Six tips to manage bills and transactions

Keeping and maintaining good records of transactions and tax invoices is important for people in business. It makes it easier to manage cash flow, make sound business decisions and meet ATO obligations.

Record keeping is a legal requirement. This makes it essential to have a proper system in place to maintain records. There are laws that apply to specific types of business to determine how long to keep records, generally it’s for five years.

AccountRight makes record keeping easy by saving bills and supplier invoices into your accounts. It makes it efficient when working with accountants and bookkeepers, reduces the amount of paper filing and makes it easy to retain documents.

Maintain your records today with these six tips:

1. Gather all receipts and bills

This includes going through your desk drawers, wallet, folders, emails and business activity statements (BAS).

2. Sort through all receipts and bills

It is a good idea to keep personal and business records separate, to simplify business reporting and tax

3. Ensure you have all the records required by the ATO

The ATO require records kept for:

• Invoices and receipts
• Cash register tapes
• Credit card statements
• Bank deposit books and cheque butts
• Bank account statements
• Employee records such as tax file number, timesheets and superannuation records.

Remember to add notes on transactions for special circumstances. For example, if you bought ink cartridges off the internet and paid with a personal account, you don’t want to forget that business expense.

4. Define your recording keeping process

Setting up a good record keeping processes for your business will help you work efficiently and be able to make accurate business decisions.

5. Use accounting software

If you’re not already using accounting and invoicing software, you should take advantage of MYOB AccountRight. MYOB AccountRight has time saving features like smart reconciliations, saving AccountRight customers 13 hours a month to focus on their business, not the bookwork.

6. Upload your bills to AccountRight

Upload a document to the In Tray in AccountRight and link it to a bill. If you don’t have an existing bill, you can create a new one. Where possible, MYOB will enter some of the details for you and check the ABN is valid. When you’ve linked a document, you can see it whenever you open the bill in AccountRight.

Not using MYOB AccountRight, why not give it a go?

Try it free for 30 days. For more business building tips, visit myob.com.au/businesstips.

The information provided here is of a general nature for Australians and should not be your only source of information. Please consult an experienced and registered tax agent as each small business’s circumstance will vary.

* Based on analysis of MYOB AccountRight customers working online in 2012 and the same customers in 2014 ANZ.