Have You Fallen Behind on Bookkeeping? Here’s How to Catch up.

Have you forgotten to go through your invoices and bills for months? Is time marching on, and you still haven’t done your book work? Is your Tax / BAS / ATO audit deadline close? Well, you are not alone.

This happens to a lot of business owners. There are numerous reasons to fall behind on accounting or bookkeeping tasks. So, before we tell you how to clean it up, just relax,take it one step at a time, and breathe.

Panic is not going to help you, and ignoring it, will not make it go away.

The first step is to reach out and have a chat with a professional.

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Most importantly…...you are not alone, and your situation can definitely be improved. Bookkeeping services offer alternatives that will work for you and your business. We can catch you up with your bookkeeping and then work with you towards your goals. Bookkeeping service providers become part of your office team, remotely. Always there to lend a hand or a ear.

If you need professional help, look for an accountant or bookkeeper experienced in rescue or clean up jobs. It might take some time initially, but the benefits gained will be worth the effort and soon you will have clean books. All it takes is that first step... Let’s start!

Find your receipts

Dealing with all those receipts as a business owner can be a little bit tedious, so we understand why you might want to put it off. It’s time to check your file cabinets, your drawers, e-mails, and bank statements. You need to gather all the tax invoices and receipts. It’s always a good idea to keep a digital record of your receipts and bills. That way you won’t have a hard time finding them. For physical ones, keep them in the same place and make sure to scan or take a photo of them. It is becoming the industry standard to upload them to your accounting system or cloud storage. We recommend Xero Accounting software and Hubdoc for cloud storage.

Time to Check Invoices

Once you have all the receipts, it’s time to do the same for sales or revenue invoices. Check your records to see if you have any unpaid invoices. If you do, give your customers a call or send them an email. They may have forgotten paying them the same way you have fallen behind on bookkeeping. Once you have all your digital and physical invoices, let’s move to the next step.

Tax-Related Documents

Do you have employees or prefer to work with contractors and freelancers? Either way, you need to have all tax-related documents ATO and ASIC requires, completed and lodged. For example; 

  • Tax declarations forms

  • Superannuation choice forms

  • Single Touch Payroll STP

  • Payslips

  • Yearly Payment Summaries

  • Workers compensation declaration forms

  • Pay as you go wages tax reporting

  • Payroll tax

  • Taxable payment annual report TPAR

Learn Lessons

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As we said, it’s not unusual to fall behind on accounting and bookkeeping tasks when you are running a business. You don’t want to get into a stressful situation with each tax deadline approaching, and engaging a professional service will lighten the load. Don't stick your head in the sand. Take some action that will make things easier for you. It can be anything from having a receipts folder to using a web-based accounting tool. We recommend a digital-first approach and Xero Accounting Software.

Consider Working with a Professional

Your time is valuable and focusing on the other areas of your business is better than getting stressed over bookkeeping. Delegate some of your tedious tasks to professional bookkeepers. They can handle the accounting clean up and help you avoid the same situation in the future. Don't wait any longer, make that call.

With our rescue or accounting cleanup service, we help businesses catch up with their bookkeeping before it’s too late.

Rachelle Delmenico