Topic: Dangers of combining company and personal funds in the same account (Read 680 times)

This makes sense, with a small business it can still be organized by taking into account different income and expenses, but it needs to be underlined that sometimes we always use funds from the business being run on the grounds that later it can also be paid, this is a small problem that usually becomes a habit, of course this is a bad habit. Because it will have an impact on the business that is run. So in my opinion, although combining business and personal funds is good, it must be managed properly so that business funds are not disrupted.

With good management it will make business funds uninterrupted even though there is a chance that business funds will be used for personal needs, it can still be controlled with a note that it is not excessive so that it consumes business funds which of course it will have a bad impact on business funds which are clearly funds needed for the business they have.

OP, I appreciate this topic, I wish I could reverse time, is just that the did has already been done, this act should be frowned at, to avoid putting both the individual and the company in jeopardy, I was working with a company and the treasurer was trusted to the extent that all the companies money was in his personal account, any purchase or expenses the company want to make comes from that account, but an ugly situation occurred one day when a delivery was made to the company but to pay the people was a problem, before anyone could know the treasurer started acting funny, as talking to you, till this moment the treasure and the company owner are still in court, even though investigation has been carried out to ascertain the actual event that took place, the truth will unfold no doubt, how are we sure the fund is still intact, but ordinarily this would have been avoided if the owner of the company had a company account.

For me, i would really be still making out that kind of separation on which it would really be just that be more organized when you do have a business whether its small scale or big scale then having those individual tallies and records would relaly be that much preferrable since you could really be able to easily tracked those incoming and outgoing funds. If you do have a personal acocunt for your personal money then it would be always
best that you shouldnt really be able to collide those funds that came from your investmentj so that you would really be having that a good track with your business expenses and profits on which it is really just the rightful thing to be done on a business if you do really want to see if its progressive or not. You would be able to make out some calculations and preparations basing up on on your sales on monnthly basis.
If you do tend to make some mix up or trying out not to separate then it would really be that confusing specially even if the transactions incoming and outgoing involved small amounts but the quantity would really be that making a mess on which tendency of errors and shortage could be possible.

This is why it would really be that best that you should really be separating those expenses to those business transactions not only just on having that a good track but also
you are really that tending to avoid on potential losses or errors that would be made up. It isnt easy but doesnt mean that you shouldnt really be putting up some emphasis into it.

It is really dangerous to combine company and personal funds in the same account for business growth because own personal funds are very small but it will be very difficult to calculate in case of having to save large funds for company work. Therefore it is better to keep your personal funds separate there will be no risk here. A system of knowledge about the effective management of financial resources of funds and enterprises to achieve the company's strategic goals and solve problems and improve performance. Not everyone can control everything in the same way so it is better to have a personal account.

I think this is all simple and the OP doesn't need to bother building a thick wall, because the point is that we can already see from the title alone, anyone already knows that any businessman who combines personal funds with company funds is an inappropriate action and is indeed not that's how to play. In fact, if a businessman dares to combine two sources of funds that should not actually be combined, then he does not know the procedures for running a business at all. To build good management, this point cannot be missed, especially regarding funding.

Quite reasonable, it is true that if the business they are running is small scale or means not too big in terms of the amount of income then I think I would agree with your assumption, that there is indeed nothing wrong if they mix money from their small-scale business with personal money for their living needs, one of the reasons could be because the amount of money from their business is not too large and they can still make records to just remember that the amount of business money in their personal account is so much.

On the other hand, if the scale of the business they run is quite large, then combining business funds with personal funds is really not recommended because it is clear that the amount of funds must be quite large and cannot be if they only rely on bookkeeping to simply separate personal money and business funds, and yes they need two account accounts to separate their personal funds and business funds. Although the actions of professionals who have known large or small-scale businesses but certainly this will not be too much of a problem if indeed the business they run is still small-scale with the state of the funds they manage is not too large.

If the business they are building is still on a small scale, I think there is no harm in combining personal funds with their business funds because they can do good bookkeeping so they can know about their business income and also personal expenses, but if their business is on a large scale, of course this is It would be a problem if they combined their business funds and personal funds. It would be better to have two different accounts to avoid problems in their business income and expenses.

Whether you are running a business for the sole aim of making profit or you are running a non-profit making organisation,  always put it at the back of your  mind that every business is a legal entity and should therefore be treated as such.

Just imagine sharing your bank account with your friend, siblings or even your spouse. Problems arise when you withdraw too much from the account,  the other party might become affected, especially when you tamper with money meant for a particular purpose. It will obviously result in temporary or even long-term misunderstandings. The best option is to split accounts for peace to reign.

When you combine company money and your personal money in same account, both you and the legal entity might suffer temporarily or long-term misunderstanding. Oh yea! You wouldn't notice until you crumble the the business with your constant drawings hoping to pay back which most times,  you end up not paying. Know this, when you withdraw from company's account for personal use, you remain indepted to that company until you pay back. The best option is to put yourself on weekly or monthly payroll. This should compensate you for the stress of running the business.

Again,  it will be difficult to keep proper books of account and where the company is a Limited liability Company,  how do you determine what portion of the company's assets to be used to settle debts in the case of winding up of the company?. Combining company funds with any other account is risky and should be avoided.

The savings account and FD are considered for depositing money for personal growth, and for the business, we have different types of bank accounts to deposit, like the current account. Even banks differentiate the account type, and each account serves different purposes too. If your personal and business accounts are the same, you have some issues regarding withdrawing the money at first because there is a limit in each type of account to withdraw money, and it even costs your business's future and isn't funny at all. The next major problem you face is tax. How could you explain your income? That's why people should learn financial literacy before entering any kind of financial situation.

Do you really think that corporate bank accounts or something that do talk about multiple owners or investors would really be  that allowing for such thing to happen or this kind of set-up?
If we do speak about company bank account then pretty sure that your co-investor would really be setting out that kind of approval whenever there would really be transactions be happening specially
on withdrawal then it would really be just that so normal that it would really be that requiring all of those signatures or allowing up someone to take up some transactions which we know that it would really be that impossible to sneak out on making tx without others been knowing. So it would really be that pointless.

