Today we’re talking filing – only not the manual kind like this picture.  Today we’re talking filing on your computer.

If, like me, you create a multitude of word and excel documents for your clients (or customers, as the case may be), and you receive many PDF files or perhaps you need to file bills, invoices and bank statements online – it is EXTREMELY important to be able to find them.

It follows, therefore, that naming and organisation of online files is also EXTREMELY important.

I like to keep my file names short yet descriptive, and I am a fan of separating files into relevant folders.

In most cases I begin with Surname_Firstname, followed by a selection of folders such as Permanent, 2015, 2016, 2017 (to represent the financial year) and then the document beginning with the applicable date.

An example of this might be 2017 06 30 WP (WP being workpapers), or within a folder labelled BAS I would create a document called 2016 09 30 Signed BAS.

Does this make sense?  At least it does to me and that is probably most important at this stage!

At the end of the day, your filing system only needs to make sense to you, but it should be consistent and easy to follow.  If it is easily done, then you’ll be more likely to file correctly in the first place, and searching for things down the track will be a breeze – trust me (I’m an Accountant!)

Regards