In today's world of necessary recordkeeping, the paper giant of keeping records to
satisfy our own personal and business requirements can seem to get out of hand which
causes many frustrations. We need personal records to document and balance our financial
positions, our tax positions, our legal positions and our investment positions in both our
personal and business life. In order to help our prospects and customers find a simple
hands on solution to handling all the paperwork involved, we decided to write each of you
some solutions that have been found through years of experience, that ease the trauma of
the paperwork and filing jungle. It is our sincere hope that you can benefit from the
ideas we are presenting here.
WE HOPE THIS WILL BE AS SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE FOR YOU TO UNDERSTAND AND WE WISH YOU THE
BEST WITH ALL OF YOUR FINANCIAL ENDEAVORS.
Note: Legal Forms - Pahrump specializes in
documenting corporations with meeting minutes, By-Laws, employee agreements, meeting
notices, meeting notice waivers, etc., for small to medium size corporations. Legal Forms - Pahrump does this at incredibly low prices.
NEED FOR RECORDS
LEGAL RECORDS
IRS AND STATE TAX RECORDS
ACCOUNTING RECORDS
PERSONAL RECORDS
BANKING RECORDS
THE BASICS
KEEP FILES SEPARATE BY LEGAL ENTITIES
KEEP FILES SEPARATE BY TIME PERIODS (YEAR)
KEEP FILES SEPARATE THAT ARE PERMANENT
USE COMPUTER ACCOUNTING SYSTEMS
THE DETAILS
KEEP FILES SEPARATE BY LEGAL ENTITIES
Legal entities means just that. Each Corporation, Partnership, Personal business, and
your personal life should each have its own set of file boxes. We recommend the use of 8
1/2" X 11" file boxes to store each of these entities.
KEEP FILES SEPARATE BY TIME PERIODS (YEAR)
Within each file box, we recommend the use of hanging filing folders. A set of hanging
folders is best and each legal entity should have its own set labeled(i.e. JANUARY,
FEBRUARY, MARCH, ETC.) to start. In each of these folders for each month should be placed
each bill paid for that entity during that time period. We highly recommend the use of a
cover sheet for each invoice which is then followed by the invoice and any documentation
and lastly by the duplicate copy of the check that paid the bill. (SEE SAMPLE). You may
photocopy the following form and enter your entity name and then make many copies for use
with each invoice. It is best if you make up your own form, which can contain any specific
other information that may be special for your situation. Next placed in each folder is a
copy of each check deposited to the bank account for that legal entity. If there are many
deposits, you may wish to make up a daily deposit form to attach to the front of that
day's deposits (especially if cash deposits are received. When the bank statement comes in
from the bank, it is first reconciled. Then the deposit slip copies and copies of the
checks deposited are stapled to the back of the bank statement in the upper left corner.
Then the canceled checks are stapled to the back of the statement in the center and bottom
of the bank statement. This statement package is then filed with the appropriate month's
paid bills. At the end of each year, each month is pulled and put in consecutive order
into a folder marked with the year and the now empty monthly folders are ready for the
next year. Time periods can be shorter or longer depending upon your volume for that
entities paperwork of monthly transactions. High volume could be folders per day. Less
volume could be folders per year.
In the same file box in the front are placed more hanging file folders for that
entity. These folders are for permanent ongoing records for that entity. Example folders
we have found useful are labeled:
BANK CORRESPONDENCE - PIN #'S, AGREEMENTS, ETC.
NOTES TO/FROM OTHER ENTITIES - NOTES & MORTGAGES
LEGAL PAPERS - CONTRACTS, TITLES, DEEDS, ETC.
TAXES - COPIES OF RETURNS & CORRESPONDENCE, ETC.
FORMS - BLANK FORMS FOR PROCESSING
INSURANCE - FORMS, POLICIES AND CLAIMS
USE COMPUTER ACCOUNTING SYSTEMS
If you have a computer, which we highly recommend for its many uses, we recommend the
use of Microsoft money or Quicken by Intuit, although any good money management software
should suffice. We prefer Quicken for its many features. If you are an investor watching
the Stock market, Quicken has a companion called "Quicken Companion" which will
dial into CompuServe and automatically download to your Quicken software, the current
market prices of your portfolio, which in turn updates your net worth statement at just
the press of a few buttons. Quicken also interfaces to Turbo-Tax which will practically
automatically prepare your whole tax return each year. Quicken has another add-in called
Expensable for expense reports and a Retirement Planner. If you are energetic, the use of
Turbo-Tax will perform proforma tax returns for you throughout the year so that year end
tax planning can be done with an ease and excitement never before experienced. Without the
use of Turbo-Tax, Quicken will perform a more simpler tax profile for you throughout the
year for tax planning purposes at the touch of a few buttons. Each legal entity should
have its own Computer file so that reporting can be maximized and your filing system will
match each entity's computer accounting files.
LEGAL FORMS - PAHRUMP