In speaking about company money and your personal funds then it would really be that hard to make some trace up everything specially if the inbound and outbound transactions are plenty.
You would really be having a hard time on distinguishing for sure and that would really be that pain in the ass plus tendency on spending on companies funds would really be
high and this is why it would really be that recommended that it should really be that separated.

There are accounts that you can always ask for at the bank when you want to check your expenses and income and maybe I prefer to separate company funds and personal funds. The company has procedures for running it, even though you are the owner, when you place personal money with company money it will end up in different conditions and there is a possibility that the company will experience problems. If the money from both is combined, I think the company owner doesn't understand how to manage the company well.

I don't understand how this incident happened, but everyone who tries to place capital in a particular company must be based on an agreed agreement. How he had plans to buy the bus was beyond the company's knowledge and didn't certain purchases have to be approved by several people who had control over the company? In the end, he had to shed tears over the carelessness he had made even though he was the head of the company.

I often see companies having separate bank accounts that are managed well by people who are given responsibility. The company should have a much better system and incidents like this would not need to happen if they understood how to run the company. This is a kind of company that doesn't have a work system and doesn't have main tasks that need to be taken care of based on the responsibilities of each position.

Thing is, when you are working in a company or corporate job, if there's short in the money you holding in their money, of curse the blame will be put into you. No matter how good you are or experienced, when there's a case scenario that there's unusual transaction detected, you can easily provide the transaction history of the company account since you have your own personal account, cause once you can't give any proof and records, then you might get fired cause mixing would get messy to the records.

I actually understand your point that, having a company's funds doesn't mean you have the right to use it for your essential needs especially in the emergency one. You can take loans but you might go to jail if you use this especially without permission but mostly they doesn't approve the use of company's funds. That's why in this role, they really find someone who's capable on handling finances of the company.

things get worse by mixing personal money with company money or a business going bankrupt. Even if you have used a cashier application no matter how sophisticated it is, if you still mix personal money and business money it will damage your own financial management system.

That's why you have to be able to separate these two types of money well, even for businesses that have just been started, capital needs to be fixed and running so that the income must not be mixed with your personal money, you must not take the money from sales to buy any personal needs. especially if you have built a large business because financial management will be the target of an audit, differences may be discovered during the audit, which can result in large losses.

One word: Worst decision. This can lead to the collapse of a business in a short period of time. Maintaining an account is vital because you need to have liquid funds available all the time in a business. Whether it is investment into purchasing new material, investing in expansion, or from stuff like employee salaries, bonuses, and other emergency funds, it can help. If one is carrying the same checking and savings account then it can end up in disaster if personal gains increase over the period of time. For example, one may end up putting money into their luxury and leisure time which is the money that should have been for the things mentioned above. That is the risk when it comes to small businesses. We have already seen how big fintech works. They have public shares available that make it a perfectly stable company on the balance sheet. Plus when it comes to publicly operated company they have to show their balance sheet every year. Thats how they keep growing with the time. For privately own company the risk is always there but it depends on how they operate it.

This has become a very basic job for every businessman who wants progress in his business, because business capital is mixed up with money for his daily needs. It will be very difficult for a business owner to calculate the profits from his business so that there will be no progress whatsoever from his business and it will be easier for him to get into trouble because the basic source of his money will be unclear. Meanwhile, the employees themselves also don't want to know about difficulties other than their own salaries after they finish working.

Business people should separate their personal funds from their business funds so that there are no mistakes in making their business financial reports and if they insist on combining personal funds and the business they run, of course this will be a problem and make them lose the trust of their employees. You are right, if they don't want their employees to lose trust in them of course they have to have clear financial reports and not mix up their funds and the funds of the business they run.

Any good business person knows by now how to keep personal funds separate from funds meant for projects. In this regard where we talk about a company, it is unethical to even combine or receive payments to ones personal accounts.
A registered business or company is always required by law to have an account separate from the owners account, because the payment of taxes would have to show the company records of transactions and its turnover report at the end of a fiscal year.

The dangers are clearly spelt out and as a company involves many individuals working within it to make it successful, there has to be trust that the money coming in is there in a safe account and can be accounted for, so as to avoid issues of unpaid salaries or wages.

Again I am not really an expert on that topic but as far as I know this is a must, this is legislation that comes from many hundreds of years ago, in which on the past if a person made a bad business decision then not only they lost the money they destined towards that opportunity, but anyone that invested money with them could sue them and get all their assets.

However such a thing was stifling the economy and the development of countries, so companies were created as entities which limited the liability of their owners and they could lose only what the company owned and not their personal assets, so if there is no such distinction then a judge could easily declare the company does not exist and the people that are owed money by your company could go for your assets.

Combining company funds with personal funds cannot be recommended because this will be very dangerous in managing finances. It should be separated, this mistake is often made by small business people, their business does not develop or even goes bankrupt because financial management is mixed up. If this continues to happen continuously by mixing personal money and business capital money out of necessity, because they think that the important thing is that the family's needs are met but the bad thing is that you are tired of business but have no savings.


This will definitely happen, without having a good accountant the risk will only pay double. We should be able to anticipate.
1. Separate personal and company money
2. Separate physically
3. Make cash flow records (money in and money out
4. Make a plan for using the money
5. Postpone sales plans that are not useful
6. Control cash flow
7. Be strict with yourself and be more disciplined

I haven't tried this, but I know it won't be easy and will not end well. I do not understand that reason to combine personal money with business money when you can obviously separate them. Leaving them together will make your business financial track record difficult to trace. Difficult to calculate tax and other spendables.

In the future, when you will need auditing, everything will fall apart and the most important thing is that you will either be using your personal money to fund your business or you will use your business money to fund your personal life

this topic needs comprehensive discussion regarding the law involved but I think the fact that company considered different entity, so long there's clear distinction between what the company owns and what it doesn't own does it means there will be no problem?
but I still agree that company should just have their own bank account, why even bother starting out a company which supposed to be a different entity altogether if the money still combined with personal money just doesn't make sense to me to go through many legal processes and would still combine funds, the main reason people starting out company because they want distinction I guess.
therefore anyone who would think of starting company would instantly have it in mind to differentiate between company assets and their own assets, basically creating bank account for the company since day 1.

