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Component Manufacturing dverti$er
Don’t Forget! You Saw it in the
Adverti$er
September 2019 #11242 Page #88
Top 10 Bookkeeping Mistakes to Avoid By Gary Fleisher
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o say I was surprised that almost 80% of all small independent home builders, both site and offsite/modular, build less than 4 homes a year is an understatement. That means that only 20% of all small builders in the US build more than 4. Who knew! If your business falls into the 80%, it’s almost a certainty you are making at least one of these bookkeeping mistakes and probably a lot more. And, if you’re in the 20%, some of these may be affecting your bottom line, too. This is real money out of your pocket. Here are the Top 10 bookkeeping mistakes made by small home builders: Not saving receipts of less than $75. While such receipts may not be required by the IRS, they provide backup documentation for the many deductions you may claim. It is very simple to have a folder for such receipts, which can prove valuable at tax time. How many trips to Lowe’s do you make a week where the amount is so small, under $40, that you simply pay cash or throw away the receipt? Five trips a week at $20 each is over $10,000 in unreported expenses. You do the math. Doing it yourself. No matter how much they hate it, many small modular home builder owners insist upon handling the books themselves. Having a competent bookkeeper coming in to handle the books can be extremely beneficial in that they have the skills to do the job quickly and efficiently and will provide a second pair of eyes to find errors and make suggestions. Forgetting to track reimbursable expenses. Small business owners often pay for expenses out of pocket or with their own personal credit card, then make the mistakes of failing to track these expenses or submit them to the company for reimbursement. This goes hand in hand with not saving receipts of less than $75.
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