Accuracy in bookkeeping is a meditation of what’s happening in everyday life. If your books are a “mess,” it’s often an indicator of disorganization in your processes and procedures. You may:

  • Lack the resources to manage your books properly
  • Need to integrate processes to keep your books accurate
  • Want to invest in state-of-the-art tools to help you keep your books accurate

Your bookkeeping closet may have a lot of missing items, but the following are among the most common we see in our clients’ books.

What Are Commonly Missed Items in Bookkeeping and Reporting?

Bookkeeping and reporting are tedious. You have to spend a lot of time on tasks that aren’t billable, and you can always “work on it later.” The problem with pushing off these tasks is that it’s easy to miss items along the way.

A few of the most commonly missed items are:

Forgetting To Track All Expenses

Firms have a lot of expenses that most owners never realized they would have until they started their own firm. You have team-wide expenses that seem small and are easy to miss, such as:

  • Staff Meetings
  • Networking events
  • Client/Business development

You’re unlikely to miss a large expense in your bookkeeping because it’s something that sticks in your mind. But spending $100 on lunch with a new client is easy to forget if you’re rushing out of the restaurant because you’re meeting with a client at the office.

If you forget to track your expenses, it means you’ll have fewer expenses to deduct and will spend more money on taxes than necessary.

Not Putting in Expenses in a Timely Fashion

You might not forget to add expenses to your books, but maybe you’re not adding entries in a timely manner. It’s easy to overlook the severity of putting off adding expenses in a timely fashion.

Imagine if you had a $5,000 expense that you didn’t add to your books for three weeks, but you’re making decisions based on cash flow.

If you’re not putting in expenses quickly, you can’t have a true picture of cash flow or profits.

Mistakes In Tracking

Bookkeeping can only be as accurate as the data you input. If you’re not regularly reviewing your data, you may be missing errors that impact your profits and may even lead to penalties and fines.

There may be errors in your:

  • Transaction amounts or duplicate transactions
  • How a transaction was categorized
  • How invoice payments were recorded

It’s easy to overlook mistakes in tracking, especially if you’re doing your bookkeeping the old-fashioned way.

Automation and third-party systems can help you avoid this common pitfall by ensuring your data is accurate.

How Systems Such as Clio and QuickBooks Online Can Help Improve Bookkeeping Accuracy

Systems such as QuickBooks Online and Clio (now with the new Clio Accounting!) take the pain out of bookkeeping and help improve accuracy.

How?

  • They sync your firm’s financial activity. Clio, for example, integrates with QBO to automatically connect Client expenses and client invoices. QuickBooks Online can connect with your firm’s bank account to ensure that your data is always accurate and up to date.
  • They can identify and help you correct errors. With QuickBooks Online, for example, you can use the audit log to find errors and view your transaction histories.
  • They do it all automatically. Finding time for traditional bookkeeping methods is challenging, and often, when you’re pressed for time, you’re more likely to make a mistake. Automating and streamlining your bookkeeping can help minimize the risk of errors and ensure your books are always accurate and up to date.

At CPN Legal, we help firms implement systems like Clio, QuickBooks Online and more to improve their bookkeeping accuracy and save time. Contact us today to learn more about our services and how we can help with your bookkeeping needs.