Even if it's not mandatory, it's unprofessional to use a personal account to manage business finances and no matter how small a business is, it should have its finances separate from the personal finances because it will make things go wrong since expenses might get mixed if a single account is being used for keeping both business and personal money, and even if it's not an account and its just cash, since most small businesses deal only in cash, it shouldn't be kept together with personal money as things will get out of hand this way.

That's why, one should take a professional approach regardless of the scale of their business and use separate accounts for personal and business finances to keep things clear and precise without having to forget how much the business has earned and how much has been spent and how much is the revenue or loss, etc.

The business should be seen as a separate entity that should live an independent life from the owner. In the face of the law, a registered business is a person that can sue and be sued. Until business owners understand this concept, their businesses will keep failing. The first thing a business owner should know is record-keeping and many businesses don't care about that because the business is not seen as a person.

Some business owners claim that their inability to read and write has limited them from keeping records and they don't have the money to hire an accountant. I usually tell them that illiteracy is not an excuse because they can still separate businesses for personal dealing. They should simply pay themselves wages or salary and never spend more than their earnings.

I am not an expert on the law but having independent accounts is mandatory and it is not really optional, we must remember that a company is treated as its own entity on the eyes of the law, however if the owner of the company uses the money that is supposed to belong to it in a way that clearly indicates there is no such independence then the company can be treated as if it did not exist.

And this is terrible because if the company was sued not only its assets will be at risk, but the assets of its owner will be up for grabs as well if they lost that lawsuit.

This is obvious and I doubt that any company would do something like this ever. I mean there isn't even a small company that would do this, or at least should. I think everyone should be smart enough to have a company account somewhere and just deal with them. The bigger ones do not even have an "account", they have an account with the firm they deal with and buy through them and just ask them to make the moves, they do not just login an exchange and make the moves, they tell them, and make the moves that way.

It is important to know that OTC is still a big deal when it comes to bigger numbers and that's how it works. I know smaller companies that invest just thousands, few thousands that's it, and even they don't do this.

This is why people should take The entity concept more seriously. The business is a different entity from the owners(s) so it doesn't make sense for a person to have the funds of a business in his personal account.
Even if it's a small business where only one person is involved, it would not be wise to use one account as your business and personal account.

You shouldn't start doing business when you have not registered your business with the appropriate authorities. 
There are structures to make sure just one person doesn't have all the access to the company funds even if you're the owner of the company.

Combining your company and personal funds in the same account is one of the most common problems of a start up entrepreneurs, this is what we called commingling funds. It can be a serious problem and it leads you to a personal liability for your business debts if this can't prevent as early as now. It's best to maintain a separate bank accounts for your personal and business transactions as well as to keep you books diligently, that's why it is essential to have your company accountant/bookkeeper.

It is very danger  I mean who the hell is combining company and personal funds in the same account.
I has couple of bank account with different purposes there is for saving there are for daily transaction and many more.

The danger would be real if you can't track all the debit or credit for personal use or company use. The accountant should pay double for this hahahah

I formed an LLC I have 1 partner. We have

a separate bank account
 a separate amazon account
a separate credit card

and we file the LLC form as 50-50 partners splitting the income.

It is a lot of paperwork for a small business but it is the right way to do it.

Every business financial management must be separated from personal accounts, there is no reason to mix business funds because it is now very easy to create accounts online for business needs, we must implement good management for business development, especially with regard to financial management.

If we have a small business, we can still consider using funds in one bank account even though it is not recommended, but large businesses are obliged to manage finances specifically for business purposes and even need a financial advisor to manage finances for the business.

Mate, even though it is personal business we are having, we must not mix up funds anyhow we want, business fund is different from funds stipulated for our daily expenses and use, if we try mix them up then we may end up not being accountable to how the business funds is being utilized and along the way it may die because of too much spendings on it, it doesn't even look being professional enough when funds are mixed up.

I have what I consider to be two important rules:
1. Always negotiate, sign commitments, even if you are doing business with your father, brother, best friend. Signed commitments introduce more discipline in the relationship between business partners and interrupts all conversations when problems arise and excuses like "well, we are friends/relatives" start.
2. Doing non-core work yourself, only if outsourcing is really costly (money, time), provided you can do it yourself. In all other cases - give the work to others ! They will get money, they will buy and consume, and it is not excluded that you, too. The economy works qualitatively only when everyone gets and spends money. Otherwise, the economy collapses. I can do accounting. But I'm not interested in it, and I don't like it. I am ready to pay a hired accountant who keeps several companies - it is inexpensive for me, but it earns a person who probably has a family and will spend this money, which will directly or indirectly come back to me.

Except for weekends - we do not cook breakfast - we go to any of the 5 cafes near our place pr, small, cozy with different cuisine, where our "neighbors" work, we get delicious and varied food, we do not spend time on cooking, we get pleasure. Yes it is a bit more expensive than if we do it ourselves. But in this way I support these private small businesses - for me it is an acceptable cost, plus I get what I want, and at the same time I save time and effort....

Everything should be kept in a separate savings book. Because if not, even if we initially did not intend to use company funds, they could still potentially be used intentionally or unintentionally. And it will make the calculations more complicated. So separating in two different bank accounts would be better. And it will also make it easier to record and calculate. The inflow and outflow are also clearly visible. the accounting process becomes easier. But nowadays people seem to be smart about finances so everyone must take wise steps in finances.

Indeed, there will be a problem if you only use an account to store company funds and also personal funds. By having careful records and being disciplined, you will not be able to misappropriate funds, but in my opinion this will make the account owner have additional work because he has to separate the funds he owns from the company funds. Yes, it would be better for those who cannot manage their own finances not to be given the position of treasurer because they will definitely use the company money they hold without anyone knowing and this will be very detrimental to the company.

