How to Clean Up Your Accounting in 7 Days
When your books are messy, everything else feels uncertain. You can’t make smart decisions if you don’t trust your numbers. But fixing your accounting doesn’t have to be overwhelming.
Here’s a simple plan to clean up your books in just one week.
Day 1: Categorize Every Expense
Log into QuickBooks (or your software) and make sure every expense is labeled correctly. Avoid the "Uncategorized" bucket. If you really aren't sure how to categorize an expense, create a list and send to your accountant or send us an email, [email protected]
Day 2: Separate Business and Personal Spending
If you’re still mixing personal and business, stop today! Open a dedicated business checking account and start separating your personal expenses from the business expenses.
Day 3: Review Your Profit & Loss Statement
Pull a P&L for the year. Are there any obvious mistakes? Are transactions in the right categories? If something is obviously off, don't just let it dig into the issue.
Day 4: Set Up a Weekly Financial Review
Pick one day each week at the same time to check revenue, expenses, and cash in the bank. Put it on your calendar and stick to it like a first date. Unless you are that type of person that ghosts first dates 😉
Day 5: Automate Recurring Expenses
Use your software to tag subscriptions, rent, payroll, etc. Automation keeps things clean moving forward. If you barely have money in the bank to pay your bills, I don't recommend automation to start but you'll need to be on top of the bills to make sure they are never late and pay unnecessary late fee's and penalties.
Day 6: Eliminate Waste
Review every line item and ask: do we still need this? Cancel what isn’t essential. Stop spending money on things that don't grow the practice.
Day 7: Schedule Monthly Tax Set-Asides
Decide on a percentage (usually 25-30%) and start transferring it to a separate tax account monthly. Do not keep tax money in your main bank account. If you see it, you're likely to spend it. Uncle Sam is going to collect, set the money aside now so you're not stressing later!
Final Thoughts
Most practice owners avoid their numbers because they’re messy to start and feels overwhelming to organize. But once your books are clean, you’ll feel more in control. MindPractice helps practices like yours get organized, stay profitable, and make decisions with confidence.
Take the Next Step: Let’s Talk
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Schedule a free 15-minute call to discuss your goals and help you map out your next steps.
