In Part 1 of our top nine accounting tips for independent window cleaning companies, we discussed the importance of putting away for taxes and keeping up with your transactions as they happen. In this article, we will continue to help you plan out your finances for your window cleaning company so you end up in the black at the end of the year.
It’s always a good idea to put away money so you can reinvest it in your business. Maybe you want to upgrade from working out of your car to working out of a big van. Perhaps you want to get some cool business cards or uniforms for your company. You may even want to create a commercial for your company so people can learn about you in your local area. You can’t do any of that without some sort of savings.
Try to put away at least 10% to 25% of your money every month for the purpose of reinvesting in your company.
You need to assess your business costs on a regular basis to make sure that you are not overspending in one certain area. For instance, your fuel charges one month may be a lot higher than normal because you picked up new clients in another part of town. You may need to adjust your routes a little bit to save money elsewhere on fuel. If the cost of fuel or cleaning supplies goes up, you need to be able to adjust your prices to accommodate for that. Financial analysis will greatly impact your decision making.
It doesn’t matter if all you buy is $10 worth of paper towels – you need to have a receipt for that. All of the little bits of money that you pay for supplies throughout the year are considered business expenses. Even your rent or car payment for the month could potentially be an expense. Keep a folder of all your receipts somewhere that’s easy to access so you can deduct the right amount of money from your taxable income at the end of the year.
We finish off this set of accounting tips for window cleaning companies in Part 3 of this article series. Read on to learn even more about how to manage your company’s money.