Since the dawn of entrepreneurism, some small business
owners have loved organizing information for and about their businesses. They’ve enjoyed creating systems and
implementing them. For these business owners, it’s all about
the details and microscopic look.
However, many small business owners are exactly opposite.
They are big picture people and glaze over when the conversation turns toward tracking and minutia.
Where do you fall in this spectrum?
Regardless of your passion for details, or lack thereof, the success of your business hinges on your record keeping. Here’s why:
1. Without a proper record keeping system, you may lose sight of important business details, leading to problems with your lender, insurance agent, accountant, but most of all, your customers. Accurate records can answer: who are your customers? What did they buy? Can you meet their needs now and in the future? Inaccurate records can lead to loss of customers – maybe forever.
2. How will you manage contracts, leases, licenses, and permits? Compliance with your legal obligations is a mandatory requirement. But if you don’t track these obligations, you may lose contracts and/or special licenses and permits needed for your operations. Any of these missing documents can lead to major consequences for your small business.
3. Have employees? If so, record keeping is essential for the myriad ways in which wages and taxes must be accounted for.
4. Taxes. Ugh. For this reason alone, accurate record keeping is essential to plan for and pay the appropriate amount of local, state, and federal taxes.
5. No one should lose their small business because they didn’t keep, manage, or know how to retrieve the records they needed.
Need to learn more? Learn how? Watch this Small Business video presented by Northern Initiatives. It may be the most important move you’ll make for your business.
