Did the 4th quarter sneak up on you? If so, you’re not alone. As a business owner trying to juggle the many aspects of running a company, important bookkeeping details are often neglected. By completing certain tasks before the end of the year, you can save a lot of headaches come January. See below for a checklist of required tasks that can help you get your books in order before tax time. (Or you can call ACCOUNTING Simplified to help with these details!)
1099s – Preparation for 1099s ideally should occur well in advance of January. It’s important to have all the pertinent vendor information necessary by obtaining a completed W9 form prior to any payments made to the vendor. Once a vendor is paid, there is no guarantee that they will cooperate in providing that information to you.
A/R – Accounts Receivable should be closely monitored and maintained throughout the year. If this doesn’t happen, it’s important to review before the end of the year to correct errors and make sure they’re clean for tax time. If there are outstanding payments due, you can work on collections or clearing any bad debt in accrual accounting situations.
A/P – Accounts Payable is much like Accounts Receivable; it should be monitored and maintained all year. First, make sure that the bills have indeed been paid. Once that is complete, match up cleared checks with bills paid.
Reconciliations – this step should be done regularly and by doing so will help avoid a bookkeeping debacle at the end of the year. Reconciliation is a vital way to ensure bank transactions are accurate and gives you the ability to help protect your business from fraudulent transactions.
Year end is inevitable and tax time can be stressful and hectic. By doing just a few simple, proactive tasks before year end, you will find tax time to be less nerve-racking.
ACCOUNTING simplified is ready and waiting to help you with all the above tasks and much more. We can remove your accounting headaches, so you can focus on what you do best – growing your business!
