You Have the Information. What's the System?

Your CPA is waiting for documents. You know you have them. The receipts, invoices, bills, payroll records, and everything else they asked for are somewhere in your business. You just have to find them. 

Maybe there are receipts in a drawer. Some information is in your email. You have a spreadsheet for invoices, but you're not sure if it's completely up to date. Bills come in through different places. Payroll has its own process. And now your CPA is asking for information you know exists, but you can't immediately put your hands on it. 

I'm not looking at this and thinking you've done something wrong. Most businesses don't start out with a perfectly designed system for handling receipts, invoices, bills, payroll, and financial records. You figure things out as you go. You create a folder because you need somewhere to put receipts. You start a spreadsheet because you need to keep track of invoices. You save something in your email because you'll deal with it later. For a while, that works. 

Then the business grows. You have more clients, more invoices, more expenses, maybe employees, more bills, and more information moving through the business. The way you handled everything when you were smaller may not work as well anymore. That doesn't mean the system was wrong. It means the business changed. 

What I Look At First 

When I start working with a business in this situation, I'm not coming in looking for everything that's wrong. I'm trying to understand how things are currently working. Where do receipts go when they come in? How are invoices created and tracked? How do you know what's been paid and what is still outstanding? Where do bills go when they arrive? How is payroll information collected? What does your CPA need at tax time, and where does that information live? 

Those questions tell me a lot more than a stack of papers ever could, because I'm not just looking at what needs to be organized. I'm looking at how information moves through the business. Before I recommend a new process, I want to understand the process you already have, since there may be parts that work perfectly well and don't need to change at all. I'm not interested in creating more work just for the sake of creating a system. I'm interested in creating a system that makes your work easier. 

Receipts Need a Process, Not Just a Place 

Take receipts, for example. A receipt isn't just a piece of paper that needs to be put somewhere. There needs to be a process for what happens when that receipt comes into the business. Where is it captured? How is it categorized? Where is it stored? Can you find it six months from now? Can someone else find it if they need it? 

When I'm helping a business set this up, I'm not looking for the prettiest filing system. I'm looking for something that makes sense for the way the business actually operates and is simple enough that it will continue to be used. An organized system isn't helpful if nobody uses it. 

Accounts Receivable Shouldn't Live in Your Memory 

The same thing is true for accounts receivable. Sending an invoice is only one part of the process. You also need a way to know what has been invoiced, what has been paid, what is still outstanding, and when someone needs to follow up. I've seen businesses where the owner is doing all of that from memory. They know who owes them money because they remember sending the invoice. They know who they need to follow up with because they made a mental note. They may even have a spreadsheet, but it isn't necessarily telling them what they need to know. 

That's not necessarily a people problem. It's a process problem. When I look at accounts receivable, I'm looking for the point where the process stops being clear. Is there a reliable way to see what's outstanding? Is there a consistent follow-up process? Does someone know what they're responsible for? Those are the questions that help turn "I think someone still owes me" into information you can actually use.

 Accounts Payable Needs the Same Attention 

Bills come in, but where do they go? Who reviews them? How do you know what's due? What happens when something arrives in an email instead of in the mail? How do you know a bill hasn't been overlooked? A good accounts payable process shouldn't depend on the business owner remembering every bill that came in this week. There should be a place for that information to go and a process for what happens next. 

When I work through this with a business, I'm looking at more than just whether bills are getting paid. I'm looking at whether the owner has visibility into what's coming due, whether responsibilities are clear, and whether the process can continue to work as the business grows. 

Payroll Runs on Deadlines, So It Needs a Process Too 

Payroll has to happen whether you're ready for it or not. Information needs to be collected, changes need to be communicated, deadlines need to be met, and records need to be maintained. So I don't just look at who is processing payroll. I want to know what happens before payroll gets processed. How is information collected? Who is responsible for it? What happens when something changes? Where are the records kept? 

Recurring responsibilities need recurring processes. When those processes are clear, they don't have to depend on someone remembering what needs to happen every time the deadline comes around. 

Make It Easier for Your CPA to Get What They Need 

When tax time comes around, your CPA should be able to ask for what they need and have confidence that the information is available and accessible. They shouldn't have to send you multiple emails while you search through drawers, email, folders, and spreadsheets trying to figure out where everything is. The information should already have a home. 

This is one of the reasons I pay attention to the way these different pieces connect. Receipts, invoices, bills, payroll, and financial records don't exist independently of one another, and the way one piece is handled can affect what happens to the next piece. If information is captured consistently from the beginning, it becomes much easier to find, use, reconcile, and provide to your CPA when it's needed. 

That's really what we're talking about when we talk about systems. It's not about making everything look neat. It's about knowing where information goes, who is responsible for it, and what happens next. 

What Working With Me Actually Looks Like 

I don't start by handing you a list of things you need to organize before we can begin. I start by looking at what you're already doing. I want to understand how information currently moves through your business, where you're keeping it, who is responsible for each part, and where you are having to stop and figure things out manually. 

From there, I can identify where the gaps are, what is working well, what needs to change, and what needs a process that doesn't exist yet. Then we build from there. Sometimes that means organizing what's already there. Sometimes it means changing a process. Sometimes it means creating something completely new. And sometimes the answer is simply that the system you've been using made perfect sense when you created it, but your business needs something different now. There is nothing wrong with that. Businesses change, and their systems need to change with them. 

The Goal Isn't to Make Your Business Look Organized 

The goal is to make it easier to run. You should be able to find a receipt without digging through a drawer. You should be able to see which invoices are outstanding without relying on your memory. You should know what bills are coming due. You should have a process for collecting payroll information. And when your CPA asks for something, you should know where to find it. Not because you suddenly became better at keeping track of everything, but because the business has a system for keeping track of it. 

If you're looking at the way your business currently handles receipts, invoices, bills, payroll, and financial records and thinking, "I know this could work better, but I don't know where to start," that's exactly what a Business Audit is for. You don't need to organize everything before we begin, and you don't need to explain every piece of the puzzle first. I'll start with what you have, learn how things are currently being handled, identify where the gaps are, and map out the systems and processes that make sense for the business you have today. 

No judgment about how you got here. 

Book a Business Audit and let's look at what's currently working, what's getting in the way, and what systems your business needs next.