When it comes to spending, it is vital to keep track of what you spend both as an individual and as an organization. Tracking your spending as an individual might be easier since you are majorly responsible for most of the spending. However, when it comes to organizational spending, it might be a bit more difficult. Different people are heading different departments who have to make expenses for their department. Even in the case of small businesses, your one or two other staff might sometimes have to run expenses when you are not around. Keeping tab of them could be very difficult and disastrous. Here are some of the best ways to keep track of your business spending.
Expenses could be submitted ahead of time
It is often best to have a system where every department submits the expenses they hope to make in advance for approval before they are implementing it. This is why budgeting is very important even at national levels. Towards the end of every month or year, every department should submit expected expenses for the next month or year. This would be properly vetted by the accounts department and subsequently forwarded to the MD or CEO, who would finally approve the amount that was approved to be disbursed to the different departments.
All records of expenses should be kept
There can sometimes be changes in the spending of the department. They could sometimes not end up buying some particular products or they could buy at a lower or higher price. Based on this, it is still important for every department to properly fill out every single expense they make. Once this is done, it would be possible to reconcile how much was approved for the department and how much was spent. If there are excesses, it would be expected that the excesses be returned to the organization.
Emphasize on receipts
Encourage the collection of receipts for every single expense made where possible. Every expense listed should be followed by a receipt number and photocopies of the receipts added when the reports are being submitted, with the option that the original could be requested where necessary. This would help to ensure that figures are not inflated. You could occasionally visit the stores or call numbers on the receipts to confirm the purchase and the cost of the products.
Being mindful of what you want to buy
If you run a small business, it is important to always be mindful of what you want to buy. Do not go into impulse buying as you might end up buying a lot of things that your organization does not need. The implication is that when there are actual needs, it might be difficult meeting up with them.
Balancing quality and price
When buying items as an organization, you do not always have to go for premium-priced items except your organization can comfortably afford it and your clientele is dependent on such types of item. Otherwise, you should concentrate more on balancing quality and price when you are buying items. High prices do not often automatically mean higher quality. Sometimes, it might just be a matter of the brand name.
Using apps to keep tracks of purchases
You could introduce the use of apps such as Pleo to further help with keeping track of your business spending. The apps go a long way to help you create a soft copy that could be backed up and retrieved more easily even years later.
