NFIB

Streamline Your Financial Management and Filing Systems
04/ 15/ 2002

Sooner or later, every company creates specific channels for financial and filing management. The efficiency of these important channels needs to be continually evaluated. In today's Workshop, Jeffrey Moses lists seven benchmarks to ensure that your financial operations are as streamlined as possible.

1. Are deposits made the same day as receipts, or at least the next business day? If not, you could be losing potential interest on funds.

2. Do you balance your bank statement? To the penny? If the answer is no to either of these questions, you may not know exactly how much money you have in your accounts at any given moment. Statements should be balanced immediately upon receipt. If you find discrepancies, or if your statements don't balance exactly, consult with the bookkeeping department of your bank to rectify.

3. Do you have funds and all required forms ready when business and personal taxes are due (such as federal, state, estimated personal taxes, estimated corporate taxes and sales tax)? Every business, large and small, should have adequate systems in place to deduct the required amount from daily or weekly receipts to assure that tax payments are on hand when needed. This requires establishing schedules in advance to put aside specific amounts for each tax deadline.

4. Do you find yourself falling behind in your invoicing? Is invoicing taking up a large percentage of your work week? If the answer is yes to either question, consult with an accountant about how to streamline your invoicing system. You may need to hire a part-time or full-time bookkeeper if you're falling too far behind in your invoicing.

5. Do you know, within a reasonable margin of error, what percentage of your overall total revenue each of your products or services accounts for? If not, you may not be up to speed on what's really making your company money. This could prevent you from focusing on successful products and weeding out unsuccessful ones.

6. Can you or your staff put your hands on any and all financial records at a moment's notice? Long searches for receipts, loan information and paid invoices take unnecessary time and energy. Work out a filing system that lets you instantly find what you need. A good book on the subject:
"The Office Clutter Cure: How to Get Out from Under It All!" by Don Aslett, John Caldwell (Illustrator), $10.99, March 1995, Better way Publishing.

7. Do you always know exactly how much inventory you have on hand? And can you quickly and easily order the exact amount you need? Every business that sells or supplies products depends on having an ample supply in stock. There is an art and science to inventory control. Special inventory software may be available for your industry. A couple of books on the subject:

"Best Practice in Inventory Management," by Tony Wild, $59.95, March16, 1998, John Wiley &; Sons.

"Inventory Management Quickstart," by Phyllis Davis-Minik, $10.95,February 1999, Advanced EDI &; Barcoding Corp.

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