Stewarding your finances

Richard Paul

Hello, my name is Richard Paul, and I am the founder of RJP Bookkeeping Services which is based out of Stayner, Ontario.  RJP Bookkeeping Services focuses on personal tax return preparation and on small to mid-sized businesses, providing them with both bookkeeping and corporate tax planning. 

I was born at old RVH in Barrie in 1983, and was raised in Stayner as the eighth generation in my family to live in this area. 

The funny thing is, I don’t recall why I ever chose accounting.  My favourite TV show was Dallas, which I found fascinating purely from a business point of view. Honestly, I didn’t care for the drama in the story line!  It was then that I decided I wanted to become a businessman.  When I was 15, I was diagnosed with a neuro-muscular disease called Chariot-Marie-Tooth, which affects my hands and feet. I had surgery on my feet in grade 11 and that laid me up for six weeks. During that time, it was tax season and my parent’s tax preparer had just retired.  I was bored so my parents told me give it a shot and do their taxes.  I found I really liked doing taxes and soon found myself doing them for the rest of my family and then later, family friends.

I excelled in business studies during High School, and even won an award for entrepreneurship.  I took that passion to Georgian College and graduated with a Business Accounting diploma.

I have worked in a variety of types and sizes of companies since then. I have been running my own business for the last 10 years while continuing to stay up to date on current tax and finance policies and regulations.

Now you know a little bit about me!  Now, let me share some tips about personal vs. business expenses and how to keep yourself organized in both areas
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The number one thing you need to do is keep your money separate. Have separate bank accounts, even if your business money isn’t kept in an account labelled business by the bank.  This is a hard thing to do, especially when first starting up.  I currently have both personal and business accounts and credit cards.  Although I try hard very hard to keep purchases separated, sometimes an order from Staples, for example, is for both personal and business.  It’s okay however, because you can still expense a purchase to your business from your personal account. 

Do your best not to use your business account for personal purchases and vice versa. If there isn’t enough money to cover the cost of the purchase either transfer the money between accounts or don’t make the purchase. This means you need to have a solid business and personal budget, but that’s a whole other conversation!

You also need to have a separate filing system for business and personal expenses. Whatever you do, do not use the shoebox method. Use file folders please.  It doesn’t have to be fancy, but the sure-fire way to piss off an income tax preparer or bookkeeper is to bring a shoebox into their office. When you are organized from the start, it can save you time, money and lots of aggravation. This is especially true when it comes to required government filings (i.e. HST, Income tax etc.) or if you ever get audited.

Here are some tips to always follow:

1. Always, always, always get a receipt. Debit and credit card statements are disallowed by Canadian Revenue Agency as proof of payment during an Audit or Review.
2. Out to Lunch: Meal receipts need to have the names of people present and a reason for the meeting (i.e. Richard Paul and Christine Olding - Business Finances).
3. Keep all of your insurances policies forever.  If your past liability is ever questioned, you need to know exactly what your coverage was at that exact time.
4. All receipts must be kept for at least seven years. Business receipts for asset purchases and other paperwork however must be kept forever!
   1. You can apply as a business if you want to get rid of any records after seven years.
   2. The best way to organize them is to have them separated by year in separate boxes and labelled well.

Finally, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email me at r[email protected]