Record Keeping

Keeping good accounting and corporate records is critical to the success of your business. Good records will not only help you succeed financially, but will also help protect your company from fraud, improve your credit rating, help you prepare for tax time and help protect you in the case of an audit. 

Accounting and corporate records are fairly easy to keep track of as long as you stay on top of them; do not let your records pile up for a few months before you organize them.  If you are a smaller company you should set aside certain days of the month to do your accounting and filing, keep those days the same every month.  I usually choose the 1st and the 15th of each month to do a majority of the work; these days are good for bill paying and break the month into two equal parts.  If you are a larger company set a weekly schedule for each task.  This approach will help you avoid the inefficiencies of  jumping around from issue to issue as they occur.  There will be other transactions that occur during the month, but if you have a good system it will be easy to keep accurate, organized records. 

Here is a sample filing system for your accounting and corporate records.

Corporate Records

1. Chart of Accounts
2. Federal Employee Tax Identification Number Filing (FEIN)
3. State Tax Identification Number Filing
4. Fictitious Business Name Filing
5. Business License Filings
6. Sales Tax Permit, Sellers Permits, etc.
7. Business Agreements (Operating Agreement, Partnership, etc)
8. Corporate Document Filings (LLC, Incorporation, etc)
9. W-9’s Sent
10. W-9’s Received
11. Credit Applications Sent
12. Federal, State & Local Tax records
13. Insurance Documents
14. Lease and Rental Agreements
15. Maintenance & Service Agreements
16. Other Important Information

Banking

1. Merchant Account Set-up
2. Banking Setup Records
3. Credit Card Information (Separate for each account)
4. Bank Statements (Separate for each account)
   • Jan-March
   • April-June
   • July-Sept
   • Oct-Dec
5. Used check registers
6. Duplicate checks (if used) break down by month
7. Credit card receipts
8. Other important banking information

Accounts Receivable

1. A/R Posted but unpaid (these could be broken down by regular customer & then have a miscellaneous file for those one time customers)
2. A/R Paid  (same notes as above)
   • Jan-March
   • April-June
   • July-Sept
   • Oct-Dec
3. A/R Credit Card Postings
   • Jan-March
   • April-June
   • July-Sept
   • Oct-Dec
4. Deposits (include your deposit receipts)
   • Jan-March
   • April-June
   • July-Sept
   • Oct-Dec

Accounts Payable

1. Un-posted A/P
2. Posted A/P by Vendor
3. Paid A/P by vendor and by date order
   • Jan-March
   • April-June
   • July-Sept
   • Oct-Dec

Cash Transactions

1. Unpaid Bills
2. Bills Paid by Month (keep all receipts)

Payroll Records

1. Individual employee files
   • Employment agreements and Job description
   • Tax filings (W4, DE4 or other)
   • Employment Eligibility Verification (I9)
   • Payroll deduction forms
   • Employee Information Sheet
   • Verification of Receipt of Documents (such as safety handbook and emergency procedures, etc.)
   • Other Notifications, Communications and Reviews
2. Period Timesheets
3. Pay Check Records
4. Record of Tax Calculations & Payments
5. Record of Workers Compensation Insurance Calculations and Payments

Other Important Documentation (as it applies to your specific business)

Ronald Brookshire
Brookshire & Associates
Accounting, Tax and Business Consulting
(877) 424-9435