How To Keep Track Of Your Business Costs The Right Way

Good businesses don’t just make money easily, they can also save money throughout their daily operations too. A part of being a cost-efficient business is understanding where your business spending goes. The more in touch you are with what your business spends, the more capable you’ll be when it comes to saving money.

What are business expenses?

Tracking business spending accurately is a necessary step in the bookkeeping process. Any cost associated with your firm is regarded as a business expense.

Here are a few typical company expenditures you could run into:

  • Advertising
  • Bank charges
  • Commissions
  • Consultation costs
  • Hired labor
  • Fees and memberships
  • Mileage
  • Office equipment
  • Shipping and handling
  • Copying and printing
  • Salaries
  • Software
  • Travel
  • Utilities

While these are the most typical types of business expenses, you may classify any purchase that is connected to your company as a valid business cost.

Your business can lose a lot by simply just operating. This is why it’s very important that you know how to track your business expenses well. You also need to check responsibility disclaimer examples to make sure you’re business is on the right track. There are many ways you can go about doing this but these methods have been tried and tested by many institutions already.

Open A Business Account

It doesn’t matter if your business is small or big, you need to have a business account. It’s bad – let alone an irresponsible practice to use your personal bank account for business transactions. This can cause major confusion in the long run. Moreover, it can seem sketchy for your employees.

All expenses and income should be made using the business account. This will help you have a database of all the business transactions through bank records. Setting up a business bank account is easy so don’t skip this step.

Ramp Up Your Accounting

The most basic way to keep track of your business spending is by investing more on accounting. You should hire experienced accountants to help manage your finances. Additionally, you should also use the appropriate software to help you out with the process as well.

All of the incoming and outgoing cash of your business should run through the accounting department first. Once you have a good accounting department set up, you’ll be able to streamline how you track business spending easily.

Know How Much Energy You Are Spending

A majority of your business spending will be put into the energy you use for your operations. You can start keeping track of your energy spending by checking out your monthly utility bills and then comparing it with the equipment that you use and how much wattage they have.

Businesses can save more on energy costs by picking the right subscriber. If you read more here, you’ll see that there are significant differences in the rates of energy suppliers for long-term costs. Pick an energy provider that offers you not just good commercial rates, but also better benefits as well.

Use Inventory Tracking Software

For businesses that handle perishable goods and other items that spoil or lose quality over-time, inventory tracking is a vital business practice. Without it, you can lose a lot of money on wasted raw ingredients or materials on a monthly basis. On the other hand, understocking your inventory is bad practice as well.

To keep better track of your raw goods, you should use an inventory tracking software that allows you to forecast and better plan for your future needs. This prevents any waste in terms of unused goods and it’s also a good way to guarantee that your business is always prepared to meet orders. Meanwhile, for bookkeepers who want to be more efficient and save more time, we recommend they use these accounting excel templates.

Manage Your Receipts

This should be basic for you by now but receipts matter. They are proof of all of your transactions which is why it is very important that you have a system that allows you to manage your receipts well. For starters, make sure that you have a physical and digital copy of your receipts.

All of your business spending should be accounted for with a receipt. Whether it’s a small or a big purchase, as long as it’s an expense made by the company – the receipt will matter. Keeping these will help you effectively manage your business just in case there are discrepancies in accounting.

Connect your Financial Institutions

By integrating your banking institutions with your accounting software, small company spending monitoring may be made simpler. This choice, albeit unsettling to some, is really highly safe and has measures in place to protect your data.

If you do link your bank, you will be able to immediately download every financial transaction to your accounting program, and in many situations, have it instantly post to the correct account.

This procedure makes it simple to keep track of every cost your company incurs.

Invest In The Right Software

There are many online tools and solutions that will help you manage your expenses more easily. From accounting apps to expense apps, using this will help you greatly  when it comes to handling all money matters for your business.

Software like these aren’t free of course but think of it as a good investment on your end. The good news is that all of these software have free demos that you can try first. These will help you gauge whether or not such solutions are fitting for your business. Also keep in mind that solutions like these take a huge burden off of your accounting department’s shoulders.

Keeping track of your business spending has never been easier thanks to the assortment of tools and solutions only that help you do so. Remember, it’s not just about keeping track of your business spending, it’s also learning about how you can be more cost-efficient with it as well. And for those who are just planning to open up a business, you need to start small first. Small and simple business like raising chickens at home is actually a good start to develop your business skills and potentials.

Should you track your business spending with accounting software?

As you can see, there are several methods—both manually and using accounting software—by which you may keep track of your business spending.

When accounting software is most advantageous:

There are instances when utilizing accounting software is required, even though it is always recommended for tracking any form of business, including both income and spending.

If you haven’t already, it’s strongly advised that you utilize accounting software if any of the following conditions apply to you or your company:

  • You regularly travel for work: Let’s face it, everyone misplaces receipts. Accounting software is your best option if you’re sick of lugging a stack of receipts in your pocket or handbag. This is particularly significant if you travel regularly for work.
  • You have several workers who must keep track of company expenditures: Accounting software is essential if you have several employees who must keep track of business expenses. While a spreadsheet could be sufficient for a one-person business, it will obviously not work if you’re keeping track of costs for several people.
  • Your company is growing: Regardless of how tiny you are right now if your company is planning to develop or is already growing, you should get accounting software and start keeping accurate records of your spending.
  • You have many company bank accounts: Manually tracking spending from a single institution might take a lot of effort. If you have more than one company bank account, it is virtually difficult. Use accounting software as a favor to yourself.

When to use different techniques

Even though accounting software is the greatest option for managing business expenses, there are times when spreadsheet software can suffice.

You might consider manually tracking your company spending if any of the aforementioned circumstances apply to you.

  • You don’t incur many costs: If you’re just starting out and simply need to keep track of sporadic costs, a spreadsheet can be sufficient. But if your company’s costs start to rise, you might want to think about switching to a software program.
  • You’re an Excel prodigy: Excel is known for its extensive calculating capabilities. If you’re an Excel pro, you probably know how to create a spreadsheet that works for your company. However, accounting software can still be your best option because the majority of us aren’t Excel experts.
  • Your business is more of a hobby: If you’re just starting out and aren’t yet totally devoted to your venture, manually monitoring spending may be sufficient. Accounting software, however, needs to be at the top of your list for everyone else.