In today’s competitive environment, information is power. With these 30 tips, you'll have the beginnings of a custom-designed small business accounting process.

1. Send out customer statements on time so you can get paid
2. File all customer invoices so that nothing gets lost
3. Track late payments in order to resolve these problems quickly
4. Ensure that you stop serving customers who aren’t paying their bills
5. Safeguard good customer relations by properly recording all payments
6. Accurately calculate interest, and collect it from overdue accounts
7. Reduce the need to borrow money due to poor cash flow
8. Ensure that you don’t lose sales because items are out-of-stock
9. Avoid rush delivery charges to obtain out-of-stock items
10. Stop wasting money buying more of what isn’t selling
11. Set your sales prices based on profit instead of conjecture
12. Concentrate on selling the most profitable items instead of the easiest ones
13. Identify profitable cross-selling opportunities
14. Avoid selling products at a loss because you don’t take markdowns on time
15. Know which money-making product lines to expand, and which ones to drop because they’re money-losers
16. Discover theft before it becomes a problem
17. Never pay a bill twice by mistake
18. Never lose a discount by paying a vendor late
19. Reduce the need to borrow by planning for your payment due dates
20. Maintain your good credit rating and keep your borrowing costs low
21. Obtain better credit terms based on your good payment history
22. Know how much payroll and sales taxes you owe, in order to avoid penalties and interest
23. Never write a bad check
24. Never pay another bad check service charge
25. Make sure all your cash receipts are credited to your account
26. Know when you have excess cash so that you can put it to work
27. Track your expenses in detail so you know which ones can be reduced
28. Never spend beyond your budget
29. Get the maximum tax deductions for the expenses of running your business
30. Learn how much profit you’ve made, and what your business is worth each month in order to:
    • Know when it’s the right time to grow
    • Know when it’s the right time to hold back
    • Plan accurately for taxes
    • Save hundreds to thousands of dollars on your year-end tax return
    • Comply with the reporting requirements of any business loan
    • Respond immediately to any supplier’s or customer’s request for financial information
31. Figure your profit on a cash or accrual basis so you pay the lowest taxes
32. Track revenues and costs by job or project (contractors, landlords, attorneys, etc.) in order to:
    • Know on an ongoing basis which products are profitable and which ones aren’t
    • Get paid on time as you complete the job
    • Avoid working on projects where progress payments are behind
33. If you manufacture or assemble products (machine shops, bakeries, clothing manufacturers, etc.):
    • Know what it costs to make each item
    • Set a selling price to cover your costs and achieve a fair profit
    • Know what product lines to expand because they’re profitable
    • Know what product lines to drop because they’re money-losers

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