Business managers have so much to take care of from day to day. From product and service development and customer experience, to things like repair, human resource matters, basic bookkeeping, maintenance, presentation and marketing, and so much more.

Often, when we’re focused on larger matters, those that immediately affect our cash flow and customer satisfaction, we neglect several things that keep us ordered and focused. Over time, these seemingly smaller matters build up until we find ourselves drowning beneath piles of unfinished work and chaos. 

One of these things we often neglect is organizing our business paperwork. Too many business owners let invoices and contracts, employee paperwork, receipts, marketing materials, and mail pile up, all of it scattered randomly about in barely recognizable stacks, completely out of order.

This makes it almost impossible to find what you need, right when you need it. This only adds to your stress and frustration as you scramble around trying to locate the right receipt, that one contract, or key document for financial reconciliation, an important meeting, during an audit, or when you want to implement a new policy. 

It is imperative that, as a business owner, you develop a plan to get organized and stick to it every single day. Your accounting depends on it, your customer satisfaction demands it, your employees deserve it, and your sanity begs for it. In this article, we’re going to look at several easy steps that will help you organize your business paperwork and keep it that way. Let’s jump in. 

1. Create a Plan

Survey your surroundings. Sit down and think about how you can best organize your paperwork for maximum efficiency, safety and ease of access. Work with everyone who regularly accesses these materials, such as your bookkeeper, supervisors, or anyone else who depends on access to your business paperwork.

Discuss your ideas for getting things organized. Talk about where things will go, what materials you’ll need to accomplish this task, who will help in the organization process, and all policies going forward that dictate who has access and what this access entails. Consider how you want to keep things organized – what systems you want to use. For instance, will you organize by:

By Year or Time Frame

By Client and Customer

By Type (contracts, invoices etc.)

By Category (hiring/employee, taxes, finances, legal) 

Or a hybrid version of these

After that, dive in and get started putting your plan to work. 

2. Get the Materials You Need

Good organization requires a few necessary tools to accomplish. You’ll need things like:

• A strong filing cabinet
• File folders
• Shredder
• Label maker
• Copier and scanner
• A safe for important documents
• Smaller items like staplers,  pens and pencils, tape,  highlighters, liquid paper or tape-style correction materials
• Waste baskets and recycling bins/baskets
• Metal or wood baskets/boxes
• Cleaning supplies: spray, wipes, small towels and more. 

This list may be slightly different for you. Every organization has different needs and every paperwork system is unique to that business. But as a general guideline, these supplies will equip you with the basic things you need to organize your paperwork, get rid of waste, make things easy to find, and streamline your information workflow. 

3. Tackle One Area at a Time

Once you have your plan and your basic materials, it’s time to get on to the nitty-gritty. With paperwork everywhere and so much going on, the best way to stay focused, make sense of things, and not go crazy in the process is to attack one area at a time. If you look at the entire job all at once, it can discourage you. Just take it piece by piece and enjoy watching the progress. 

You can start on one end and work in a straight line. You can hit the corners first or start from the computer and work out from there. No matter how you go about it, don’t jump all over the place. You’ll get confused, progress will be slow and labored, and it won’t seem like anything is getting done. Chip away at it. Stay on course and you’ll have things organized in less time than you think.

4. Purge, Purge, Purge

Now that you’ve got a plan, and the tools needed to make it happen, it’s time to get rid of everything you don’t need. Toss all junk, unused magazines and newsletters. Go through all your mail. Put necessary pieces in your mail baskets according to importance and date and respond to them quickly. 

Put that shredder to work and pulverize all your unneeded or redundant paperwork. Be careful not to toss anything important or any financial documentation. You’ll need that for bookkeeping, financial planning, taxes, and audits.

5. Make Sure You Have the Right Software

We could have mentioned this above in our section about getting the tools needed for organization. However, it’s too important to lump in with everything else. Make sure you have a copy of or subscription to a top-rated bookkeeping/accounting software like QuickBooks Online, Xero, Oracle, or FreshBooks. There really is no substitute for the organization, features, capabilities, and speed of superb accounting software programs. 

6. Digital Backup

In addition to having the right accounting software, it’s also wise to have a paperless filing system, which gives you the ability to scan all documents and input them electronically. This will give you a complete duplicate system in the event you experience an accident or disaster and it destroys your physical copies. 

An important part of this process is partnering with a respected cloud-based data backup service like SpiderOak, Tresorit, Carbonite, iDrive or others. This will protect you from ever losing important documents, proprietary information, financial data, communications, and media.

Human errors happen, disasters like earthquakes, fires, and floods can strike at any time, hackers gain unauthorized access, and hardware breaks down. Cloud backup services protect and restore your data so you don’t have to worry about losing a thing. 

7. Focus on Accessibility and Importance

When putting things away, think about the importance of each item. Older instructional manuals or general info about an insurance policy aren’t items you need to access daily. But newer invoices, receipts, mail, and all financial documentation need to be close at hand. 

Be sure to file items in such a way that daily or weekly documents are quickly accessible and things you only need a few times a year are easy to find but not on top of or mixed in with more immediate paperwork. 

8. Train Your People

Take the time needed to instruct your staff on how your system of organization works. Make sure everyone has a thorough understanding of where everything goes, why it goes there, how to keep it up, and any limitations or restrictions on access. Getting everyone on-board early on will help you avoid disorganization and confusion later. 

In Closing

These steps should give you a basic framework to design your own system to help you organize your business paperwork. Don’t wait until things get out of hand. Get started now. Without great organization, your business will suffer. You will make costly errors, scramble to locate documents, miss investment or creative opportunities, and damage your relationship with employees and customers. 

Organization isn’t just about keeping things clean, it’s about performing at a higher level, conducting your business in a way that maximizes your resources and abilities to provide superior experiences for your customers and partners, and growing your business revenue in the years to come. 

To learn more about organizing your business paperwork, see our frequently asked questions and answers below. 

FAQ

Why is it important for me to organize my business paperwork?

When your paperwork is out of order, you can’t find anything when you need it. You will make financial errors, miss tax payments, make audits more difficult on yourself, risk conflict with employees, and increase your own stress substantially. 

Putting a clear system or organization in place ensures your ability to access imperative documentation quickly, helps you make payments on time, allows you to make more informed financial decisions, and streamlines workflow for everyone in your office. 

How do I get my business paperwork organized?

Every business will be different. Yet, there are certain steps every business owner can take to get things in order. Consider the following:

• Make a plan
• Get the right tools
• Follow your system
• Open and respond to mail right away
• Backup all files digitally
• File documents by importance and timeframe
• Get rid of unneeded documents
• Teach your team to follow your system 

What are some common tools needed for better organization?

Certainly not limited to these, but some important items include:

• Computer
• Scanner
• Filing cabinet
• File folders
• Label maker
• Boxes or baskets for mail
• Trash and recycling containers
• Accounting software
• Digital/paperless filing program
• Cloud backup service

And more