Snow is flying and the temperatures are very cold so we might as well fine tune the accounting side of the business. It is amazing how many receipts a business creates and as the business owner we have to maintain those receipts, and be able to find them in case of a tax audit. There are several steps involved in entering receipts to when they are placed into permanent storage.
- We create the expense that requires a receipt
- The receipt is entered into an accounting program and categorized
- The numbered and cataloged receipt is placed in envelope
- The receipts are then scanned into the computer and placed into a folder with files for each category. I will explain how I name these files later
- The original receipt is then stored in our portable file box
- At the end of the month all of the like receipts are placed together and stapled.
- When we go home the file box is taken inside and the receipts are filed in their permanent location
File Box – The file box contains my envelopes, stamps, pens, and important files. The notebook is where I keep a copy of our settlements, bank reconciliation sheets, and profit & loss statements. Much of this is printed from our bank, credit card, TA/Petro reconciliation files. I have went paperless as much as possible to but down on what has been sent to our house.
Budget Book – or payment schedule reminder – In our first year of marriage I started our reminder book as we had very little money and we could not afford surprises. Each month I have a page for business expenses and personal expenses. As I pay the expense I check them off. If I pay a bill that will not be due for another six month I flip forward six months and add that expense to that month. Remember no surprises.
Numbering Convention – This make it easier for me to find receipts as I use the numbers as their file name. The fuel receipts are stored using the odometer reading as their number. Here is an example of how I number receipts 1701 is for the year 2017 and then 01 is the first receipt of the year. If I use our Discover card this is how I number them D1701 or if I use cash it is C1701 so I can easily find the receipt.
Fuel Expenses – I do not budget for fuel as I have no idea each month how many miles we will run as this expense changes.
Spreadsheet – One spreadsheet is used to track our fuel mileage, logs, and loads. I have one tab where I track each time we fuel, our fuel mileage, how much is costs us per mile to run. One tab is to track each load, where we pickup, where we deliver, who gave us the load, dead head, pay per mile on all miles, stated pay, compare the settlement to the stated pay. One tab is for logs and days away from home. I have found this much easier than using the OmniTracs report for the end of year totals. These logs will still tie back to the reports I run from OmniTracs.
First of each month – Create a list of everything that needs to be printed or updated. Download logs if on Elogs – here is the link to OmniTracs https://dhos.omnitracs.com/hos-web-ui/c/dhm/index.html download the files to my computer and my naming convention is July Bob and July Linda. I cannot express enough how important this is as OmniTracs as well as the company you are leased to only keeps six months of records. At the end of the year if you do not have a plan in place it is going to be very time consuming to recreate those months.
I enjoy working with numbers and keeping track of our expenses but if this is something you do not enjoy doing hire a accounting firm such as ATBS and let them worry about entering and cataloging all of your expenses. Either way if you do the work or you hire someone else do it now not at the end of the year.