Totally could really be applied with those larger companies on having this kind of set-up where when it comes on making withdrawals then it would really be needing that kind of confirmation with other members or owners specially on a main business account if ever there would really be that withdrawals to be made. It is really just a matter of setting things up well and its true that with the possibilities that could really be applied then security mechanisms or control would really be there.So therefore it wouldn't really be that hard to follow this kind of system on which there's no way that other members or co-owners would really be making some transactions without others been knowing. Having that your own accountant does really give out that comfort an less hassling yourself on making transactions or paperworks but you would really be needing to pay up to someone which its normal but the convenience that it gives then it is really that worth.

Maybe it was also the owner of the company? But I get you. It's indeed more professional to just use the company name than to a personal name. If you are not comfortable with what you see, maybe it's a good idea to question them?

Or you can decide to abandon them before your instincts come to reality and problems are going to be experienced later on. Combining a company fund from a personal fund is just plain bad. Dunno who the fck came up with that idea? Damn. I think it's too shady and there is a clear intention that the person is going to ran away with the company's funds. Good thing there are early signs of knowing this.

For large companies that have tax obligations, perhaps this will not happen. Both companies and individuals will be required to make valid reports about their finances. Moreover, apart from tax matters, is there a businessman who does this stupid thing where the company will also know the economic health of its owner?

There's nothing wrong with it if you own the company, but it's much better to create another account for the company's fund to track it's earning daily, weekly, or event monthly so you can monitor it if there's something wrong with the funds, etc.
There's no valid reason why someone would combine the company's fund to their personal funds since it would just mess everything's up.

I believe that many people have already suggested the idea of maintaining separate accounts and wallets, differentiating personal ownership from business or company assets. In my view, when all financial records are meticulously kept in a journal, and one possesses a strong sense of discipline, it is sufficient to ensure a clear demarcation of the funds allocated to the company and those held in one's personal wallet.

For those with a risky mindset, such as a tendency to use funds held but not owned, it is advisable to avoid taking on the role of treasurer. Organizations or companies certainly do not desire outstanding debts, as they disrupt all pre-established timelines. Any form of financial indebtedness between individuals and the company often culminates in unfavorable outcomes. This is merely a cautionary note for those who struggle with financial discipline in managing company funds.

It is not legal if the business has more people than 1 .

Ie if you are running a small schedule c  with sales and buys on ebay. mixing is not a huge issue since it is you and you alone but. you better keep records of every buy and sale you make when you do the schedule c on your tax return.

Once you expand the business you need separate books and you need a business bank account with only business buys and sells. If you dont do it that way you are headed for trouble.

It is very simple because there won't be accountability and transparency in doing this, why should a person first thought of combining his own personal account with the of the company's if not to engage in some personal agendas, the only way this may be allowed is when it is an unofficial purpose ones account is needed and if you must make provision of one, then it must be the one you have and not using, which means money does not flow into it.

That aside, what happens when you spend resources meant for the company as a personal fund, you are not accountable to anyone therefore the tendency to be reckless in finance sets in.

Circumpsectly, there is no benefit in combining it, you have everything to loose. There are those who do it, but, I can guarantee you, it is not a template you want to adopt. Once they get caught, the penalties will strip them off everything they have gotten away with over a long period of time, and even more.

That's right, and that's one of the dangers, like the example you said, we can and even very likely to tamper with the funds in the account, whether it's used for your personal needs or whatever it is, it's very possible and possible, and also definitely between personal money and company money will be mixed, and I'm sure you won't be able to record all expenses in detail, for example how much your personal money goes out and how much company money goes out, even though maybe you have good financial management but still this method is not recommended.

We must be able to separate money for business and also money for personal use, because if not then I'm sure you are difficult to become a professional entrepreneur, in terms of separating money alone you can not. Well right, another danger is that you will not get full trust from your prospective clients, as you said, if they give a personal account to one of their clients with the aim of any transaction in the interests of your business then there will definitely be doubts from your prospective clients, whether they are afraid of being cheated or whatever they can feel, the point will appear negative feelings from them. how can a business that is supposed to be professional but in small things like this you just can't. So yes it's better for you to separate it. So yes, it's better to separate it so that your clients can trust you more and your image is maintained.

Today there are a huge number of control mechanisms and “improving trust between partners” or company employees. Here’s just an example from personal experience: I have my own business, there are contracts both in Ukraine and outside of it (EU), respectively, there are several accounts (in hryvnia and EURO), there are mandatory payments, there are taxes. It’s clear - I don’t really want to do this, and I don’t really want to do accounting, that’s why I have an accountant She does tax accounting and controls mutual settlements. She prepares all payments in a special application from the bank where I am serviced, and signs with her key. But the accountant's key allows you to sign payments only for certain details (tax payments). But in order for the payment to be processed (the money was sent), I sign with my key (the owner). And no trust/disbelief. Having full access to the account (she needs to see the turnover to calculate taxes), she cannot withdraw money on her own.
Moreover, all information about planned payments, their status, account status, etc. information is always at hand in the mobile application, from where I can also sign a payment in a couple of clicks, even while on the road...
I think the same solutions can easily be scaled up to larger companies with a large number of payments.

As a serious company, you shouldn't be using an unregistered company account to hold company funds but In situations like this that's when you know those who have integrity and can be trusted with public funds. Everybody know what they're capable of doing so when you know you can't hold public funds don't accept the responsibility of doing that. You should be able to resist the pressure of using the funds that isn't yours to spend irrespective of where the money is been kept. But since we're all humane and at times the situations we find ourselves make us do things that aren't ethical, having public funds separated from your personal fund is a good strategy because then you won't have access to the money irrespective of what the situation is. People spend public funds mostly when they're in a tight spot and they think they can always replace it but they never do.


