Having a well-documented checklist will increase your team’s efficiency and client satisfaction. We’ve outlined 8 key year-end steps to complete for each of your clients. The process involves reconciling accounts, identifying discrepancies, and making necessary adjustments to ensure that the balances match between the bank’s records and your accounting records. Carefully investigate and address any discrepancies you encounter during the reconciliation process.
Plus, a well-organized approach to these tasks can save valuable time during the month-end Close, making the process more efficient. Also, you can include other tasks because every accountant has an individual checklist. The task depends economic efficiency on the profile of your company, on your experience of work, on the number of staff in the financial department of your company. However, the IRS and most states require quarterly payroll reports and any remaining quarterly payments.
To give you a headstart on next year’s bookkeeping checklists, Jetpack Workflow created 32 free templates for bookkeeping and accounting firms so you can kick off the new year on the right foot. This review is an opportunity to check that all invoices were paid and all payments were received. It’s especially important if there were any changes in staff or accounting software during the year. HighRadius Autonomous Accounting Application consists of End-to-end Financial Close Automation, AI-powered Anomaly Detection and Account Reconciliation, and Connected Workspaces.
Hence, don’t forget to add -‘backing up of important information’ into your year-end checklist. Adopt a reliable backup system that will protect your important accounting information on your phone or computer. You can also use cloud backup which will enable your company to send a copy of your backed-up data to another location in case the system is compromised. With the help of cloud backup, you can also restore information and get protected against IT crises such as cyberattacks or other disasters. As we approach the final stages of your month-end Close, review reports to help ensure your financial statements are accurate and insightful. By diligently confirming all transactions, you lay a solid foundation for the rest of the month-end close process.
A company’s inventory account is one of the most critical accounts on its balance sheet. Inventory represents the raw materials, work-in-progress, and finished goods a company has on hand and is one of the biggest assets a company can have. Before sending out W-2s, you should reconcile payroll for the year to confirm your clients’ records match their quarterly tax filings. If any of your clients use a separate payroll account, you should also reconcile that account before preparing W-2s.
Reviewing financial statements also allows you to update them with changes that occurred during the year. Finally, check that all payroll taxes have been properly submitted to the IRS and your state’s taxing authority for the year. If your clients have more than a handful of employees (and even if they have just a few), those employees will be asking for their W-2s sooner than later. Though the deadline for getting W-2s to employees is January 31, you’ll save yourself (and your clients) a lot of headaches by getting them out as soon as possible after the new year.
You can also use our free paycheck calculator to figure out what you need to withhold from each paycheck. Managing your cash flow is critical, especially in the first year of your business. Forecasting how much cash you will need in the coming weeks/months will help you reserve enough money to pay bills, including your employees and suppliers. Plus, you can make more informed business decisions about how to spend it. A related study was, in fact, conducted by the American Economic Journal back in 2015. By acting as a memory aid and means to track task completion, a simple checklist managed to boost productivity and increase the revenue of a firm by 20%.
Doing so will ensure you start the next fiscal year with the right financials. One of the easiest ways to reduce stress and improve productivity during this period is to prepare and follow a set workflow. To give you a headstart, we’ve laid out all the essential steps to a successful year-end closing cycle in this article.
A well-defined bar opening and closing checklist is a vital tool for any establishment serving drinks. It ensures that the bar maintains high standards, guarantees safety and operates efficiently. Such checklists help staff systematically manage tasks, leaving no room for errors or oversights. Few accounting procedures need standardizing than the month end close process.
At year-end, you need to adjust these accruals to ensure your financial statements accurately reflect your company’s financial position. Be sure to include an “aging” column to separate “open invoices” with the number of days a bill is past due. The beginning of the month is a good time to send out overdue reminder statements to customers, clients and anyone else who owes you money. All you need is a simple statement showing your current cash position, expected cash receipts during the next week/month and expected cash payments during the next week/month.
If there’s a balance outstanding, create adjusting entries to the original journal entries. Lessons learned on how top firms grow fast, build stronger teams, and increase profit while working less. Interested in finding out how Jetpack Workflow can improve your firm’s productivity? By mapping out what needs to be done and when, you avoid needless stress and save yourself valuable time.
You may want to take a look at some of the features that you can expect to find when you download this file. That’s why you need to find ways to remove yourself from the day-to-day processes so you can focus on working “on” the business rather than “in” the business. When you use our monthly general accounting checklist, you provide your team with everything they need to complete tasks without you. They won’t need to ask you questions, nor will they need you to get involved in the process because they’ll have everything they need right within these checklists. Our monthly general accounting checklist template will allow you to effectively delegate work to your team members without batting an eye. Using the checklist, they will understand the minute steps it takes to get the work done.
