After tidying hundreds of ledgers, we see the same six slips again and again. None needs an accountant to fix — just a small habit in the right place.
- Mixing personal and business spend. One card for the firm, always. Unmixing a year takes days; keeping it split takes seconds.
- Saving receipts nowhere. Snap every slip the day it lands — see our Friday tidy habit.
- Never matching the bank. Reconcile monthly so the balance on screen is the balance in truth.
- Guessing categories. A short category list beats a long clever one. Keep it under twenty.
- Leaving invoices unchased. A polite nudge at 7 and 21 days halves late payment.
- Doing it all in April. Twelve small closes beat one giant rescue. Monthly bookkeeping exists for exactly this.
The ten-minute monthly check
Match the bank, scan uncategorised entries, age your debtors, glance at profit against plan. Four steps, ten minutes, and April stops hurting. One client found $4,800 of double-counted software seats in the first pass alone.
Takeaway
Separate cards, snapped slips, matched banks, chased invoices. Small routines now prevent large bills later.