Quite a number small business owners view bookkeeping as a bothersome task that takes them away from running their business. Others even turn fretful, making them second-guess their knowledge and skills for fear of the taxation office storming through their door.

Fortunately, you don’t have to be intimidated by accounting. Successful business owners don’t view bookkeeping negatively, having adopted a few simple procedures to stay on top of the paperwork. By doing so, they save time and money…and a lot of sleepless nights.

Just follow these basic steps to gain control—and stay in control—of your business’s bookkeeping tasks:

1. Use accounting software such as Xero or QuickBooks. Become at least generally familiar with the software. Know how to input checks, reconcile bank accounts, create reports and other data.

2. Scan through your receipts, expense reports, business cards and other important paperwork. Utilize software products like Shoebox or NeatReceipts to save time and paper, and help audit-proof your record.

3. Split up personal accounts and business accounts. Don’t mix the two. Keeping personal and business bank accounts and credit cards separate will make bookkeeping much easier and help maintain your corporate veil if you have a formal entity.

4. Don’t use cash. Instead, use your debit or credit card religiously. When you use cash, you lose track of potential write-offs. If you have to get money from an ATM, note the purpose of the withdrawal on the receipt.

5. Go paperless. Storing tax documents is a hassle. The better alternative is to purchase a small fireproof safe to store important personal documents (passport, life insurance, etc.) along with a regular backup of your bookkeeping software and tax returns saved on a flash drive. For extra data protection, consider off-site physical storage or online data storage for these records and scanned files.

6. Hire a full-time bookkeeper to provide the services you need. A bookkeeper will certainly be more skilled and knowledgeable than you or a freelancer, but your cost per hour will increase. One smart strategy is to hire experienced bookkeepers in the Philippines at just a fraction of the domestic cost.

With the Deployed brand of offshore outsourcing, you retain full management ownership of your remote employee—like having a permanent staff member who works from home. With easy access to cloud-based accounting systems and increasing familiarity in the Philippines with Australian and New Zealand tax laws and regulations, this seems an obvious match.

A bookkeeper could be one of the wisest business decisions you ever make, saving you money, time and putting an end to lost sleep worrying about your business finances. If the time is right for you to bring a bookkeeper on board, talk to Deployed today about hiring dedicated, highly skilled resource in the Philippines, at a fraction of the cost you’d pay in Australia or New Zealand.