It’s rare to find a photographer who enjoys bookkeeping. They do exist. But for most photographers, it's the most dreaded task of their business.
Here are a few simple tips when it comes to bookkeeping for photographers to make your life easier.
1. Don’t put off till tomorrow...
Did you ever pull an all-nighter in college to finish a paper? It might get done, but you end up with a shabby paper and a sleep-deprived day or two. Not that I would know.
If you wait until the end of the year, or even a quarter, to do all of your accounting there are two main disadvantages: 1) You could miss out on tax deductions by forgetting or letting them slip through the cracks.
2) It’s harder to make decisions in your business when you don’t have accurate, up to date records. You'll always feel like you're winging it instead of being proactive about your business. Plus it can be nerve-wracking to save everything until tax time and hope it all irons out. Instead, schedule a day every week or at least every month to give attention to your finances.
2. Keep track of receipts
The biggest reason to stay on top of receipts is in case of an audit. The better your paper trail, the better it will go for you. You can use a company like Shoeboxed to scan your receipts and store them on a storage system like Google Drive. Or use Hubdoc to manage your receipts and upload them to your software. Or scan and store them yourself.
3. Keep it Strictly business
The simplest way to organize your business finances is to run everything through a business bank account. You won’t have to worry about sorting things out, and it makes tracking and reporting so much simpler with everything in one place. When you mix business and personal, it can be a nightmare to sort everything out and it's difficult to have accurate records.
4. Automate
With all the details going on in your business, it makes sense to automate whenever you can. Quickbooks makes it so easy to securely connect your bank account - you don’t need to manually enter expenses. You can also connect with a program like 17hats or Dubsado to connect the bookkeeping portion to Quickbooks.
5. Ask for help
There are a lot of moving parts in your business - it may feel like your accounting system is hanging by a thread at times. When you get to a certain level, you may benefit from having a professional review your system and processes to help you simplify things. It will give you peace of mind that you’re not dropping the ball on anything and may even free you up for the things that really energize you.
Have more questions about keeping good records for your photography business? We love supporting photographers so they can do more of what they love. Check out Tidybooksboutique.com and get a free 30 minute consultation + a review of your books with recommendations for improvement.
P.S. If you sign up and begin services by the end of September 2018, receive 10% off monthly services for 3 months. Just mention the code 'quarter3' when you contact us.