How To Avoid Paying Business Expenses in Cash

No matter how big or small your company is, it can be tempting to roll into your local office supply store to purchase new printer ink using cash rather than wait for it to be delivered. Small purchases like this once in a while won’t be too problematic for your business, but over time, and if not monitored, cash payments can really confuse your accounting. It’s always best to avoid cash payments whenever possible (and it's nearly always possible) to ensure that every payment is properly accounted for and your bookkeeper can best organize business expenses. Here are two great tips for maintaining clear accounting and avoiding cash payments.

Provide Company Cards To Select Employees

No matter how prepared you are, there will always be that week when your office has run out of toilet paper. There needs to be some kind of mechanism to allow select employees to make critical purchases on the fly. You may want to speak with your bank or credit card company regarding the best way to manage something like this. Unless you have salespeople out on the road or anticipate multiple staff members needing to make small credit card purchases, the best way to manage company credit cards is often to create one for whichever team member’s job it is to organize your business expenses and allow that person to make small or last-minute credit card purchases on behalf of your whole team.

Set Up Business Accounts

Many companies, including some national office supply chains and even Amazon.com , offer business services. Meaning, instead of walking into the store or using your personal cash or credit card to make business purchases you can order online, get discounted rates, and have goods delivered right to your office. This not only cuts down on cash purchases, which will make your accounting team happy, but it keeps your team focused and in the office rather than running around doing errands.

We always recommend that our business clients avoid or at least minimize cash expenses whenever possible. Too many cash expenses can cause confusion and unnecessary mistakes in your accounting. There are many ways to avoid cash expenses, and these are just two. If you’d like more information about this subject, give us a call. A member of our team will happily sit down with you and help you come up with a new strategy for small business expenses.