monthly bookkeeping checklist

Check out this bookkeeping tip
that can reduce your overall small business bookkeeping fees. The more
organized your records, the less it costs to process them. Further up on
the same page is a box with links to more tips on how to reduce your
bookkeeping fees. The only thing bookkeepers really don’t need are your personal receipts.

  • Make sure the bills you’re paying for your business have been paid on time and are accurate with this report.
  • Sometimes a transaction will come through and be categorized wrong, or maybe it’s a new vendor that they’ve never had before.
  • As a small business owner, there are few tasks that are more important to successfully manage your business than bookkeeping.
  • As a bonus, you will find the two checklists on this page in the appendix.
  • During this time of review, remove and replace any incorrect transactions or additional figures to accurately reflect your company’s net income and current liabilities.
  • Have this person check all financial statements, as well as your general ledger.
  • Edit the list of account descriptions and codes to match your business accounts.

Make sure the bills you’re paying for your business have been paid on time and are accurate with this report. Address any incorrect or uncategorized transactions to ensure your net income is reported accurately. Most invoices are due within 30 days, noted as “Net 30” at the bottom of your invoice. Without a due date, you will have more trouble forecasting monthly revenue.

Vendor Invoices

Keep in mind that in addition to state sales tax, your county, city, or even district may hold its own sales tax requirements. Keeping your books up-to-date is essential if you want to run a successful business. This bookkeeping checklist is slightly different as your accountant or tax preparer requires a bit more to complete monthly bookkeeping checklist their task. Get a snapshot of your monthly profit and loss report by entering your financial data and selecting the month that you want to view in the dashboard. This statement of account template shows all of the financial transactions that occurred between your business and a customer during a certain time period.

  • I estimated the time it would take me based on the maximum amount of time it would take.
  • An open vendor deposit is money your business has sent to a vendor, but the vendor hasn’t sent you a vendor invoice to use that money.
  • Review amortization and asset depreciation in this step as well.
  • That’s why you must be aware of upcoming deadlines and plan accordingly to keep your clients’ finances in order.
  • Last year I had over 6,000 requests and it took me way too long to respond so I made it easier for me, and quicker for you, with this link courtesy of Withum.
  • Financial Cents also gives you a great overview of all client work and projects so you never miss another deadline.
  • Also, annual, quarterly, and monthly sales tax returns must be filed with the state where your business is conducted.

After doing such, compare the results of this month to other months in addition to year-to-date. If you prepare a budget for your business each year, compare the statement against your budget. 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. When ordering more materials from suppliers or manufacturers, you need to know which products are selling and how fast they are selling.

Automate your bookkeeping

They can analyze the numbers, check journal entries, and give some insight into your company’s financial health. Account reconciliations help you spot mistakes in your financial reporting. You can also check your account statements for evidence of fraudulent transactions.

The checklist is there to remind you of the various points required in the transaction process done in the business. Download the templates of the bookkeeping checklist that will help in getting the idea of the entire bookkeeping process. Create a payroll file sorted by payroll date and a bank statement file sorted by month.

Inventory Tracking Template

Additionally, always inspect your incoming bills, making sure you received what you paid for. If everything appears normal, make the payment accordingly and file it as an outgoing expense. Record and categorize all monthly and annual revenue and expenses for the month so that you can keep up with the financial status of your business on a monthly basis. This includes credit card revenue transactions and individual credit card purchases.

You or your bookkeeper have processed all the paperwork and put it
in a format your accountant can use. Your accountant will go through
your small business bookkeeping reports, third party statements and government information reports submitted to CRA (or IRS). Create a detailed report that displays quarterly cash flow projections. This template allows you to track the variance between your projected and actual cash position for each month and calculates total cash payments and net cash change. Keep track of business expenses with this simple spreadsheet template.

This helps your clients know how much money they have to work with at any given time. Making daily deposits is a crucial part of the bookkeeping process because it ensures that all money is accounted for, preventing any confusion over where it came from or went. Reviewing this report helps ensure that the bills you entered throughout the month are accurate and paid in a timely manner. During this time of review, remove and replace any incorrect transactions or additional figures to accurately reflect your company’s net income and current liabilities.

monthly bookkeeping checklist