BOOK KEEPING MADE EASY

Nick Roberts

Book and record-keeping are rarely popular yet keeping good records is a matter of key importance. Without good records, you will have no idea whether you are making money and nor will you know who owes you money. Furthermore, a recent survey shows there is a strong correlation between survival and frequent reporting which is only possible with good records:

Monthly reporting          80% survival rate
Annual reporting           36% survival rate

So what are the options:

• Utilise the long suffering other-half. The traditional approach but not to be recommended unless one wants to explore the complexities of the Property Relationship Act in depth!
  
• Struggle on with manual books or a home made Excel system as many do. No way - why would you turn your back on 25 years of progress in Information Technology which has made information gathering and storage so cheap and convenient?
  
• Buy some cheap accounting software. Better, but you will still have to go through some pain to get to grips with it and allocate valuable time which would be better spent elsewhere.
  
• Hand the whole lot over to your accountant. Subject, of course, to choosing an accountant who passes on the cost savings from accounting software which imports the transactions on your bank statements, the investment required is modest. This is by far the best option as then, your GST returns and monthly trading figures can be produced as low cost add-ons.

An ex-client of mine made an annual profit equivalent to $1.3m yet insisted on keeping his own manual books where were awful. Why waste time on a task to which you are not suited and is best delegated to an expert.

If you have any tax or business queries of any kind telephone 0800 ASK NICK, e-mail nick@abac.co.nz or use "Contact Us" on www.abac.co.nz. The information in this article is of a general nature and should not be relied upon as a substitute for specific advice.