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Every business needs an accounting to determine the inflow and outflow of finances. It would best if the owner himself has his own eyes in the accounting of his own business. But it is not necessarily that the owner himself would do the accounting, rather knowledge on the basics of accounting and the ability on interpreting financial statements is all you need. Regular involvement in the work of the bookkeeper who manages your finances will result to better accounting. Accounting should be done on a daily basis, weekly basis and on a monthly basis.

Daily accounting is done to have the summary of the sales and cash receipts of the day. Daily sales could be the combination of cash sales from complete transactions and from what the customers owe you (receivables). You should have the cash position report reviewed. Cash position report is the record of all the cash ins and outs for the day. Make sure that at the end of the day, the cash on hand and the bank balance are all accounted for. Some adjustments should be done in recording the amount if ever the cash is not on hand or is not deposited on the bank because it was used to pay salaries or other expenses.

Weekend accounting is done to prepare the amount of money that will be needed for expenses such as payroll for the upcoming week, VAT payments and withholding taxes. Payables especially those with cash discounts and those affordable should be done to avoid upset on the suppliers. With the budgeted payments, you will then have the idea of how much money you will need to achieve from the cash sales and from the receivable collections.

Also, through weekend accounting you will be able to identify customers who are not paying on time their receivable accounts. You can have their attention regarding this matter by calling them, visiting or writing them letters.

Monthly accounting will give you an overview on how the business is doing and if necessary adjustments such as price increase or reduction of overhead expenses to increase the income should be done. Performance of the bookkeeper should be reviewed to find out if she has posted on the general ledger all the journal entries with their proper classifications. Once the journal entries have been checked, the bookkeeper should have an income statement readily available 10 to 15 days after the last day of the month.

Aside from the accounting, other things that should be given proper attention in business include:

• Balance sheet- this where you can review the company’s financial condition. With the use of the balance sheet, how much assets including the fixed assets and the liabilities to suppliers and banks are compared to the invested capital. Proper adjustment of the two accounts, the bank balance and the cash account, should be done if any timing differences occur.
• Regular cash count- this is done to check if the petty cash and the total amount of paid slips will fit the budget you have for the month. Surprise cash count can be made to find out if your cashier is honestly maintaining petty cash in the box.
• Tax Payments- ensure that withholding taxes deducted from salaries and VAT payments are remitted accordingly. VAT computations and remittances are done based on the legally declared sales and expenses.