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Accounting and Bookkeeping Checklist
What To Do and When

For The Work From Home Business Owner

Checklists are handy. I find bookkeeping checklists are really handy, especially when you are working at home on the book keeping for your business.




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I have put together this quick article, an overview really, on some small business accounting and bookkeeping tasks that should be done during the year ... to help ensure your year-end will be a breeze.

If I make reference to QuickBooks® in this article, I won't necessarily tell you exactly how to perform the task. For the purposes of this article, I am going to assume you are proficient with QuickBooks®. If this is not the case for you ... you have four options:

  1. Get professional help.
  2. Learn to use QuickBooks® Help menu.
  3. Take a course on QuickBooks® in your local area.
  4. Ask your question on the Bookkeeping Essentials Learning QuickBooks® forum page

... mmm that's a little blunt isn't it? Sorry I'm tired. I've been studying for my tax course and my Certified Professional Bookkeeper's exam. (Update May 2010 ... I passed both! :0))

image of apple and cinnamon tea courtesy of stock.xchng.com

As this site grows, I'll work in more detail ... most likely in a separate article.

Now let's get started ... so take a sec and warm up your tea cup.

I have categorized the tasks into six different bookkeeping checklists. You will need an Insider's Pass to view all but the daily tasks:

... helping you on your way throughout the year ... so your year end should go as smoothly as possible.

If you want a checklist on what to hand over to your bookkeeper or accountant, the list I drew up in Small Business Bookkeeping Questions and Answers may help.



The Bookkeeper's Tip

If you use QuickBooks®, use the "To Do Notes" to setup these tasks. They will show up as Reminders on your Company Snapshot. It will help you to quickly prioritize your tasks at the start of each day.

You will find the To Do List feature under the Company drop down menu. Remember to also set reminder preferences so the list shows up in Company Snapshot. "Set Preferences" has a list of other reminders you can set to help you organize your day.




Daily Bookkeeping Tasks

  • Design your billing procedures so that you invoice your customers immediately upon completion of the sale or service.
  • If you don't track your customers on an individual basis because you have a cash register, prepare your Daily Sales Summary.
    • If you use QuickBooks®, your customer is named "Cash Register Sales" or something like that. Enter your amounts from your daily till report using the Sales Receipt form. Make sure you post your bank deposit to the Undeposited Funds account.

  • Make bank deposits on the same day as you receive the payments (or the next day if you are using the portable file organization system for your vehicle).
    • Deposit the whole amount as it gives you an audit trail and makes doing your reconciliations easier. Do not take some cash for yourself. If you need cash, write yourself a cheque.
    • If you must keep some cash back from a deposit and you use QuickBooks®, use the cash back box at the bottom of the Make Deposit screen. Record the whole cash amount received through the Undeposited Funds screen, then record the cash taken at the bottom. Make sure you complete all the fields, including the memo field explaining what or who the cash was for.
    • Make sure you include the cheque number and date of any cheques you received on the deposit slip ... or you can use a payment log where your record this information. Also check that the address on the cheque matches the address on your invoice. You'll need this information when you go to enter the payment into your bookkeeping program.

  • Upon returning from the bank, match and staple the bank deposit receipts received to the customer invoices. (Or you can do this task when you sit down to do your data entry.)
  • Setup your small business accounting system so you update and monitor your cash flow forecast every day. I like to do it in the morning before the day's interruptions begin.
  • Backup your data. This is a very important task ... so please don't skip it.



Weekly Bookkeeping Checklist

Parts of this article are available only to my newsletter subscribers. To view this article in its entirety, you will need an Insider's Pass. Please subscribe to The Bookkeeper's Notes newsletter to receive your free pass.

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The Bookkeeper's Tip

Before Reading The Year-End Bookkeeping Checklist

If you are just starting out in bookkeeping, YOU should not be performing year-end procedural tasks for clients ... like the ones in the bookkeeping checklist coming up ... especially IF you don't understand the difference between GAAP/ASPE financial reporting standards versus tax reporting ... unless your work IS supervised by an experienced accountant.

In the beginning, you should only be preparing the books up to the unadjusted trial balance ... with the books being handed over to a professional certified bookkeeper or accountant to perform year-end file preparation ... which involves recording entries that often are not indicated by source document.

Your inexperience could cause a small business owner to go out of business. It may not happen initially, but occur after the owner is audited by CRA when all your errors come to light ... because your work is used to prepare the tax compliance returns submitted to CRA / provincial authorities. Remember, the small business owner is making financial decisions based on what the financial statements say.

It is acceptable for you to book the adjusting entries the accountant gives you.




Year-end Bookkeeping Checklist

This is a general year-end bookkeeping checklist list. Every set of books is different ... so year end procedures requires judgement. Any bookkeeping entries listed here should not be booked by someone doing their own books ... unless you have discussed this with your accountant ... or the accountant gave you the entries to post so you can close your books for the year.

I include this checklist only to give you an idea of what a certified professional bookkeeper or accountant will be doing. If you try to do this yourself, and don't have the proper knowledge, it will just cost you more to hire someone to try and figure out what you did and how it can be corrected. :0(

Parts of this article are available only to my newsletter subscribers. To view this article in it's entirety, you will need an Insider's Pass. Please subscribe to The Bookkeeper's Notes newsletter to receive your free pass.

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I promise to use it only to send you The Bookkeeper's Notes.







