How To Effectively Organize Your Office Space - By: Vlad Ehrsam, Posted on: 2006-10-11

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.

First Step to Organizing

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 easiest way to start is with current paperwork that's taking up space on your desk. Sorting by subject and then by date is a great way to organize your papers and will make finding what you need much easier. You should also get a system of file folders that you can place your paperwork in to make it easier to retrieve.

The accounting should be a top priority for obvious reasons so find all of the income statements and receipts lying about the place and sort these too. You always want your records to be current, so stick to the task of posting transactions to your books until everything is up to date. I can be a slacker on this one myself and wind up spending the majority of the day recording transactions. If it looks like you are not going to get finished, then just quit at a point that will be easy to start back up from again.

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.

Computer Documents

Fire and water damage are a major concern for most businesses, especially for a home-based office. Small businesses find scanners to be a business asset. In minutes, a scanner processes a document from paper form to electronic file.

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.

You must be able to access information in a timely fashion in order to get through the list of tasks that must be accomplished on a daily basis. Do not procrastinate and put off organizing your office space because management strategies are essential to the success of your business.

"Your ability to accomplish daily tasks is directly related to your ability to find the right information at the right time," Hemphill said. Management strategies are essential to the livelihood of your office staff and the success of your business. Don't wait until the last minute to organize!

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About the author: Vlad Ehrsam writes exclusively for Full Info on Business, there's a wealth of knowledge on the website, plus their free newsletter is well worth signing up for too.
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