As an independent Salesforce consultant, I need to submit my taxes to the government on a quarterly basis. This means having a platform in place to record my invoices and expenses.
Since I provide a service, I need to charge local tax on my invoices. Luckily, the platform helps me with this. I just need to know my client’s location and use their tax.
I also need to document my expenses. These come from various sources, such as subscriptions, food and entertainment, advertising, etc. Each category has a different expense percentage. For example, food and entertainment can only be expensed at 50%, while advertising is 100%. Once again, the platform helps categorize them, but there’s still some work to be done.
Once all that is gathered, I need to generate a report that tells me how much I owe the government from the taxes I collected. Then go to my bank and actually make a payment.
I don’t follow this process everyday, and sometimes I forget the steps. So I’ve written a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for it. Once the steps are documented, I never need to remember them.
The takeaway
A SOP can (and should) be written for any process you don’t perform on a regular basis, or one that is complex.
It prevents you from making mistakes and allows you to ensure you’re doing it right each time. It also helps with processes you don’t enjoy doing, like taxes.