How To Complete Your Accounting and Bookkeeping Faster

Completing your accounting can be time consuming either for yourself if you do it, or your bookkeeper if you are fortunate enough to have one. Below are some methods to reduce the amount of time it takes to have your entries completed

1. Bulk entries together

By setting time to input all accounting entries for a particular month or week all at once it will dramatically reduce the amount of time required to input the entries. This is simply because with any task it takes a few minutes to get focused and into an efficient rhythm. If you enter each accounting transaction as it comes in or enter only 5 or five at a time you never allow yourself to get into the efficient rhythm. Instead it is a continual start, stop, start, stop cycle that hampers productivity. How often and how much time you need to complete your accounting entries depends on your business. Select a system and schedule that works for your particular needs.

2. A good filing system

By properly filing hard copy and electronic accounting invoices, receipts and records in an easy to understand system this will greatly reduce the amount of when a document is needed to be retrieved. In addition by filing systematically this will also create inputting efficiencies as like documents will be grouped together making groups of similar bookkeeping entries that can be done quickly instead of randomized entries that require close scrutinizing before inputting.

3. Work flow analysis

As with any process you can improve the efficiency of the process by review all steps taken to complete the task. The process involves list all tasks or actions taken to complete the larger goal and reviewing each to see if they are necessary, can be removed, or can be quickened in any way. This involves looking at each of the smallest actions in detail as unnecessary or inefficient small tasks/actions repeated numerous times over the course of multiple hours can result in numerous man hours being wasted. The best way to complete this thoroughly is to draw a map of all tasks or actions completed when entering your bookkeeping showing which actions follow each other. It is critical to draw the process that is actually followed, not the process that is thought should be followed. Then once this map is completed and analyze each step to see if they are generating waste, are an unnecessary step or can some how be automated easily.

4. Learn key board short cuts

Learning any kind of key board shortcuts your program has can be extremely effective in increasing the speed at which you can complete your accounting and bookkeeping work. This can be anything as simple as a copy or paste short cut to a short cut button to generate a report or populate a field. Having to take your hands off the keyboard to move your mouse significantly reduces your output. It is only a few seconds every time you do it but as you tabulate those seconds over the course of a few hours it quickly becomes multiple minutes and if you look at it over weeks it becomes hours.

5. Use an easy to use accounting software package

If your accounting program takes you hours to figure out how to get it do what you want it to your accounting work won't be completed very fast. If with every entry you make you can save a few seconds over the course of a year that can add up to many hours of labor. The biggest frustration though with most accounting programs is that it is hard to get the program to report the information the way it is wanted. If generating reports and customizing them is not easy this can also lead to many wasted man hours trying to get the accounting program to generate a report with the right information, shown the right way. On the other hand if you have a simple and easy to use program you will be able to quickly enter and review for financial information instead of trying to learn how to input an entry or review the information you want to see.