Year-End Prep: The Easiest Way to Tie Up All Your Financial Loose Ends
Nothing screams “business success” like a giant stack of receipts overflowing from your desk drawer. You know it’s time to tackle the job of bookkeeping, yet you keep putting it off until tomorrow. Ah, the struggles of small business owners everywhere!
As a business owner, chances are your relationship with bookkeeping would be best described as “It’s complicated…”. Every quarter, you’re faced with an almost insurmountable task of trying to make sense of all the paperwork—it can feel like being submerged in a sea of bills and ledgers! But never fear—there is hope.
Learn how we at eGO Bookkeeping help even the most disorganized small business tame their bookkeeping chaos!
Understanding What Is Year-End Prep
Year-end accounting and bookkeeping are like a trip to the dentist, it’s not the most exciting thing in the world but it’s essential for maintaining a healthy financial life.
Year-end accounting involves preparing financial statements (income statement, balance sheet) and accounts payable and receivable reports to show what happened financially in the past year. These documents are used to make decisions about your business’s future strategies. Bookkeeping involves tracking all of your money in and money out throughout the year using an accounting software such as Xero or QuickBooks Online.
At its core, year-end accounting and bookkeeping provide you with a clear view of how your business has performed over the course of 12 months—and they lay the groundwork for sound decision-making in the new fiscal year. Bookkeeping tasks like reconciling accounts, need to be done in a timely manner after your year-end date, so that you accountant can prepare your corporate tax return by the due date. You don’t want your accountant to be rushed, and you don’t want to incur late filing penalties.
What Makes Year-End Difficult For Businesses?
Year-end can be the financial equivalent of a marathon – a long and grueling process that tests the endurance of even the most organized business owners. You may be trying to find a needle in a haystack, only the needle is a receipt from two years ago and the haystack is your shoebox filled with random papers.
It can test your patience, as you sift through mountains of invoices and receipts, trying to make sense of it all. It can also be a test of creativity, as you try to figure out how to classify that one expense that doesn’t quite fit into any category.
Bank accounts, credit card accounts, and many other accounts on the balance sheet must all be reconciled as of the year-end date of the business. This process can become incredibly time-consuming and stress-inducing for business owners who don’t have a system in place to help them manage their finances.
A deep dive into your books can often reveal inefficiencies and/or errors that could be costing your business in the long run. We at eGO Bookkeeping understand the importance of getting your books in order and are here to help make this arduous process easier.
Bookkeeping Year-End Checklist
Indulge us for a moment and imagine a scenario where you’re scrambling to make sure your year-end prep is done on time. Let us share a real-life story with you.
We once had a client who thought they could store all their financial documents in a shoebox under their bed. But when it came time to submit to the CRA, they quickly realized that digging through the pile of receipts to find the relevant information was like playing a game of financial archaeology! You could say that was their wake-up call – now they understand the importance of keeping their records accurate and up-to-date so they can easily file their taxes on time.
The moral of the story? The shoebox bookkeeping method is a sure way to keep the CRA auditors busy and your accountant working overtime!
Every business regardless of how it is structured (sole proprietor, incorporated, partnership) must complete a year-end filing. Ideally, this year-end filing should be done by a CPA before the date it is due (depending on your business structure and period).
Whether you’re looking to clean up your financials or just want to make sure everything is in order before tax time, our year-end bookkeeping checklist will help you stay on top of it all.
Here’s what you need to check:
- Have you added your accountant to your cloud-based accounting software?
- Do you have source documents for your new asset purchases?
- Your accountant will need copies of these new asset purchases.
- Are your loan balances correct?
- Have you recorded any interest you paid during the year on these loans? If you don’t reconcile your loan balances, you may be missing out on some interest expenses for the year.
- Did you post last year’s adjusting journal entries from your accountant?
- Are your clearing accounts clearing (ie. cash clearing, POS clearing)?
- Any balance in these accounts will need an explanation.
- Have you reviewed your accounts receivable (A/R) for reasonability?
- Have you reviewed your accounts payable (A/P) for reasonability?
- Does your inventory value make sense?
- Do you have any cash on hand?
- Does it agree with your Balance Sheet?
- Do you have any Work in Progress (WIP)?
- If yes, you will need to discuss this with your accountant.
- Do you have any pre-paid expenses (insurance, accounting fees)?
- Do your key financial reports make sense (Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet)?
- For example, why do your profit and loss say you lost $3m this year…is that reasonable?
Keeping your books clean throughout the year will make the year-end process much easier. Having trouble keeping up during the year, and getting stressed at year-end?
eGO Bookkeeping Can Help With Your Year-end Preparation
Small and medium businesses in Kingston and Ontario can rely on eGO Bookkeeping to help them prepare for the year-end.
1. Bookkeeping Services
Bookkeeping is like having a personal assistant for your business, and at eGO Bookkeeping, we specialize in helping you stay on track! We’ll keep track of all your income and expenses, reconcile all your accounts, and make sure all your financial ducks are in a row. We’ll be the ones to take care of all the boring, time-consuming tasks so you can focus on what you do best – growing your business.
Our bookkeeping services are like a financial GPS, guiding you through the twists and turns of the financial road. With us on your side, you’ll be able to navigate the treacherous waters of bookkeeping like a pro.
2. Payroll Services
Payroll wizards! That’s what our clients call us. Our team can help you stay on top of your payroll and ensure that all your employees are paid accurately, on time and in compliance with the applicable rules and regulations.
3. Accounts Payable
Top-notch, accurate, time-saving accounts payable services are exactly what you’ll get from us. We’ll help ensure that all your bills get paid on time and keep track of unpaid invoices so that you never miss a payment or overpay an invoice again.
You can think of us like the superhero of bill paying – we swoop in and save the day by making sure all your bills are paid on time and review accounts payable for discrepancies, every time. No more late fees or pesky reminders from creditors. Leave it to us and you can sit back and relax, knowing your business expenses are taken care of with precision and efficiency.
4. Accounts Receivable
Forget the days of tracking down missing payments – with eGo Bookkeeping, the only thing you’ll have to worry about is how you’re going to spend all that extra time! We take care of accounts receivable so you don’t have to. We provide detailed reports on customer balances and timely payment reminders, so you can trust that everything is handled accurately and reliably.
Summing Up
Don’t let bookkeeping bring you down, let us elevate your business to new heights! Contact us today and let us take the financial burden off your shoulders.
When you work with us, your bookkeeping will be stellar! Give us a call to see how we can help you have accurate financial reports throughout the year:
Let us help you free up valuable time and resources so that you can focus on what you do best—growing your business!
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