It can only help you as much as you keep it updated with all possible aspects of your monthly finances. A solution like Jetpack Workflow will generate more accurate reports with more useful information. That’s why it’s crucial to stay on top of bookkeeping tasks for up-to-date snapshots of the health of your business at any given time. Make sure you assign all business expenses to the appropriate categories. These can include things like payroll, employee benefits, office supplies, utilities, rent payments, insurance, equipment, travel, etc. For businesses that primarily collect electronic payments, mobile deposits may be adequate to handle the inflow of paper checks and save a trip to the bank.

A monthly bookkeeping checklist is a simple method for keeping track of what needs to be done. Before moving on to anything else, you need to review the accuracy of your business cash and credit transactions in order to work with your exact cash position. To do so, reconcile your bank accounts and credit cards at the close of each month, helping you easily find and amend any mistakes. This can be done by reviewing your statements to flag any suspicious credits, debits, canceled transactions, or double charges. Once you have thoroughly examined your monthly bank and credit statements and are confident in its accuracy, you can complete the rest of your monthly bookkeeping tasks. It takes the guesswork out of bookkeeping so you can focus on running your business.

Monthly bookkeeping to-do’s

Make sure any updates for your W2 employees, 1099 independent contractors, and other worker records are up to date with hours, payments, etc. Your bookkeeping https://www.bookstime.com/articles/monthly-bookkeeping-checklist software plays a vital role in the process of your bookkeeping. So, it becomes important to keep a check on the bookkeeping software that you use.

• However, categorizing your transactions in this way can be incredibly time-consuming and tedious.
• Certain accounts must be closed out before preparing the monthly financial statements to reflect the company’s true financial status.
• Let alone if a cybercriminal gets their hands on proprietary company data.
• Make sure to send email reminders to customers who are yet to pay by the invoice due date, or you can also call customers directly for an update.
• Many of the essential bookkeeping tasks relate to the day-to-day financial transactions of your business.

If you’re new to bookkeeping checklists, this is a great place to start your journey towards being more efficient. If you already have a checklist going, then you’ll surely find some gems to add to it below. Here are the most important monthly bookkeeping tasks to add to your bookkeeping checklist. This detailed template outlines complete monthly bookkeeping steps  including weekly bookkeeping, bi-weekly payroll, gathering documents, adjustments, reports, and review. Split into seven sections, it includes critical details for each step including task owner, duration and due date. Instead of waiting for a monthly bank statement, businesses can reconcile their bank accounts every week.

Categorize Transactions

As your business grows, there are a lot of tasks for a lot of clients that continue to grow, and it can be overwhelming, but having a monthly closing process can help. Join over 1 million businesses scanning receipts, creating expense reports, and reclaiming multiple hours every week—with Shoeboxed. It’s important to review any past due accounts and send reminders to those customers who are late on their payments. The sooner you can get a customer to pay their invoice, the more likely they are to pay. Small business owners need to have cash flow goals, but they have to be achievable. Also, there is nothing wrong with adjusting those goals to meet the current business climate.

Read our complete guide to accepting online invoice payments for more information about how to streamline the process. Bookkeeping has two different systems that bookkeepers use to calculate business books and create financial statements. This refers to companies or organizations with uncomplicated and minimum transactions. The second type of bookkeeping system is the double-entry, which is used by businesses with complex transactions. This system creates entries for both income and expense and other corresponding accounts.

Monthly Bookkeeping Checklist: 9 Reports to Review Regularly

Let us know how well the content on this page solved your problem today. All feedback, positive or negative, helps us to improve the way we help small businesses. Run payroll on any device with taxes, compliance & reporting built-in. Using the purchase of a $1,000 point-of-sale system as an example, a business would debit their cash account (assets) and credit their equipment account (assets) for the transaction. Here is a quick Monthly Bookkeeping Checklist to help ensure that you do not fall behind on your books.

For instance, recording receipt and sale of inventory should be daily bookkeeping tasks for businesses working with higher sales volume or perishable goods. It can all get complicated quickly, so inventory management software that integrates with your bookkeeping software can be a lifesaver. This allows you to compare the budget or prior period financial statements to watch for any errors or unusual balances. Review the income statement accounts (revenue and expenses) for anything that looks off based on the preceding period and significant account balances that look out of place. You will also want to include the accounts receivable and accounts payable summary reports for their review. The next crucial monthly step is to collect the statements from the clients, including a bank statement, credit card statements, loan statements or other financial records.

The Detailed New Hire Checklist

For instance, if your accounts payable balance increased because you increased the marketing spend or hired more headcount. Monthly bookkeeping may not be all you need as a larger business—but it’s an important part of the bookkeeping process. You’ll also receive a number of important monthly statements that help you spot any “red flags,” places https://www.bookstime.com/ where your business could be in danger or areas where you may be able to improve. As we’ve touched on before, your SynkBooks team will generate P&L and income statements, and will even fill out and file your tax return for you. Not only does this improve cash flow, but it also makes it more manageable for your team to chase unpaid invoices.

Often, small businesses keep a monthly bookkeeping checklist as many bookkeeping tasks need to be completed every month. But it’s also useful to have a daily bookkeeping checklist too along with an annual one. Small business owners who recently opened their doors may feel inexperienced with the operational tasks involving bookkeeping. Quickly, they understand that running a company involves more than selling products or services, growing your client base, and increasing revenue.