then set it down near the closest drop off point?  Never looking back...

~OR~

Are you a Decider and Divider?  Do you look at each item, decide if you need it and then divide it and put it in the appropriate spot?

I would recommend the Decide and Divide approach myself.  Here is how I do it:

Grab the mail - Peruse through it standing over your recycle bin.  Toss in any mail that you will never need or read (that includes those coupon books that you save in the junk drawer but have NEVER used!) 

Open the mail that you do need right then.  If you are an online bill payer then just go ahead and toss those envelopes right away.  Lay you bill open flat and place them in your Pending Bills folder.  (You have one of those right?)

Now you have room for you Butter because there is no Clutter  

(O.K. I will stop now!!) ~Elizabeth

Please don't tell me you have never reconciled your bank statements... Ok Good.  Glad to hear that every month you religiously sit down and go through that bank statement checking off those debits and credits to your accounts. 

If you are doing this then you are catching your bank when they, out of the blue, decide they need to be charging you a service fee. (BTW - please don't tell me you are payng a service fee??)

If you are reconciling that bank statement then you know that the check you sent to your consultant 3 months ago never made it there.  Could you have left it in the visor of your car and never mailed it??  No!!

If you are reconciling your bank statement you might have noticed that your cash deposit your summer temp took to the bank for you a month ago cleared the bank $100 short.  Did he need a short term loan?

If you WANT to be reonciling your bank account but just CAN NOT then call me.  I will log into your computer via a secure website and reconcile it for you.   Then I will tell you not to worry... the check cleared, the bank is holding up their end of the bargin, and you can totally trust that summer help!

~Elizabeth

I am so excited.  For over a year I have been working on an E-book to help the small business owner create a workable system for their bookkeeping tasks.  It is simple, easy to read and I just know the customer who wants to be organized can get there!! 

This e-book is for anyone who needs a quick guide on organizing their business paperwork and making sense of the results.  If you purchase it please post back and let me know your thoughts.  I would love to hear from you.

Thanks and looking forward to offering more products in the future!

Get your copy here.

Just this week I have been able to set up two different clients using QuickBooks Direct Deposit.  If your company hasn't started using it yet I highly recommend it.  The process is painless and the cost is even better.  There is now no sign-up fee for the service and Intuit only charges the company $.99 per check.  Not bad for a little automation. 

You can read about it here  or contact me for more information. 

With tough times hitting every business it is important to know what costs can be cut while still maintaining great quality and service to your customer.  The best place to start is by reviewing your Profit and Loss Statement for any expenditures that seem out of line or too high. 

Here are the steps to running a Profit and Loss report from QuickBooks.  I like to run it for the last month then add a Year-to-Date column and lastly a Percentage of Income column.

Step 1 - Go to Reports

Step 2 - Choose Company and Financial

Step 3 - Select Profit and Loss Standard

Step 4 - Under the Dates drop down menu select Last Month (this will give you your last full month of data)

Step 5 - Select  Modify and under the section "Add Subcolumns for" click the box Year-To-Date and % of income

Step 6 - Click OK

This report will now have three columns.  Review your % of Income column for any percentages of 5% or more.  These are the costs that take up more than 5% or more of your income.  Ask yourself why these cost are so high?  Are they negotiable?  Can you drop a service you are not using any more? 

By reviewing this report at least every 3 months you will have a better handle on the costs to run your business and what expense takes up the most of you income.

Here is an quick solution to that pile of credit card receipts. 

Supplies Needed:

3- ring binder

Hole Puncher

Plastic Bags

Tape

Step 1 - During the month ~ after you have recorded your credit card purchases in your accounting software ~ put the receipts in a plastic sandwich bag.

Step 2 - Put tape along the bottom of the sandwich bag for extra support and punch a two holes in the bag.  Be sure to line the holes up with the rings in your binder.

Step 3 - When your statement comes in the mail process your payment and hole punch the statement.  Put it in front of your plastic bag for the month. 

Viola!  You now have an organized, contained, receipt holder.