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Make An Appointment With Yourself To Complete Your Bookkeeping Checklist - Yes ... Actually Schedule It

If you work through these bookkeeping checklists and actually do these small business accounting tasks faithfully, preparing for year-end will not be an onerous task.

You can make it easier on yourself by actually scheduling time to perform these small business accounting tasks just as you would any other task in your business.

Making the appointment with yourself will make it more difficult to put aside the task. If you are consistent with the timing, it will become a habit very quickly. Each time you complete one of the bookkeeping checklists, they become easier to do ... especially if you stay on top of it.

Okay, now I have to come clean. Do I always get all these tasks done on the bookkeeping checklists when I say they should be done?

Ah, that would be a big, fat no. :0(

Sometimes I just don't have time ... but I do chip away at each bookkeeping checklist ... so that come year-end, I've got everything done that needs to be done.

Do you want your year-ends to be a breeze? Then you need to get around to doing these accounting and bookkeeping tasks throughout the year too.


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From the Mail Bag
Visitor Comments



Thank you for your comprehensive reply to my question. I really appreciate the time you took to explain it to me.

Connie, Canada




This is an absolutely awesome site! I am not lying. I went to Chapters to try to find something just like this and they did not have what I was looking for - which your site does ... which is good definitions and explanations. I am going to book mark this page if that's okay. ... Great job and thank you. I will definitely use this resource.

PK Lethbridge, Alberta




Lake, Have you put together an information source for Year End Accounting Procedures? Your Month End Procedures are a godsend. I look forward to seeing what you put out.

K.D. Richmond, B.C.




My biggest problem in doing my books is keeping debits & credits straight in liability and equity accounts. I really liked the cheat sheet. (I think that will help me keep the debits and credits straight.)

Lisa, Williston, USA




Lake you're awesome in every way. I have had some insight about how to properly classify some accounts.

Karim, Calgary, Alberta




I love your website. Just love it.

Carolann
CPB Bookkeeping, Inc.
"The Organizer"
Lake Worth, FL




I posted a question on Accumulated Surplus and you asked me to comment on your comments. I really appreciated reading what you posted and it did help. Especially the part of talking to the accountant. That really makes sense. I find more and more that I interact with the accountants to keep on learning. Love Love Love your website. Just discovered it about 3 weeks ago and have been on it lots since then.

Jan
Red Deer, Alberta




Thank you for the tips you provide on this site.

Vancouver, British Columbia




Wow. I'm so thankful to have stumbled across your site, with the assistance of Google. :) I love your style of writing, your approach, and your message. Thank you for your time and efforts. In a nutshell, your light humor and simple approach is refreshing and uplifting.

Kathy, Hillsdale, United States




Your site is great by the way. I just came across it.

Trish, Canada




Thanks for responding so quickly ... I really appreciate all the forum help ... I do Love the forum and have looked through other questions on it and feel it will greatly help in the future. Your site is fantastic and I will recommend it to anyone asking about bookkeeping help.

Cindy, Calgary, Canada




It (your site) is very helpful and thank you for your tips and advice. I am so glad I found your site.

Lee, Calgary, Alberta




This website has been very helpful. It's been too many years since school and I'm a bit rusty.

Sue, Medicine Hat, Alberta




I just found this site tonight. It's going to help me a lot as I learn how to use my Quickbooks more fully (I've only used it for payroll). Don't ask me how I've managed to keep the books this long -5 years- without knowing much more than how to balance a checkbook. I'm getting some help from a professional now, but your site will keep my pro costs down. Thank you. I will definitely donate once I begin to use it with my QuickBooks. It's [your site] easier to understand than Help in QuickBooks. QuickBooks assumes I know bookkeeping concepts. It [your site] appears to be very thorough, though I've only scratched the surface of what I can learn. I took an online bookkeeping class a couple of years ago, but this site has direct application to quickbooks and it's a searchable site!

Ruth, Dos Palos, CA USA




Thank you for providing valuable information regarding home business taxes on this website.

U.C., Toronto, Canada




I started my own bookkeeping business two years ago and enjoy your site. I literally grab my cup of coffee and look around for hours. :D It's a wonderful site with loads of information and I'm all about learning from my peers who might have the answers to some of the questions I may have. Keep up the good work. :)

Tania, TaniasBookkeeping.org
Taking the worry away
Belledune, New Brunswick




BTW, did you say Bookkeeping? Cuz I fell asleep... just kidding!

Dr. Julia
www.advice-with-dr-julia.com

(I love her humour!)




Absolutely a great site! I have often dreamed of having a similar site but figured I might have to wait until I retire to get the time. I have bookmarked this site and will return again.

C.H.
Alwyn Enterprises
Scarborough , Ontario




You have a wonderful website. Thank you so much for letting me know you have one now. [It] is really well done and very, very informative. Also really charming.

R.P.
Reliable Recordkeeping
Toronto, Ontario




I'm enjoying reading your blog! Thought I'd drop you a quick note of encouragement.

Loralee, Red2Black.ca
QuickBooks "one
on one" coaching
Edmonton, Alberta




This is a marvelous site and one that I would like to use as the basis for training bookkeepers. I am a CPA here in the states and am in the process of building a what will hopefully become a substantial bookkeeping business (not a dark wood & gold lettered CPA firm). I want to serve the small business owner with the day to day service they need. You have obviously put in an enormous amount of time and effort here (there is no doubt there) and provide a wealth of fantastic information.

R. Keith Pierce, CPA, P.A.
I'll Sweat The Small Stuff For You - JaxTaxPro.com
Jacksonville, Florida