Separate Business And Personal
One business account makes bookkeeping considerably less archaeological.
Reference Desk / Please Keep For Your Records
Helpful things for people with books.
Practical bookkeeping guides, checklists, reminders, and explanations for small-business owners who would prefer to understand what is happening before the accountant starts asking questions.
Quick Reference / Emergency Version
If you remember nothing else, remember these four things.
Keep The Receipts
Preferably somewhere more searchable than the floor of the passenger seat.
Reconcile Regularly
Monthly problems are smaller than twelve-month problems.
Ask Before Guessing
“Miscellaneous” is not where uncertainty goes to retire.
Records Department / Friendly Reminder
Receipts happen. Systems help.
Please File ThisResource Library / Open Drawer Carefully
Practical files for common bookkeeping problems.
These sample resources show how a bookkeeping business can educate clients, reduce repetitive questions, and give visitors something useful before they are ready to hire anyone.
The Month-End Bookkeeping Checklist
A simple monthly routine for gathering records, reconciling accounts, reviewing transactions, and noticing problems while they are still small.
- Collect statements
- Review transactions
- Reconcile accounts
- Check missing documents
- Review reports
What To Send Your Bookkeeper
A reference list for the statements, reports, payroll records, receipts, and access information that keep the monthly process moving.
Review The List →Behind On Your Books?
What catch-up bookkeeping usually involves, what information helps, and why hiding from the problem has yet to reconcile an account.
Read The Cleanup Guide →Year-End Without The Panic
A practical preparation list for getting financial records organized before handing them to a tax professional.
Prepare For Year-End →What Do These Reports Actually Mean?
A plain-English introduction to common bookkeeping reports and the questions they are supposed to help answer.
Translate The Reports →
Guide 01 / Monthly Procedure
The month-end checklist.
The goal is not to make bookkeeping exciting. The goal is to make it routine enough that nothing exciting happens.
Repeat Monthly-
01
Gather The Statements
Bank accounts, credit cards, loans, payment processors, and other financial accounts.
-
02
Review Transactions
Confirm income and expenses landed in the right places and investigate anything weird.
-
03
Reconcile Everything
The books and the actual account balances should agree. This is generally considered helpful.
-
04
Find Missing Information
Receipts, explanations, invoices, transfers, and the one transaction nobody remembers.
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05
Review The Reports
Look at what the month says about income, expenses, cash, and anything worth asking about.
Guide 02 / Document Request
What your bookkeeper keeps asking you for.
Different businesses need different records, but these are some of the usual suspects.
Requested Documents
Please Attach
- Bank statements
- Credit-card statements
- Loan statements
- Payroll reports
- Merchant-processor reports
- Large or unusual receipts
- New account information
- Explanations for mystery transactions
Preferred Format Legible is excellent.
Guide 03 / Recovery Procedure
Still Fixable
Behind on the books? Start with reality.
Catch-up work usually begins by figuring out where the records stopped being reliable, gathering the missing statements, and working forward in order.
A
Identify The Last Reliable Month
B
Gather Missing Records
C
Reconcile In Sequence
D
Review What Changed
Important: Randomly fixing whichever month looks least scary is not technically a system.
Guide 04 / Year-End Handoff
Tax season. Everybody stay calm.
Clean year-end records make it easier for your tax professional to do their work without first becoming a financial detective.
Before The Handoff
Accounts reconciled
✓
Major questions resolved
✓
Loan balances reviewed
✓
Payroll records organized
✓
Financial reports ready
✓
Desired Result Fewer emails containing the phrase “Do you happen to have...?”
Guide 05 / Translation Department
Reports are supposed to answer questions.
Did the business make money?
Shows revenue and expenses over a period of time and helps explain profitability.
What does the business have and owe?
Summarizes assets, liabilities, and equity at a specific point in time.
Why does profit not equal cash?
Helps explain how cash moved through operating, investing, and financing activity.
Do the books agree with reality?
Compares recorded activity against actual financial accounts and investigates differences.
Fine Print / Yes, This Part Matters
Useful information is not individualized advice.
These resources are general educational material for demonstration purposes. Actual bookkeeping, accounting, tax, and legal needs depend on the business and its circumstances.
When a question requires tax or legal advice, involve an appropriately qualified professional.
Reference Desk / Escalation Procedure
Reading about bookkeeping is not the same as doing it.
If the guides are useful but the books are still sitting there waiting for somebody, we also know somebody.
Still Have Questions / Expected Outcome
Ask the bookkeeping question.
Tell us what you are trying to understand, what the books are doing, or what document somebody keeps requesting from you.