Year End Part Two: Personal Transactions

November 14, 2023

When it comes to managing personal and business expenses, proper bookkeeping is essential. It allows you to maintain a clear distinction between the two and ensures accurate financial records.


The best practice is to set up separate bank accounts for your personal and business finances. This will help you keep track of transactions more effectively. Additionally, you should be using separate credit cards and lines of credit if possible.


When recording personal transactions in your bookkeeping system, categorize them separately from your business expenses. I typically will categorize any personal transactions made from the business accounts as “Owners Draw” or “Shareholder Distribution”. This will make it easier to identify which expenses are eligible for tax deductions or reimbursements.


Additionally, make sure to keep detailed records of all personal expenditures that may be related to your business. If you are using personal funds to make purchases for the business, it’s important to keep those records and to get these entered into the business books. These could include home office supplies or utilities used for both personal and business purposes. By documenting these expenses, you can potentially claim deductions when filing taxes.


Remember, maintaining a clear distinction between personal and business finances is crucial for accurate financial reporting and ensuring compliance with tax regulations. If you would like help navigating this issue and others like it, reach out or book a meeting today!


August 14, 2026
Growth is the goal. More customers, more revenue, maybe your first few employees. It is exciting, and it is also the moment when many business owners discover that the way they have been handling their books no longer keeps up. The setup that worked when you were a solo operator doing a hundred transactions a month starts to strain when you are doing five times that with a team. The good news is that this is predictable, which means you can build for it before it becomes a problem.
July 17, 2026
We are halfway through the year. That makes July a good time to stop and ask a simple question: is your business actually on track for what you wanted in January? Most owners set goals at the start of the year and then put their heads down and work. That is not a criticism. It is what running a business looks like. But six months in, you now have something you did not have in January: real numbers. A mid-year checkup is just taking an hour to look at them while there is still time to do something about what you find.
June 22, 2026
Most business owners we talk to assume catch-up bookkeeping is the budget-friendly choice. Let the books sit, hand off a pile of statements once or twice a year, and pay for a single cleanup instead of an ongoing service. On paper that sounds reasonable. In practice it usually costs more.