Bookkeeping checklist for clients

That’s crucial for ensuring your accounting data is as accurate and complete as possible. Ultimately, the goal of your finance and accounting teams is to create accurate financial statements for the month. A monthly bookkeeping checklist is more than a to-do list; it forms a critical part of your firm’s foundation. The Income summary then closes out to retained earnings and dividends closes out to retained earnings. Certain accounts must be closed out before preparing the monthly financial statements to reflect the company’s true financial status.

Spend some time learning their industry and daily operations to gain more insight into what they do. Understanding exactly how your client’s business works and help you identify areas or services you could upsell to them later on. QuickBooks, Wave, and FreshBooks are among the best accounting software for self-employed and freelancers. You need to be able to assess from your monthly reports if you’re scaling or if there are areas of business where you need to cut costs. If you work with physical products and store them in warehouses, you need to track how much product you have sold and how much you have left.

Steps to Create the Bookkeeping Checklist

For accounts receivable, ensure your customers pay within their agreed credit limits. For example, you might find that you can alter payment terms for your next accounting period. Can I use this Monthly Bookkeeping Checklist Template for weekly processes as well? If you run a seasonal business, cash flow goals are even more important so you can thrive during and after peak business periods. You may need to review your forecasts if your financial statements exceed or don’t meet your budget.

• If the CRA audits your company and finds any underpayment of taxes, it will come to you, not your accountant, for any additional taxes, penalty, and interest.
• If you want a more detailed breakdown, you can either switch to the Income List or Expense List view to visualize your income and expenses grouped by their respective sources and sinks.
• After reconciling the bank account, I am able to pull reports for my client, such as the profit and loss statement comparing the last couple of months or the last year.
• This lets you identify and resolve potential issues that could affect your cash flow.
• Unlike your P&L, the numbers on your balance sheet get carried forward.
• Without this level of inventory management, your staff may lose sales by telling customers you’re out of stock when an item just hasn’t been entered into the system.

It is essential to create schedules for these items to ensure the amount of each entry is accurate, such as a listing for fixed assets. All additions and disposals will need to be identified and tracked in your record depreciation expense. monthly bookkeeping checklist Keep track of routine journal entries and calculations done in the previous month to speed up this process each month. Want to be at the top of your bookkeeping game all year long and equip your employees with the right tools?

Common Mistakes During the Month-End Close

Welcome to your weekly accounting tasks, otherwise known as the land of invoicing, financial data management, and other business bank account fun. These statements include your cash flow statement, balance sheets, and profit and loss statement. Your accounting system should have software that generates these reports automatically.

Of course, you should account for purchases when you review fixed assets too. It’s easy to let transactions made from the petty cash fund go unrecorded. Accurate monthly data feeds into several other accounting procedures. For example, your year end close becomes a lot simpler if you have accurate monthly reports to work from.

Recording Sales and Revenue: Tracking Income Sources and Evaluating Performance

This not only facilitates easy tracking of cash flow but also lays the groundwork for accurate financial reporting. From checking your financial data daily to preparing year-end financial statements, healthy accounting practices make life easier. When you know your financial tracks are covered, you can focus on the exciting aspects of running your business and bringing new ideas to life.

If you are a business that is just getting off the ground, you might benefit more from DIY bookkeeping. Not only is it more cost-effective, but you also get first-hand knowledge of how your business operates, how much you are earning and spending, and how to strategize around these numbers. A lot of accounting software is designed to be user-friendly and some have free plans. One of the most critical pillars of a successful month-end Close is performing thorough reconciliations. Reconciliations ensure your financial records match external sources and internal sub-ledgers. The numbers emerging from the month-end Close reflect past financial performance and help guide future strategies and investments.

#2: Update Your Bookkeeping Software

If it’s a new vendor, I will Google and try and figure out what it is and know where to categorize it, but if I can’t figure it out on my own, I will ask my client what they spent the money on. Explore ClickUp’s extensive template library for a wide range of tools to streamline your business management and operations. If you want a more detailed breakdown, you can either switch to the Income List or Expense List view to visualize your income and expenses grouped by their respective sources and sinks. The ClickUp Budget Report Template—designed in ClickUp Docs—helps you craft reports by highlighting your business’s monthly and yearly performance and budget summary. On the other hand, the timeline view lets you visualize task durations, and the Gantt view takes this further by displaying task flow and dependencies. Use this template to strategically focus your resources on nurturing strong relationships with your top clients.

• She is also experienced in setting up corporations with the State Corporation Commission and the IRS.
• The following accounting checklist lays out a recommended timeline for the accounting functions that will show the state of your business and streamline your tax preparation.
• This will vary by business and by location but something to keep in mind to be completed regularly.
• If a worker is making purchases for the business, make sure they communicate it to the person in charge so the transaction can be recorded properly.
• Our monthly bookkeeping checklist template will allow  you to effectively delegate work to your team members without batting an eye.
• Sometimes a worker will pay for a business expense out of pocket and request reimbursement later.