Using a separate accounts gives you the privileges of making that account not accessible to you so the temptations has been eliminated and you won't spoil your reputation. But we should be able to train ourselves to be responsible for our actions, if you can't handle a responsibility don't accept it. I had Bitvest & 777coin campaign funds escrow for more than a year and it never for one day tempted me to make use of the money even when the founder wasn't active on the forum and now the money have been used to relaunch the campaign. If I have tempered with the funds, I won't only lose my reputation but hurt the possibility of been recommended in future for similar business.l, same goes for others so you shouldn't eat public funds, even when the funds are in the same account or wallet as your personal funds but again always separate the funds.

thats true, sometime i get reluctant when a company which supposed to be professional just giving away bank account with personal name its just really unprofessional that its a huge turn off.
mainly because we don't know whether we are getting tricked or not, with company name on the bank account we know we are dealing with the right account, officially made for the company itself but with personal bank account seems like massive laziness if its a real company.
therefore it does indeed important for having bank account with the company name, so the reputation won't get tarnished for the simplest thing.

In the case where it is a personal business, there is also danger mixing up money for business and your personal money because you will easily be able to tamper with the money meant for business in tough situations. Another danger of receiving money meant for business in personal account is that it makes your business look unserious. Imagine sending a personal account with your name to a new client who have just been referred to you for a job. It is not a good image for your business. Every company must have a company account, so the owners are able to differentiate company funds from personal funds.

Such actions or strategies are not correct; I have never read or watched a business that was successful because personal funds were combined with company funds. Those two are not combined. Because when someone does that, certainly, the capital in the business will be moved, and when that is moved, the turnover in the business will gradually decrease until it becomes bankrupt.

That's why, in business, there is something called inventory and accounting jobs. That's why it's called a company, right? Those two should be separate because personal expenses are different from company expenses.

This is what I've learned from my cousin who was a businesswoman, although the words are that I should set aside money for personal stuff when I make a profit in business but given that this is almost the same thing, I just have to point it out. But I have a question though, what if you can use your business and justify your personal expenses by using the business account when you're buying something big and personal?

It is not recommended to combine company and personal funds in one account. Business owners have many accounts for various purposes so that the company accounts will not mix up with other companies or other accounts. This makes it easier for them to monitor income, expenses, etc.

Having many accounts for each purpose will help company owners to be able to check their financial reports every month. And he also won't use the company account to buy his daily needs. Separating these accounts is essential so companies can record the expenses correctly. Company owners can also know which expenses are higher than others.

If this is the case, company owners can see how healthy their company is and know what needs to be improved. And if the owner wants to buy his personal items, he will not use his company funds. But he must have the discipline not to interfere with company funds.

This depends on the scale of the business and the bookkeeping process. If it is a small scale, where there is no obligation to have a business bank account, that is okay to mix the funds on one account as long the bookkeeping process for the business is rigidly in place. Still, it does not close the possibility you are overspending as thus, you making use of the business money, as you have addressed. But if one manages their own finance just right, it should not become a concerning matter to not separate business and personal accounts.

On one hand, if we are talking about a legal entity where the business is registered and has a tax obligation, then certainly, a business account is required.

As I stated, it is essential for the owner of the business to separate the personal funds from business funds.  It is not about the embezzlement of funds since the funds is owned by the person but rather the management and tracking of funds.

This is a common mistakes of small time business owners.  They tend to hold the funds and profit of their business together with their personal fund in one account.  This way it will be hard for the business owner to track profit and can even use his own funds to maintain his business making his financial capabilities to maintain his personal needs a bit difficult or the other way around.

We need to free ourselves from temptation looking at how powerful it can be with so many things that can happen along. Those that have eaten company's funds blaming it on there business ideas or plans to take the company to a new level is out of embezzlement attempt. We don't even have the right to keep what does not belong to us in our account without permission from the right owners or from people that give us that privilege to handle such funds. Is so a criminal attempt if we are caught with funds that do not belong to us or we are not given the right to hold.

This is a very important point and a trap that many entrepreneurs can fall into when starting out. For newcomers to business it can often be a case that they will drive as much money as possible into the company, which is fine in most cases as long as they are properly documented as loans and all the right accounting is in place. However it's very easy, especially for "one man" operations to start using a company account like their own personal bank account but the separation needs to be clear, or you end up with a bigger accountant bill later on to unravel the mess. It's a hurdle that some understand in advance and that some only figure out after a bill shock or if the government tax inspectors come looking.

This entirely depends on how and who runs the business. For example if it is proprietary firm then whole business run by an individual in terms of finances and decision making this could imply there strongly. However there are also subtypes. For example proprietary businesses could be small or could be bigger one. If it’s second one then there is High Chance they will hire accountant and get third party auditors involved in it. This definitely brings more strict environment on the way company runs. When it’s private or public limited company then things are even stricter because they have to release accounting balance sheets every financial year. Lowest chance on making forgery there. But yeah the article seems written pretty well but things are always right based on how business is getting run.

Nowdays on which technology and security features then it would really be that so hard to believe that there's really that kind of breach or unauthorize withdrawal of funds if ever a business does have that kind of corporation kind of system or simply that there are a couple of individuals who do own such business.It is really just that normal that whenever that there's funds to be that outgoing then it would really be that impossible that it would really be that allowed or would be approved without others permissions and since to the easy access that we do have today then those things wont really be that so hard to be detected or totally be on point on the time that there's things happening around. This is why it would really be that some sort of mind boggling on how things to be on work specially nowadays that it is really that easy to pass up information
and also with having that common sense then business agreements and terms shouldnt really be that allowing those kind of casual withdraws or outgoing transactions without being noticed or being fully allowed.

I think in terms of combining public with personal funds is very risky because as an organization or company having your account separate from personal account is much more better to know the rate at which the company or your personal business profits. Most of those who ran businesses and combining their funds together may not knows how much that is flowing in or how much lose their business is undergoing or losing, so creating an account for the business is very essential and important and is the most important thing after having a brand name or a companion name.

The best way to reduce over spending and alterations is to have the secretary and financial secretary of the company have the access to the account whereby without both of them there will be no withdrawal of funds, if the secretary goes through behind the financial secretary and their Chairman the cheque should be rejected which means for a money to be taken out of the company it requires Chairman, Secretary and Financial secretary with this they will reduce over spending of funds and properly documentary of all penny spent within the period of their office.

