Comments on: Is your paperwork costing you time and money?

By: Zodomatica - Bits of Tzaddi's Life

Zodomatica - Bits of Tzaddi's Life — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 03:08:41 +0000

[…] instead of leaving all my receipts in a big mess to sort at the end of the year. The article “Is your paperwork costing you…” at FreelanceSwitch is a good reminder why I should be doing this. (Thanks, […]

By: Will

Will — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 04:54:49 +0000

@ Tim Collier — What version of Quickbooks software do you use? I’ve been trying to figure out if the lowest version they have (Simple Start, I think it’s called) or Quicken for Home and Business would be good enough to do the job for an upstart, one-man web design business. And also, what type of file categories are you and others using? I mean, if your using accounting software to keep track of your financial data for bookkeeping and taxes, what documents are you filing in a cabinet and under what labels?

By: Paul Lagasse

Paul Lagasse — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 14:02:49 +0000

Don’t forget the other end of the process — it’s important to develop a process for the disposal of paper and electronic files when they are no longer needed. A good disposal routine can save storage space (physical and hard drive), making it easier to index and find information. And it’s possible to develop a disposal process that takes only minutes to manage.

You don’t have to invent a process from scratch. Professional records and information management (RIM) guidelines, called schedules, are available for free from Federal government archives, which you can adapt to your own business records. For example, here in the U.S. the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) makes its General Records Schedules available as free html, PDF, and Word downloads here: http://archives.gov/records-mgmt/ardor/records-schedules.html .

By: Szymon

Szymon — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 04:03:11 +0000

It’s rather interesting that you so seriously knock down people doing their own taxes (I am referring to the first comment “I am not sure I can totally agree with the do your own taxes (LOL)”). I have been doing my own taxes for a few years now, and one time I decided to hire a CPA to do it for me and really the results were basically the same except I was out the $500 fee for the accountant versus paying $100 for QuickTax for Small Business. Really, being organized with all of your papers and doing some basic reading is all it takes to successfully file your taxes. Of course, if you are running a large business with six figures of income, multiple employees and so on then it’s a different story…. but I really can’t see every freelancer requiring the services of a CPA.

As for the main article, I think one important benefit from all of this is being able to track excatly what the meal expenses were. I know here in Canada you are required to keep a detailed log of all your business meal expenses and even a quick blurb about how that meeting related to business (totally lame, not sure if the US is the same) and same thing goes for car milage.

By: Creative

Creative — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 17:55:18 +0000

I, for one, am lousy at tracking invoices. Couldn’t tell you how many times I forgot to bill a client for something. Even forgot to bill a client for a full year of hosting!

Knowing that handling accounting was not for me, I tried using almost every online invoicing services. Finally came across one that works just perfect for me — FreshBooks (aff).

I usually invoice clients in stages so once I add a client, I create all three invoices at once — but only send the first. That way, each invoices is ready to go when the next milestone is met.

One feature I find the most useful is that the system can automatically send reminders to clients who haven’t paid (you can set the time intervals) — a nice nudge to keep clients on track.

Other features included creating estimates and then converting them into invoices, time tracking, giving client option to pay online or by regular check (you can mail physical invoices as well), extensive reporting, and you can edit invoices and add expenses as required. Clients can even login to review past invoices, payments, and print copies as needed. You can use the system with PayPal and a list of other payment gateways which can simplify your life and also allow you to automatically bill on a recurring basis.

Check it out (non aff) — they offer a free trial. It’s made my life a 1000 times easier.

By: Deborah

Deborah — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 13:13:37 +0000

Great advice on keeping current on paperwork. And a great lead in to what tools/applications freelancers are using to track their expenses, handle accounting. I’m still looking for that one application that can handle it all. The application that handles time tracking, expense tracking, and invoices. What are people using? I’ve looked at LessAccounting in the past, but it doesn’t handle time tracking, Blinksale is great for invoicing, but doesn’t handle anything else.

By: Tim Collier

Tim Collier — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 06:11:18 +0000

I recommend getting a base accounting program such as MS accounting (the basic version is free) or Quickbooks, you can complete your invoicing and have it automatically entered into your books. If you create an invoice template you can also easily print it with your logo and info with no additional time expended. You can also make it into a pdf to email to your clients saving postage and time. Of course as a CPA I am not sure I can totally agree with the do your own taxes (LOL), but I do agree that if you keep your books up to date then your taxes should be easy to prepare and you can just use your CPA for more difficult questions.