Today is the first day of the new financial year and I say #newyear #newyou!
I hope you are like me and really excited about what can be achieved over the next twelve months. My wish for you is that you achieve far more than what you think you are going to achieve and I want to be your “biz buddy”.
A favourite mantra of mine is “THINK BIG”. The problem sometimes with “thinking big” is that “tedious little things” get in your way and stop you realising your potential. Not long into the new financial year, you can often find yourself chasing your tale, falling back into bad habits and falling completely off track.
So today, I thought I would write a blog to help you start the year off on the right foot. Take some time to focus on the tedious things that you need to nail, in order for you to achieve the bigger things that will give you more business, more profit and more of a life!
Here are my top 5 tips that you should be thinking about over the next 5 days or so.
Filing System
- how are you going to file? manual v digital
- if manual, grab yourself new lever arch folders and dividers
- if digital, grab an app or set up new folders in your inbox/desktop
Accounting System
- how are you going to record your business income and expenses? manual v excel spreadsheets v accounting software
- if manual, set up a system that you can summarise monthly
- if excel spreadsheets, set up a new file ensuring you are categorising expenses by category eg. telephone, insurance
- if cloud accounting software, decide on a product eg MYOB, Xero and ensure your bankfeeds and rules are setup
Weekly/Monthly Monitoring System
- how are you going to know if you are making money each week or month?
- if you decide to use a manual accounting system, you will have to summarise all of your monthly income and expenses
- if you decide to use excel spreadsheets, you will be have to create another sheet on your spreadsheet to transfer the totals of each income and expense category
- if you decide on cloud accounting software accounting, you will be able to print out a Profit & Loss Statement in just a few clicks
Diary Management
- so that you don’t become a slave to your filing and accounting, the easiest thing to do is to diarise each week when you will be able to commit to keeping everything up to date. It is a lot easier to find say 30-60 minutes a week then 6-12 hours at the end of each quarter to find receipts, collate, data entry and then prepare your BAS. The added bonus of following a weekly or monthly system, is that you will know if you are making a profit or a loss and no longer are you just keeping records for your accountant or the ATO!
Accountant
- your accountant is truly one of the most valuable advisors to have on your team
- make sure you feel comfortable with your accountant and if you aren’t comfortable, now is the time to make a change. Check with friends, colleagues or your industry body for their recommendations
I hope this helps get you started and I will be back in another few days with some more tips.
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Happy New Financial Year and please “THINK BIG” for 2016/2017!