To be honest, I don’t understand the problem at all? Perhaps in your country business is conducted differently, but here, the company has a current account that is assigned to a business entity. There are several keys for electronic digital signatures, for different levels of confirmation, which complicates corrupt and illegal actions with the funds of a law firm. Moreover, many companies maintain additional control over payments, as do banks with accounts of legal entities. And they can, if suspicious payments are detected, pause the transfer of funds and contact the account owner for an explanation.
The issue of “frozen” funds is resolved in the same way at the request of business owners, in situations like the one you described. But I have never heard of anyone “withdrawing money, putting it in a suitcase and taking it to a friend for safekeeping.” These are unjustified risks

Or do you mean some other situation?

There are also some important things that are worth mentioning. It all depends on the person who is trusted to the general means. I think we have stories when we see how an organization goes bankrupt and the owner, who received a bunch of investments after a while, starts a new business. Does anyone really think that the one who spends the organization’s money does not understand what he is doing? If, for example, the construction of any object is underway, then the amount of money that was allocated according to the quota may not be allocated for construction materials, but much less, so that the one who manages these funds can snag a good profit for himself while deceiving others. Therefore, no matter where the money is stored, a lot depends on the person and his integrity.

Right. Separating you accounts is a necessity and not something that you should just consider and then disregard.
Keeping your business finances and personal finances apart isn't just about organization, it is also about legal stuff. If your business and personal expenses mix and mingle, it can get super confusing during tax season. Also, when you register your business, it becomes a separate legal entity. Having a dedicated business account makes this separation and in case of any legal issues, your personal assets cannot easily be affected. You will also be able to monitor how your business is performing, if your accounts are mixed, youll get confused if some of those expenses relates to your buiness or just for your personal leisure.
Imagine when your business ever faces an audit, having separate accounts makes the process much smoother. It will make you life easier too.

And that's it. I don't know why the OP makes life so complicated. He does what shouldn't be done and then writes walls of text about it. Don't mix your personal accounts with those of the business. Full stop. This happens in self-employed people or small businesses, because obviously in a big company with an accounting department it doesn't happen at all.

OP, you know what you have to do. Don't give it any more thought.

It's a good idea to keep them separate because a business or company bank account allows you to manage your company's finances professionally and wisely and you will also know your expenses and income related to the business or company you run. So it's best to separate personal and company or business financial accounts to avoid chaos, because this will definitely bring chaos.
Having a separate bank account will enable you to manage your business finances very well and clearly record expenses and income, no matter how small, in the company or business account that you manage.

It’s only natural to keep separate accounts for your business, no matter how small it is and your personal use. As a business owner, having your funds meant for business in the same account as your personal account is an invitation for disaster sooner or later.

At the very least, a business should keep a separate account so you’ll have clear records involving your debit and credit transactions and also precise information about how good or poorly your business is faring.
A business owner managing an account for business and personal use could likely use funds meant for business purpose for personal use.

its common sense that usually known by most of people day 1 they started a company, its never good to just combine your personal funds with company's money because more likely when the company need money or in the brink of bankruptcy your money will also get involved which supposed to be your emergency fund now become company's emergency fund.
there's reason why people start company because they want their business to be independent from the perspective of law and finance, you create bank account specifically for the company, not for you.
therefore combining personal fund and company fund just gonna seemed silly honestly.

Since OP write 'Company' specifically and not 'Business' then I suppose what he means is at least a Company where there are a proper work division that has enough employee to handle each division. So, I guess it's pretty common knowledge for an owner of a Company at that scale to separate the fund. I don't think a business owners who are still combining Business and Personal fund would reach a 'Company Scale' level, they will either stuck in the small scale business level or they will goes out of business, or they finally realize their mistake and start to separate the funds, after that they might scale up.

I think it's common knowledge to not mix your funds with your company's regardless if you're a board member, a treasurer, or even the founder of the whole enterprise. That counts for embezzlement right? So it's a criminal offense subject to the long-arm of the law. Would you really risk that? Besides, it's not as if this will save you from paying taxes either, one way or another you'll have to pay for them and this is especially true for founders who have separate tax profiles with their businesses.

Just stick to what's legal man especially if you're just a startup making a name for yourself. The last thing you would want right now is a hamper to your success and criminal liability will do just that if you're not careful and law-abiding.

It is a standard thing to separate a personal account and the company account.  Separating them can effectively track both the inflows and outflows of money, joining them will make it complex to identify the flow of money. So it affect the auditing of the finances.  This will also affect the funds of the company in case the person is prone to spending spree, since the funds is not separate, a person might spend the money of the company for his personal use.

Aside from that, this articles may help us understand why we need to separate our personal funds from company fund.
Why Mixing Business and Personal Finances is a Bad Idea
Why Avoid the Danger of Mixing Business & Personal Money

According to the article combining company and personal funds in the same account prevent us to:

• Improve your ability to make well-informed business decisions
• Present legitimate financial data to lenders, partners, and other interested parties
• Keep accurate books so it’s easier to prepare a business tax return

This discussion is quite useful, especially for someone who has just started a business, especially if the business being built is an independent business, not a collaboration involving many people.
In building an independent business due to limited costs and human resources, we as pioneers sometimes have to be both a conceptor and an actor, where we are required to be able to do everything, be it planning, implementation, management and even marketing. And so that our business can develop, we must be as wise as possible and as careful as possible in doing everything, especially in managing finances because this is the determining factor. And if our business has started to develop then never hesitate to recruit employees, especially employees who are quite capable of managing the company's finances and don't ever think that recruiting someone who understands financial management will only increase the burden of expenses because there is a certain amount of money that you have to pay. pay every month. In fact, this will have the opposite impact, when you hand something over to an expert, your company's finances will be managed better because your company's income and expenses will be clearer and this will of course help you to minimize risks and losses. Because good financial governance really determines whether a business or company will progress or not.

everyone is vulnerable to the temptation of taking money that doesn't belong to them, this is the reason why every association - organization - community must have its own financial account and not mix it up with the personal financial account of the chairman - treasurer or anyone who has high influence in the association. I am currently joining a church association, our association is very open with the members and every money that goes out and comes in is announced to the public so that nothing is hidden and kept transparent.

