Bookkeeping becomes a problem when it piles up. Three months of receipts on a Sunday night is how mistakes happen and how money that customers owe you gets forgotten. A short weekly habit and a slightly longer month-end check keep everything current, and they take less time in total than one catch-up weekend.
Every week (15 minutes)
- Record this week's sales. Every invoice you issued, or your daily sales totals.
- Record payments received. Cash, bank transfer and GCash, each against the invoice it pays.
- Record expenses with their receipts. Take a photo of each receipt and give the expense a category.
- Look at who is late. Send a polite reminder to customers whose invoices are past due.
- Check the bills due next week. Rent, suppliers, utilities and payroll.
At the end of every month (1 hour)
- Make sure the month is complete. Every invoice and expense is in, and every receipt is attached.
- Match your money. Compare what your records say you collected and paid with your bank and e-wallet statements. Look into anything that does not match.
- Look for duplicates and gaps. The same bill entered twice, or an invoice number missing from the sequence.
- Review receivables. List unpaid invoices by age: up to 30 days, 31 to 60, 61 to 90, over 90. Call the oldest first.
- Review payables. What you still owe suppliers, and when it is due.
- Check profit. Sales minus expenses for the month, compared with last month and the same month last year.
- Check cash. Money collected against money paid out. A profitable month can still be short of cash if customers pay late.
- Send your accountant the month. Your sales and expense list, the receipts and anything unusual, in the format they ask for.
Every quarter and every year
Ask your accountant which filings and deadlines apply to your business, and put them in your calendar with a reminder a week before. Rules depend on how your business is registered, so your accountant or your RDO is the right source, not a general checklist. Once a year, look at twelve months side by side to see your busy and slow seasons before they surprise you.
Habits that make it easier
- Keep business and personal money in separate accounts.
- Use the same categories every month, so months can be compared.
- Put a fixed time in your calendar for the weekly check, and keep it short.
- Keep a copy of your records somewhere other than one laptop.
How PrimerLedger helps
The dashboard shows the month's sales, expenses and net against last month, with overdue invoices and bills due soon right underneath, which covers most of the weekly check. The financial reports give you profit and loss with the comparison, cash in against cash out, and receivables and payables aging in the same 30, 60 and 90 day groups. When the month is done, export the ledger to Excel, CSV or PDF for your accountant, or invite them to see the books directly. See financial reports and ledger and exports.