Unless you’re an accountant or bookkeeper, you probably don’t look forward to digging into your transaction history or reviewing your income statements each week. Most small business owners don’t feel entirely confident when it comes to things like managing business finances or business accounting, and that’s okay! Managing your finances shouldn’t take away from the reason you started your business in the first place—to follow your dreams and fulfill your passions.
Whether you enjoy it or not, managing your finances is part of running a business—a big part. Understanding your business finances helps you keep tabs on your profits, losses, and inventory. Generating and analyzing financial reports helps you keep a close eye on your cash flow, file your taxes correctly, and measure your business’s overall financial health. These numbers help you secure investors, make smarter business decisions, and discover new ways to grow your business.
Business finances may not be the thing that gets you out of bed in the morning, but it’s an important part of your small business’s success. As your business grows, you might opt to hire an accountant or bookkeeper to take these financial tasks off your plate. But whether you’re taking a DIY approach or investing in the help of a professional, it’s important to understand the accounting basics that keep your business running.
With that in mind, here are 20 accounting tasks you should be doing to manage your business.