Why is it important to keep accurate records?

• Money received from all sources (Christmas presents or Birthday gifts) will be considered income if you don't have proper documentation.
• If you don't record a transaction you could forget some of your expenditures.
• If your records do not support your claims, they could be disallowed.

How should I organize my bookkeeping?

• All like items should be kept together. i.e. gas receipts, office supplies and lease expenses are all separate categories

What information should my business records contain?

• Your records should contain clear documentation of all sales transactions, invoices, utilities and any other expenditures. Ask your bookkeeper what is required.

Can I write-off a home office?

You can write-off a home office if:

• It is your main place of employment
• You use it to earn an income and meet clients and customer's on a regular and ongoing basis.

Get a banking package that returns your cheques to you each month. This gives you the ability to physically review all the cheques that have passed through your account and to verify the expense.

Look at the signature line on all of your cheques. With the industry standard adapting to automated banking systems - signatures on cheques are no longer verified by a human being. This means that cheques with no signature or cheques with fake signatures can pass through quite easily. Make sure you review the signature of each cheque and that the signature is yours.

Should you write a post-dated cheque there is no guarantee that your cheque will be held if deposited early. With automatic banking systems being the industry standard; there is no human to verify the date.