This information is for those of you who have decided to purchase a bookkeeping program, like Quickbooks, and to go ahead and do your own bookkeeping. Congratulations! You are on your way to becoming more organized with your business finances.

Taking a break from the excitement you are feeling, let’s consider that doing your own bookkeeping can be an intimidating project especially if you have never done it before. But there are some great resources out there to make sure you are doing things correctly.

One thing you can do is learn how to use Quickbooks through an instructor led class or training workshop. These are usually not very expensive, about $389.95 and up, and can get you started on the right foot. You can also take classes online or order training programs. These can start as low as $39.95. Oftentimes you can find smaller accounting firms that teach these trainings for a lower hourly fee. Quickbooks Intuit offers some great resources for finding both online, program based, and instructor led courses.

In addition to taking an official course, we suggest the following tips to help you as you begin keeping your own books:

1. Know What Constitutes a Receipt. A receipt is a cleared check, bank statement, credit card statement or actual receipt.
2. Stay on Top of It. Do your bookkeeping at least once a month.
3. Make Sure Your System Makes Sense to You. If you don’t understand it, your tax accountant won’t either.
4. Be Thorough. When recording income, make sure to include the record type, check number, date, and a copy of the payment. This will help clear up any client payment disputes.
5. Just Do It. The hardest part of bookkeeping is sitting down and doing it.

Now that you have an idea of what you need to do to get started on your bookkeeping, make sure you utilize some or all of these resources to make sure you are doing your books correctly.