Year End Checklist
Some of our clients do their own books or have their own bookkeeper, and they hire us only to complete the year end adjustments and closing entries, tax return, and year end financial statements. The following bookkeeping tasks need to be completed for the books to be ready for year end:
Data Entry
Of course, all of the transactions for the fiscal year must be entered, including:
☐ Customer invoices, regarless if they have been paid or not
☐ Customer sales receipts and payments, including any cash payments and any payments “in kind” (trading services/products as a form of payment)
☐ Deposits
☐ Expense receipts and vendor payments, including any cash payments and any payments “in kind”
☐ Vendor, telephone, and utility bills, regardless if they they have been paid or not
If you are unsure how a transaction should be entered, put it to the expense account “Ask My Accountant”, with a description, and provide us with the source document. We will be sure to allocate it correctly.
Year End Reconciliations
The following accounts need to be reconciled:
☐ Value of inventory on hand at year end
☐ All bank accounts to year end plus one month
☐ All credit cards to year end plus one week
☐ Be sure that any unreconciled amounts to year end have been either confirmed or reallocated and are not represented in the company bank and credit card accounts in error.
☐ All loan and mortgage accounts per year end statements
☐ All line of credit accounts
☐ Accounts Receivable
☐ Accounts Payable
☐ Undeposited Funds
☐ Employee Benefits
☐ All CRA accounts
We will also need the bank and credit card statements that show the balance the first and last days of the fiscal year, bank statement for the first month of the new fiscal year, employee benefits statements that show the totals for the fiscal year, and any asset purchase or sale documents.
If you/your bookeeper doesn’t know how to reconcile inventory, loans, mortgages, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Employee Benefits, or CRA accounts, we are able to do that for you. We will need the relevant statements and other information.
Things of Note
☐ Income and applicable taxes are reported as such on the date of the invoice or sale document, regardless of when payment is received. Likewise with expenses.
☐ For some companies, there may be “Work in Progress” that needs to be accounted for.
☐ While we don’t provide an official “Review Engagement”, we do look over the books to identify any potential discrepancies that may need to be clarified or corrected.
☐ If doing your own books, we recommend using QuickBooks Desktop Premier, with its customizable and robust features. A free or low cost online alternative is Wave Accounting. There are many other online options as well.
☐ Although it sounds like it should be easy, properly kept books will require some time and effort, if you decide to do them on your own. The easiest is to use bookkeeping software. If that’s too intimidating, it can be done with spreadsheets. Feel free to contact us to discuss the benefits and drawbacks of doing your own bookkeeping, TNT’s bookkeeping fees, or if you have any questions.
