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How To Effectively Organize Your Office Space
by: Nyall Bakk
While many offices are trying to go paperless, the
fact remains that some paperwork is necessary.
Many business transactions require the proper
paperwork and the IRS is just one organization that
may require hard copies rather than electronic
copies. If you have a small office you may find
yourself running out of space to put all your
paperwork. Organizing and properly filing your
papers is essential should you ever need to find
anything specific.
Trying to organize a mass of paperwork can seem
like an impossible task. Many people don't know
what to throw out and what to keep so all papers get
shoved into boxes and drawers. Finding anything
becomes impossible. The management of all
companies needs to come up with ways to organize
and file important paperwork.
Barbara Hemphill, an expert on office efficiency,
says that "most small businesses don't deal with
their papers until it's too late." If there is one
important piece of paper you need to find amongst
hundreds if not thousands of other papers it could
take you days to locate its whereabouts.
Management needs to take steps now to prevent this
type of situation from happening.
Step One Towards Office Organization
You are going to need an entire day (if not more) to
organize the office. You do not want to find yourself
interrupted and distracted by customers, so choose a day
when you are not normally open to tackle this mammoth
project. Make sure all office staff get in on the fun
because it is certain that they helped to create the mess.
Organizing your office space and paperwork is more difficult
if you work alone, but not impossible. Even entrepreneur
diehards can squeeze in a day for cleanup.
The paperwork atop your desk needs to be first priority.
Organize by subject and then date. After sorting is out of
the way, it is time to put everything in its proper place.
If file folders do not exist for some of the paperwork,
then create some so there is a place for them.
Next, locate income statements, expense receipts, and sort
them accordingly. Your accounting should be a priority.
Record transactions into an accounting system or ledger
until you're current. If you're like me, you could spend
the majority of your day just entering transactions.
Instead, end at a time that you can easily pickup from.
Upon organizing the paperwork into folders, you are going
to require some boxes or perhaps some crates to store all
the documents in for safekeeping. The particular way in
which you file things will naturally be determined by the
nature of your business. But, irrespective of the type of
business you operate, all companies should file accounts
payable and accounts receivable at the same time. The
critical thins is that you have some kind of system for
your filing.
Organizing your Computer Documents
Fire or water can wreak havoc on a business if either of
these two hazards reach critical documents. Businesses
have coped with these dangers by investing in scanners so
that they can digitize their physical documents.
It is simple to file and access information stored on a cd,
floppy, or even an external hard drive for the true
techies. Whatever you choose to utilize, make sure to keep
the storage devices in a fireproof safe or even off site if
that is a viable option.
Online automated backup services are also available. For a
small fee, you can backup computer documents to an offsite
system. This is excellent for financial records. No
financial business should be without a backup system.
Hemphill says that "Your ability to accomplish
daily tasks is directly related to your ability to find
the right information at the right time." If your
office isn't currently organized make it your
number one priority. It will save you time and
money in the future.
This article was posted on October 2, 2005
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