A dedicated business bank account and business card, from day one, with zero personal traffic. This single habit protects your liability shield, keeps every later task trivial, and is the first thing any lender, investor, or acquirer checks for. Commingling is the original sin of startup finance; everything painful descends from it.
Cash-basis records (money in, money out) suffice at the very start, but pick software that can carry you into accrual accounting — recognizing revenue when earned and expenses when incurred — because growth, investors, and eventually GAAP will demand it. Migrating systems mid-growth is far costlier than choosing well now.
Once a month: reconcile every account against statements, categorize every transaction, review the profit and loss for anything surprising, and file the supporting documents. For an early-stage company this is an hour. The habit — not the hour — is the asset.
Profit and loss (performance over a period), balance sheet (position at a moment), cash flow statement (where money actually moved). Founders who can read all three make visibly better decisions and dramatically better impressions on the people funding them.
Estimated tax payments, payroll filings the moment you hire, sales tax where you have obligations, contractor reporting. Missed deadlines carry penalties that dwarf the cost of simply knowing the dates.
The founder should understand the books but usually shouldn't keep them past early traction. The right moment to delegate is when the monthly close starts slipping — because slipping compounds.
Complimentary Deal-Ready Assessment. No cost, no obligation. Results in five business days.
Start Your Free Assessment