Spring has sprung, which means there is lots to look forward to –  warmer weather, longer days, and spring training for baseball.  Go Phillies!  And it is also time for spring cleaning, that annual time of year to declutter, clean, and reorganize.  You know how to spring clean your home, but how can you spring clean your business?

In the same way that you can organize your home, you can also organize yourself at work – and not just by cleaning your office space.  One thing to consider is taking a look at your file organization.  Where are you storing your files?  What is your system?  At Price Turner CFOs, we store all of our files online.  Employees may download some files to their work computers, and our policy is to get rid of the downloaded files every month, to avoid potential loss of confidential files if the physical computer is stolen.  This system served me very well when I dropped my computer a few weeks ago – just a few months after the extended warranty expired!  Once I replaced my computer, I was back up and running within an hour, thanks to LastPass, my password management system, which let me access my online accounts for Microsoft and more. All the client files are stored within TEAMS, Google sheets or dropbox – all are online, so with appropriate backups so I did not even need the old computer for access to any files or systems!!!  

It’s time to take a look at your systems – are they working for you?  Technology is advancing all the time.  Are there tasks your team is doing that could be automated?  This week, we automated an excel process for a client which was very complicated (documented of course, however there were still 13 different complex tasks within the process).  I worked with my IT guru and the process now involves 2 original files (no manipulation) and clicking a program – the results are available instantaneously!!!  This saves over 5 hours a month for my team!!!  

I’ve talked a lot about digital systems, but secure disposal of physical files and paper is important too.  You should shred anything that is confidential.  And although you should go through files and get rid of ones that are no longer relevant, there are some files that you should absolutely keep.  Your personal tax files should be saved for three years, whereas your business files should be saved for seven.  Any documentation relating to the purchase of a building or residence should be kept, as well as capital improvements to the property.  For businesses, that includes vehicles, improvements to office spaces, or furniture, that can be used when you sell the space to reduce capital gains.

Speaking of taxes, we are in tax season.  Most corporate taxes were already due, but personal taxes are due on April 15th, unless you have an extension – which is not a bad thing!  But make sure that you pay something this year if you are required to.  It is very difficult to fight the IRS and very difficult to be heard right now.

I hope that these tips can help you get your business organized for spring and the upcoming summer months!  It’s always good to take some time to reorganize, reevaluate, get rid of what is no longer needed, and make sure that everything is running smoothly. Then you can relax and enjoy everything that spring has to offer.