Year End - First Year Bookkeeper

by Joy
(Alberta, Canada)

When to step back

When to step back

What do I need to do for fiscal year end?


I need a checklist of things that I need to do. What forms do I need from the government? What entries do I need to make?

I got thrown into the seat in May with no training and am cleaning up after a lazy bookkeeper who was preceded by a saboteur. HELP.



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First thing you need to do Joy is to stop and take a deep breath. Hold it for four counts, then let it out to a four count ... repeat this three times.

From what you are saying, it seems that the books are in terrible shape because the employer continues to hire unqualified staff for some of the tasks at hand. First year bookkeepers don't normally handle year-end. It is normally handled by a senior position.

You need to tell your employer that you are not qualified to do a year-end as there are no written procedures available for you to follow. Recommend that your employer have their accountant come in to perform year-end this year. Recommend that the accountant be hired to write a procedure manual for you to follow next year.

Then you need to enroll in some formal training ... or change jobs.

That said, type in "year end" in my search box for this site and see what information comes up that might be useful to you.

Good luck.

Comments for Year End - First Year Bookkeeper

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Jan 03, 2016
Agreed
by: Mike

I've been self-employed most of my life, a lot of years, and I have taken accounting in high school, a long time ago. My opinion...

As someone who knows accounting, not professional but knows it, I have to agree that if you do not have the training, don't do the job.

As a business owner, if I hired someone to do my bookkeeping and they didn't know how to do year end books, I would prefer if they admitted that and recommended I hire an accountant for that, rather than them try to do it and make mistakes, potentially costly ones.

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