Easy Record Keeping for Associated Content Producers

Record keeping for any business is a very important task. Accurate records ensure less trouble at tax time, and certainly help when you need to decide how much money you've made compared to how much money you'd like to make. Not only that, you can keep track of all of the deductions that are important to running your business. As a independent contractor for Associated Content, record keeping for you should be no different. It's just as important for you as it is for other business owners.

AC has decided to list all of our previous content along with our payment amount and date. This does help but should not be relied on completely. Using what AC lists should be your guide. One of the easiest ways to keep records, and one of the fastest is to use an Excel workbook to document everything.

Your first page can list all of the articles you've written for AC. On this page, make separate headings for each column and list the titles. In another column, list your payment amount. If you'd like, also list whether or not you've been paid for this particular piece of content. Whenever a new payment comes in for content, open up your Excel workbook and change the "no" to yes, this will help you keep track of the actual amount of money received at any given time. Using auto sum, set it so each time a new payment amount is added, it will automatically add it to your balance. This will help you keep track of how much money you've made weekly, monthly or even yearly.

The next page of your work book can be used for any deductions that you may have when it comes to AC. List anything that can be counted. Unsure deductions should not be listed or listed on another page or another area of your deduction spreadsheet. Checking with your tax preparer about all possible deductions will benefit you greatly here. Remember to save receipts as you'll need these later. Use the auto sum button here as well to add up how much your deductions total here.

Your workbook can also benefit you greatly if you work independently for other companies as well. Rename page tabs and even color code them for easier finding if you decide to keep all your records in one workbook. Do just the same for those businesses as you do for your Associated Content pages.

It's important to remember that you should not just save your business records to your computer. Always have a back up method. Floppy disks for older computer models are an excellent way to save smaller files as it's not likely your business records will exceed that disk space.

Another highly popular method of file saving is a USB drive. These are also referred to as a thumb drive or a flash drive. They can be purchased just about anywhere for a rather small price. Save a new copy to your USB drive every time an important change is made. You can also choose to work on your records weekly, saving a copy whenever you are finished, more if you are making large changes.

With accurate record keeping, you won't have to worry too much when tax time rolls around. You can print your entire record book and take it to your tax preparer. With all the information directly in front of them, the preparation time for your taxes won't be as long!

Good luck and happy record keeping!