It's important to understand your record-keeping obligations and to plan properly and know what's involved. 

The first step is choosing your business record-keeping system. It can be digital or manual but unless you have simple business affairs, an electronic system may be more beneficial. 

As part of your set up and ongoing management of your records, you need to ensure you keep your records safe and secure and you know when to do your record-keeping and reporting tasks. 

A good record-keeping system will allow you to keep track of both debtors and creditors, and ensure you:

• can promptly follow up overdue accounts
• know which accounts you need to pay and when
• have control over your cash flow.

You can keep debtor and creditor records manually, but some commercially available software packages will produce invoices, record the amounts receivable or payable, update accounts when payments are received or made, and tally debtors and creditors automatically – which will save you time.

Setting up your invoices properly will also help you run your business more effectively.

You can look after your own record keeping or engage a registered tax or BAS agent, or a registered bookkeeper, to do all or part of the work. If you’re new to business or not sure what you need to do, it’s best to seek help early.

The ATO’s Record keeping evaluation tool can help you understand the general records you need to keep as well as see how well your business keeps records. 

Regularly check you're meeting the record-keeping requirements that apply to your business, particularly as your business changes or grows.