Nobody starts a business to keep records, so the records slide. Here is how that shows up, why it happens, and the smallest habit that fixes each one.
Read the headings first. If one sounds like you, tick the signs underneath that fit your own business. Recognising the problem is the first step, and for some of these it is most of the work.
Is this you?
From our invoice data
Only about 1 in 5 invoicing businesses (25 of 112) records any expenses alongside its invoices.
Source: Billbooks invoice data, 8,483 invoices from 112 small businesses, September 2024 to September 2026 (aggregate only, figures shown only where 25+ businesses contribute). See the study
Why it happens
Each small expense feels too minor to bother with, and nobody adds them up over a year.
Is this you?
Why it happens
Recording feels like a job for later, and later arrives all at once at year end.
Is this you?
Why it happens
Starting out with one account is convenient, and separating them never feels urgent until tax time.
Is this you?
Why it happens
Looking at the numbers feels like bad news waiting to happen, so it gets avoided until it cannot be.
Is this you?
Why it happens
Costs and time are tracked for the business as a whole, never per job, so the unprofitable work hides inside the total.
Is this you?
Why it happens
Handing the books to a professional feels like handling them, and it leaves eleven months without any view of the business.
Read next
Guide coming soon.
Mileage is the one most owners leave on the table. Work out what yours is worth. If receipts are the mess, Billbooks lets you log each expense with a photo of its receipt as you go, so there is no shoebox to sort at year end.
Work out your mileage deductionMore problems owners run into: cash, pricing and invoicing, selling and leads, mindset and growth, when things go wrong, tools. Or see every problem in one list.