A Small Business Owner's Monthly Bookkeeping Checklist
After meeting with clients and walking through the QuickBooks training, I am often asked, “So what do I need to do every month?” Even small business owners who aren’t my clients ask this question!
As a business owner, we often wear all of the hats, and keeping up on the bookkeeping can seem like a daunting task. It’s especially daunting around March & April when you know you need to get those records handy for filing your taxes!
One simple tip to keep your business financials updated is to do at least one thing every week.
Getting into a repetitive habit with updating your books will yield great results the next time you sit down to look at your financial statements. But if it feels overwhelming, start small. Maybe for you it’s doing something small every day, like classifying the purchases you made that day or recording that check you cashed!
If you’ve gotten into the swing of updating your QuickBooks and you want to make sure you’re covering your bases, then here’s a checklist that should help out!
BOOKKEEPING CHECKLIST
Daily or Weekly
On a day of your choosing, run through these items.
Enter all Banking transactions for Bank Accounts and Credit Cards
Make sure the QBO Balance + Bank Account Balance matches
– If they don’t, investigate!If you Invoice from QBO, enter any Invoices or Payments
If you record Bills from your Vendors, enter any Bills received or Paid
Monthly
After the month has ended and your Bank Statements are available, you’re ready to wrap up the month!
Go to your bank’s website and download your Bank Statements
– Do this for your Bank Accounts, Credit Cards, PayPal, etc.Use the Reconciliation Tool to Reconcile to the Bank Statement
– This is to make sure that everything that happened in your bank account is recorded in QBO, and that everything recorded in QBO happened in your account.
– Check out our step by step blogs on how to reconcile your accounts and what to do when you get stuck.Go to Reports and take a look at your Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet!
– Make sure things look reasonable for your business. If you need help reading these, set up a time and we’ll go over them together!
Take time to get to know your business on a financial level. Play around with Reports in QuickBooks! Run reports on a monthly basis and look for trends.
The reality is that you know your business better than anyone because you’re generating the income and spending the money. These reports and tools just should reflect what you already know and give you peace of mind that it’s filed away and ready for whatever comes your way – income taxes, sales taxes, or business loans!
No assurance is given that the information is comprehensive in its coverage or that it’s suitable in dealing with each individual’s particular situation. Kayla Prusinski does not hold a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) or similar license. This blog article is to provide general information only, does not constitute tax or legal advice, and cannot be used or substituted for tax or legal advice. Savvy Bird Consulting, LLC is not responsible for the implementation or outcomes this material may have.