Owning/operating a buy-here-pay-here dealership or a related finance company is an enjoyable but time-consuming endeavor. Some of the least glamourous, most important sections of the business are bookkeeping, banking, and accounting. Here are 5  ways BHPH dealers can streamline the required processes of these areas.

If your DMS doesn’t allow you to perform and customize any or all of the actions listed below, your accounting department will operate with substandard efficiency. Inadequate record keeping can manifest itself in several ways: the need to hire a larger workforce or outside consultant, wasted time correcting mistakes/solving mysteries, failed audits, business decisions based on bad data, lost/misplaced revenue, etc. Here are some ways to help your bank and business effectively communicate with each other.

Make daily deposits and record them.

Itemized, line-by-line deposits would be preferable. This way, it’s painless to work backwards to fix mistakes (or avoid mistakes altogether).  An itemized record of all entries would make research and corrections a breeze.

Setup separate clearing accounts.

Separating cash, credit cards, ACH/checks, MoneyGram, and other outside sources can be instrumental in keeping your books clean and accounts reconciled.  Make sure clearing accounts are $0 on a regular basis.

Grant access only to those who need it.

How many people have access to your chart of accounts?  How many people can enter adjustments, corrections, and journal entries?  Who is responsible for making and correcting deposits?  The fewer, the better; controlling and monitoring this access is paramount.

Run reports daily.

Most common daily reports: cash intake, deposit, unpaid down payments, balances, etc.

Have a consistent bank reconciliation schedule.

Matching bank deposits tracked in your DMS with your bank statement should be done at least monthly.

Deal Pack is a revolutionary DMS that has real-time accounting. This eliminates double entry and automates several day-to-day tasks of the BHPH dealer.  Whether it’s reports that are generated and emailed to you automatically, helping you avoid double entry altogether, or (coming soon) importing your bank statements and having your bank reconciliation completed for you, Deal Pack can do anything you can imagine, and more!