This is not new and it's not peculiar to only organizations that have no company account. It depends on the character of the person who's in charge of overseeing the account. We have seen cases of people squandering money from the association's account both the single signatory and multi signatory account. If the people managing the treasury account are not sincere, such disaster are bound to happen. My friend is the one managing their association account using his personal account but has never been query before for misappropriation of funds or any suspicious transaction. During my days in school, my association was operating a multi signatory account and the president, treasurer and financial secretary conspired and falsify the patron signature to withdraw the association funds and squander it recklessly. It has nothing to do with method using in saving the money but has everything to do with the individual behind the management of funds.

that is very correct! if you don't want to go crazy later on, better separate those funds, it will also make your life easier. there's no price of having such peace of mind on this matter. you will thank yourself even if you do that diligently.
it is no difficult to create separate accounts. so why not go thru such easy path rather than a headache later on?

Anyone who combines business money with his own money is a person who does not understand anything in the ABCs of business. The company or business is a completely independent entity from the self-unit. Frankly, I am surprised that this topic was brought up because I do not imagine that there is still anyone who combines them, especially since we are now living in a globalized reality in which everything is organized and subject to clear legal controls. Any person who launches a company in any financial system will have to create a special account for the company, usually called a “business account,” and all the company’s financial transactions are carried out on it.

Anyone who combines their company funds and personal fund in the same account is a novice business person. Any experienced business person would know that this is like swimming with the sharks. You are going to get bitten. You'll end up using company funds for the unending plethora of personal and family problems and running bankrupt.

At least the business person should get someone to do their finances for them. If they do not employ any other person in the organization.

There are some business people who behave carelessly by only relying on their instincts to advance their business and manage their finances. And behavior like this is often carried out by those who are just entering the world of "beginner" business.

Actually, the reason why we have to separate personal finances and business finances is quite simple, namely to separate finances and personal needs, so that with this the money used as initial capital will not be disturbed by issues of personal needs. "Because it often happens, especially to micro and small entrepreneurs, that even though they run out of merchandise today, the next day they are confused about finding capital to trade again, because the money they previously got was used up to buy personal needs."

if you are self employed where your "business" is a hobby(low income/not registered), then i see lots of people co-mingling their "business" with their normal life.
however if you have an actual business that is tax registered.. or/and has employees. then you should have separate accounts

if a company is set up to need a treasury. but that treasury is putting funds into his personal account. he is not a treasurer. he is a criminal yet to be caught..

no company that has enough business structure to have/need a treasury, would hire a treasurer that uses their personal account for business uses.
the company should have a company account registered to the business with the treasurer authorised to access the account. whereby if the treasurer retires, resigns or is sacked its a simple name change by the company of authorised persons to the account. instead of asking ex-treasurer(or their family) to close that ex-treasurers personal account and send funds to company

You started a good topic; it really needs discussion. Even these things are taught by many mentors, if you have any in the field of organizations. I mean, those who are planning to be in charge of the funds of some organisation, or if you want to vote for some person to make him one. Then you must have some mentors or seniors who are already aware of such things.

They should have told you about such things; otherwise, the studies of accountants are also comprised of this knowledge. But as we are all not accounting students or have any experience,  this topic is really a good help for those who don't have any idea before.

Your tips are awesome, I think you should add another tip of another security level in making Transaction from the organization's funds. Which is similar to multi signature wallets. In this, if you are the custodial of the organization's money, then in order to use them, you have to get permission, but of course you might not remember or don't want to take permission, so those people should have to set a setting in the bank, that once we 2 or 3 people approve the transaction, then you are allowed to transfer the funds.

I think this system is known as Dual control system.

I totally agree with you friend. Because what you describe is very real and happens everywhere. Personally, I am also sometimes confused by the behavior of people who dare to corrupt funds within an organization or within the government agency where they work. So in my personal opinion, do people like that never see the news, because there are lots of reports about people being punished for committing corruption? Do these people have no fear? However, what is clear in my personal opinion is that the main factor in someone committing acts of corruption is being too greedy and unable to resist the temptation of large amounts of money (belonging to a company or organization). Indeed, in some cases of corruption the reason is that it starts with borrowing. But in my personal opinion, the main point is definitely greed and not being able to resist temptation. Because if people are not greedy and are able to resist temptation, I am sure they will not dare to steal even half a penny from the organization/company funds entrusted to them.

So, choosing someone to serve as treasurer is not an easy matter. Because we all certainly don't know in depth about how to choose people who are truly honest and responsible. Because humans always change, be it their attitudes, personalities, or habits. So it is possible that people who are initially honest can turn into dishonest people. Therefore, to avoid corruption, I think financial affairs must be transparent and known and supervised by everyone in the company or within the organization. So if an organization/company's funds decrease, everyone in that organization/company will definitely rush to find out where the money went.

Everyone will have a valid account when you possess transparent documents shared with every member. In this context, members' roles encompass not only scrutinizing the treasurer's actions but also participating in correcting financial discrepancies should any errors occur in the organization's financial dealings. After all, humans are not infallible, and forgetfulness is a natural trait. To help minimize the treasurer's mistakes, it's reasonable for members to assist in finding valid evidence regarding the flow of funds from the treasurer.

If the treasurer uses organization funds to buy food, it will reflect as a negative balance in the books. Essentially, maintaining separate personal and organizational wallets serves as a straightforward reference to detect calculation errors.

Using organization funds for small debts temporarily is permissible, but within reasonable limits. It might function as a lifesaver when you forget your wallet at a restaurant during lunch, which I believe members would understand as a reasonable occurrence. However, it should not be employed for acquiring anything unrelated or extravagant, as that could lead to significant problems.

You will have to be professional in this case scenario, and it's common thing to have a separate account to your business account to avoid the mix of transactions, that might cause inaccuracy and errors which will affect the company's budget. These principles were already taught in a course related to accounting, so most of the company are hiring people with educational background related to accounting, since they are the one that are capable in managing finances. (In my country PH)

Some people would be tempted with the amount of money on their hands, but always remember that once you used it on your own, it could be consider as a theft crime. That's why it's a crucial role for you to handle money, which is what you signed up for. Even a small discrepancy could be deducted to your salary. Even if you own a business, separating business account and personal is always a must. You wouldn't know how much funds to budget you still have to circulate the money once again by buying resources. There's a lot of factor to consider if you do this thing.

