Small Business Documents, Big Value

Entrepreneurs are familiar with different business-related documents. From SEC or DTI registration forms to permits from the local governments and certifications from different government agencies, these are documents that a company cannot live without. This is on top of the sales agreement, contracts for rent and purchase receipts we keep for recording purposes.

Aside from those mentioned above, however, there are also the small documents we need to take care of. Without these small documents, complications may arise. Here are some worth noting: Daily time records (DTRs). This is a no-brainer—DTRs are essential for any business, but there are many small companies, especially start-ups, that do not have official time records and rely on their awareness of who enters the office on time.

Daily time records are not only meant to determine who are late, but also those who go under-time. These pieces of information provided by DTRs are the basis for salary computations and disciplinary actions.

DTRs can also be used legally in justifying possible terminations due to frequent and unreasonable absences or habitual tardiness. If a company has sufficient resources, business owners would do well to invest in bundy clocks or similar devices for effective timekeeping. Minutes of the meeting and order lists. Verbal agreements can easily be forgotten, or worse, remembered and interpreted incorrectly. Develop the habit of writing information once you have received or have given them.

Minutes of the meeting, for example, should be made whenever there is a formal discussion in the office. It should include the people present in the meeting (to know if a quorum has been reached in the first place), the matters discussed, the important comments given by the attendees during the discussion (that can be used for review in the future), and the resolution at the end of the meeting.

An order list, on the other hand, is an informal yet helpful whenever you give several instructions to your staff or when you receive multiple tasks. It references what needs to be accomplished throughout the day. You don’t have to make a form or print it out—sticky notes will do. Make the list concise and arrange according to priority.

Receiving copies and acknowledgement receipts. If you plan to deliver or ask your staff to deliver an important document, it is wise to produce an extra copy of that document that would serve as a receiving copy. If the document is sealed, then prepare a form that the recipient of the document can sign to signify that they have received it. This receiving form is your guarantee that your staff has delivered it to the intended recipient. This is more important when it comes to legal documents because some terms and conditions are dependent on the time of receipt of the document. A demand letter is the best example because some obligations do not incur delay unless and until a demand has been made.

Policy reminders. It is practical and effective to issue policy reminders whenever an employee is about to commit a violation, such as in the case of tardiness. If your company imposes disciplinary actions on those who have shown tardiness five times in a month, for example, you can issue a policy reminder on his fourth tardiness to remind him of the consequences for the fifth one.

This will also do you good when an employee claims that he is not aware of the company policy. By doing this, you are constantly reminding your employees of the rules and regulations they must follow inside and sometimes outside the workplace.

Most small business owners regard paperwork as a useless expense, but lack of documentation can cause tremendous damage. A seemingly trivial document may save the day.

*Originally published by the Manila Bulletin. C-6, Sunday, March 1, 2015. Written by Ruben Anlacan, Jr. (President, BusinessCoach, Inc.) All rights reserved. May not be reproduced or copied without express written permission of the copyright holders.