Record Keeping for small businessCATEGORY: Article

Good record keeping is essential for anyone in business because it makes it easier to manage your cash flow, meet your tax obligations and understand how your business is doing.

By law your records must:

• explain all transactions
• be in writing (electronic or paper)
• be in English or in a form that can be easily converted
• be kept for five years (some records may need to be kept longer).

If you don’t keep the right tax records, you can incur penalties.

You can keep invoicing, payment and other business transaction records electronically or on paper. The principles are the same for each, but keeping electronic records will make some tasks easier.

With the right electronic record-keeping software you can:

• automatically tally amounts and provide ready-made reports
• produce invoices, summaries and reports for GST and income tax purposes
• save on physical storage space
• protect your records against threat of theft, flood, fire etc.

Ask Leanne if your record keeping would stand up to an ATO review.  Leanne can help you choose a system you can understand and operate easily.