As a business owner, there are several tasks that will need your attention aside from bookkeeping. However, staying on top of your bookkeeping will ensure that your business finances are healthy and running smoothly. Moreover, bookkeeping is your way to stop early financial issues in your business.
If you're not well-versed in finances and accounting, navigating the different bookkeeping tasks may be difficult. To help you understand, we’ve prepared the ultimate bookkeeping checklist that every business owner should know. So take notes!
Daily Bookkeeping To-Do List
Bookkeeping involves a wide range of tasks, and we've categorized these tasks whether you need them to do them daily, monthly, quarterly, or yearly. Here are daily bookkeeping chores you should keep on top of.
Monitor Your Cash Position
You should always want to handle your cash flow as a business owner. It is crucial for every business to know how much cash is going out and coming in and the cash you have on hand. This is the first way to know whether you are making a profit. So make it a habit to check your cash position at the beginning and at the end of your business day.
Update Bookkeeping Software
Having bookkeeping software is convenient for handling bookkeeping tasks for your business. Most bookkeeping software have regular updates to cater to the needs of a growing business. Make sure to check for daily updates and install them before your day begins to keep all necessary tasks automated and accurate.
Moreover, ensure that all data entries you need to input are finished. Things like data you need to enter manually, personal information of your clients, and other invoicing tasks.
Weekly Bookkeeping To-Do List
Here is the essential weekly bookkeeping checklist for business owners.
Reconcile Business Bank Accounts and Credit Card Statements
The earlier you do the reconciliation, the more time you have to spot inaccuracies and potential issues in your bank statements. Reconciliation allows you to fix problems before they become full-blown and seriously damage your business. So, we recommend doing reconciliation on a weekly basis.
Create and Send Invoices
Creating and sending invoices should be done weekly if you're a product-based business offering bulk orders. The more frequently you send invoices, the faster you get payments from your clients. Furthermore, invoices help your clients know when payments are due. Creating and sending invoices in a timely manner will promote a healthy cash flow for your business.
Settle Your Account Payables
If you're working with different vendors, make sure to pay them on time, especially when your inventory stocks depend on your suppliers. Make it a habit to know all the deadlines for your payables, even if not you are not paying them on a weekly basis. Keeping ahead of your payables will ensure your business will run smoothly.
Upload Your Receipts on the Bookkeeping Software
The bookkeeping software can make bookkeeping reports for your business, but it's your responsibility to upload all the receipts for recordkeeping. It is a good practice to upload receipts of business transactions, so you don't drown in receipts at the end of the month.
Monthly Bookkeeping To-Do List
Though bookkeeping is important, some tasks can be done once per month. Here is the monthly bookkeeping checklist you should take note of.
Do Payroll Reports
If you have employees, fixing their payroll is at the top of your monthly to-do list. You can choose weekly payments or your preferred schedule, but monthly payouts are easier for your bookkeeping tasks. Doing payroll also includes deducting necessary taxes and government-mandated payments.
Check Your Balance sheet
Checking your monthly balance sheet is equivalent to checking your business's monthly performance. This practice will help you see if you have done better or if there are points in your business you still need to improve on.
Checking your monthly balance sheet is also your opportunity to look for discrepancies. For example, if some of your clients are late on their payments, this is the time to follow up and settle.
Quarterly Bookkeeping To-Do List
Take note of these tasks so you can complete them every quarter.
Assess the Profit and Loss Statement
While you do monthly checks on your balance sheets, diving deeper into your finances by assessing your profit and loss statements each quarter will help you see a clearer and bigger picture of your financial health. Business finances go up and down, and this is the perfect time to see if your business strategy is still working and make plans to increase your sales if needed.
Settle Necessary Taxes
Make sure to familiarize yourself with the tax you need to pay quarterly. Taxes like federal unemployment and state unemployment taxes are paid quarterly. Other businesses are also required to pay their sales tax every quarter, so be conscious of those dates.
Settling your taxes also means you have to handle tax filings. Make sure you have all the documentation needed to avoid any delays.
Annual Bookkeeping To-Do List
The end of the year usually comes with a surge in sales, and it becomes more hectic. So to close your bookkeeping properly, here are some year-end bookkeeping tasks you need to do.
Submit Needed IRS Forms
In most cases, you must file IRS form W-2 for all your employees and 1099-NEC for independent contractors at the end of each year. As business owners, you are responsible for giving your employees copies of the IRS forms so they can use them to file their tax returns.
Close Your Books and Make Financial Reports
Before the year ends, if you have any outstanding invoices to your vendors or clients, you should settle them to close your books. After closing your books, you can now make year-end financial statements to assess your overall financial health and see how well your business performed throughout the year.
Some of these financial statements need the checking and approval of accountants to ensure they are valid when filing your business taxes.
Filing Tax Returns
Filing tax returns marks the end of the bookkeeping checklist. If you have a business accountant, you can pass on the filing process to them. But make sure you have the proper documentation to complete the process. Some documents you may need are bank statements, payroll reports, and balance sheets.
After filling, all you need to do is to pay your taxes, and your bookkeeping tasks are done for the entire year. Then, it's time to plan and get ready for another year of bookkeeping.
Professional Bookkeeping Needs at Unloop
Business bookkeeping can be a handful for owners new to the business industry. However, handling finances is essential to running a business and shouldn't be taken for granted. So, Unloop is here to offer you professional help for your bookkeeping needs.
- Our bookkeepers are experts in ecommerce businesses, so we can immediately hook your business to bookkeeping software and automate your finances.
- We provide you with necessary monthly financial statements, such as income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements made with the accrual accounting method.
- Our service includes unlimited financial reconciliations for your checking, savings, and credit card accounts.
- We create custom analytics and KPIs for your business with unlimited Slack support.
Are you ready to clean up your bookkeeping checklist? We hope these categorized tasks help you handle bookkeeping better. For more professional help, book a call and work with us today!