It's a must to separate your personal account and company account since it will make you easier to track the transaction, combining it will make you need to record it every single transaction, otherwise you will lose count.

Open a new account isn't hard, if you think it will cost you some money, you shouldn't start a business when you lack of money since there would be many unnecessary spend may happen.

The real question is there any company that still doing this kind of funds keeping within the officer because the last time I experienced this kind of model is on my school back in college which our treasurer store our funds on his own wallet. 

All companies nowadays using bank to deposit their funds and it was owned by multiple people and require multiple signature to access and withdraw funds. There’s no serious company that will hire a treasurer instead of using bank to save funds because this is really dangerous.

Normally as a manager of a company or a CEO supposedly, it is best for you to always have a separate account with your business account most marketers and account managers will give you the advice of not wanting to run your entire financial activity on one account. Most cases it's even advised to have more than one company account, with different account managers. The complexity of running a business is too flexible to want to mix it with your family or your private money, you have staff's to pay, you will advertise your product all of this cost money, so it should be separated so you would know  your operational cost and what the company is generating so you could check and balance ⚖️ your business, to know if your making profit.

Business and personal, two different issues in the life of every individual, statement below.
This will clearly pose a big danger from an economic perspective, especially if your company is growing rapidly and at the end of the story if the two pieces of money are combined into one box then everything will fall apart.

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The company has employees and a treasurer, all professions are in the company, within the company there is a financial management system to determine needs and goals for the development of the company being managed, The company has separate accounts in its name, so it is not a good idea to combine one account.
Personal accounts also have their own role for our personal needs, wives/husbands automatically know about personal accounts, Well, if the company's money is combined with personal money, it is clear that the company will go bankrupt, various factors, cannot be explained here one by one, which is clearly very dangerous.

You really need to understand the fundamental principle of running a business if you're thinking about mixing your personal funds and company funds. The business entity is separate and distinct from the owner; that's the essence of the business entity concept. In accounting principles, it's crucial to keep them separate. When you have a business, you should only account for the transactions of the business itself. You can't include your personal transactions because that will not provide an accurate picture of the business's financial status. We're specifically talking about the income and expense status, commonly known as the income statement in accounting terms.

OP, you are right one must not keep organization funds in where he can reach it easily, especially when he puts it in his house. This might be very risky when you will face some challenges that will lead to you using such funds, believing that you will be able to replace it. What if the funds is needed urgently by the organization and you can't afford to replace it at that moment. This will bring distrust,shame, embarrassment and tarnish of image. This is why one needs to avoid such act of mixing organization funds with your own personal funds because, must be tempted to use it. Putting the funds in the bank or channel it to the right person that should be in charge is the best for peace of mind.

You will need a very good accountant who knows how to get inventive, if you do this. Without one you have a big chance of getting in serious trouble with the IRS. I don’t think it’s worth it to be looking over your shoulder all the time. Peace of mind is priceless, record & pay your taxes properly, it’s the smart thing to do.

The issue of holding organization funds by an individual, lets say the treasurer of the organization should be heavily discouraged as most times it does not end well and leads to the funds being utilized or stolen by the person in charge. organizations should plan their startup properly and that includes being properly registered with the government which enables them to open a company account with approved banks.
However, there are slim exceptions whereby the organization are not much financially stable and funds are not readily available to go through the process of company registration and they startup their activities with the motive of doing the needful later as they grow in finance. this now leads to the organization funds being held by trusted members for the time being. Another one and the one that prompted me to start this topic gave me a really big challenge and I learnt invaluable lessons from it. It is the issue of holding association funds temporarily pending the rectification of accounts and change of signatories with past leaders whom have relocated from the state.

This is a very risky and complicated matter, and it is even more complicated when you combine the association funds with your own personal funds in the same account. The risk of overspending may arise as you will constantly see enough funds in your account and might tend to forget that there are foreign funds present and before you realize what you've done, you're already indebted to the company.
Secondly, there is this sense of caution that arise instinctively when your personal funds is diminishing whereby you restrict yourself to having only things you really need and curb all excesses until you are back to having much funds. In the case of combined funds, that discipline might not be observed as you see encouraging figures always.
Thirdly, You might intentionally spend the alien funds with the thought of replacing it whenever you own funds are available. This is a very big mistake without proper accounting and documentation to checkmate what you spend because before you know it, you've utilized more than your assumed funds can handle and leave yourself in a great mess.

A good solution to this is to have an entirely different account to receive funds that is not yours and refuse to have ATM card or much access to that account. In fact, the account should be as good as forgotten by you and the only connection to it is withdrawing funds for the organization purpose, Receiving credit and debit alerts to be able to monitor the activities of the account. You also need to have a place that you detail the transactions on that account, like your private record so that you can have the account record ready at any time it is requested by the organization. this rapid accounting relieves you the stress and time wastage of explaining yourself too much as everything related to the transactions on the account is properly penned down and possibly snapped and backed up in your google drive for retrieval in case you misplace the books.
This way, you will have two advantages

• Reduced Interaction with with funds that are not yours as there is a separation of concerns and you get to plan yourself properly with your funds
• You gain respect by being accountable for the funds anytime as you have the transactions carefully spelt out in your accounting books and a backup online if books are far fetched

Finally, Keep the pressure for account rectification on and ensure funds are out of your control as soon as it's done to relieve yourself from the temptations that are associated with being in custody of association funds. I advise you to update your personal records immediately there is a transaction whether debit or credit as you may forget the details sooner or later and put yourself under unnecessary stress.

Note: At the time of developing this topic, Discussing it with a friend, I learnt of a woman leader whom squandered millions under her care for the purchase of association luxurious buses and started shedding tears when asked to return the funds within one week. All these could have been avoided If the organization had its account or if she had known these principles above.