For small enterprise house owners, the tip of the 12 months means sealing up unfastened ends financially. This course of is called “closing the books” in accounting. Guaranteeing each greenback attributed to 1 12 months is recorded precisely is essential to keep away from making the brand new 12 months inaccurate.
The most effective accounting software program, like QuickBooks On-line, can simplify this job. Nevertheless, there are a lot of steps to take to make sure a clear slate and a profitable tax season. Let’s analyze this course of intimately.
Why shut the books?
Closing your accounting books on the finish of the 12 months is important for a number of causes:
- Accuracy: Ensures that every one monetary transactions are accurately recorded, minimizing errors and discrepancies.
- Compliance: Helps meet tax and regulatory necessities by offering a transparent and correct monetary image.
- Monetary evaluation: Means that you can assess the monetary well being of your enterprise, determine tendencies and make knowledgeable selections.
- Clear begin: Prepares your books for the brand new 12 months, stopping previous transactions from interfering with present accounting.
In the event you don’t totally account for a 12 months’s funds, it might probably begin a series response of inaccurate figures shifting ahead. This drawback can result in inaccurate tax returns, unreimbursed bills and a false conclusion of revenue or loss.
10 steps to shut the books
Hiring an authorized accountant can really feel costly for smaller companies. However even with no skilled accountant on standby, you possibly can comply with these steps to shut your books successfully.
1. Reconcile your financial institution accounts
Reconciliation ensures your financial institution statements match your accounting data, highlighting any discrepancies that should be addressed.
Tips on how to do it
- Gather all enterprise financial institution and bank card statements.
- Match every transaction in your accounting data together with your financial institution statements.
- Examine and proper any variations.
- Doc the reconciliation course of for future reference.
2. Overview your accounts receivable and payable
Guaranteeing that every one buyer invoices and provider payments are accurately recorded and up-to-date helps preserve correct monetary data.
Tips on how to do it
- Overview your open invoices to see that are due earlier than the 12 months ends.
- Ship reminders for overdue invoices and write off any dangerous money owed.
- Guarantee all payments due earlier than the brand new 12 months are paid and recorded.
3. Replace stock data
Correct stock data are essential to figuring out the price of items offered and the general monetary well being. It additionally helps calculate shrinkage so you possibly can take motion to stop theft and waste.
Tips on how to do it
- Conduct a bodily stock rely to confirm your inventory ranges.
- Establish objects with the very best losses and develop methods to scale back these figures.
- Decide if insurance coverage protection or tax methods will help mitigate the results of stock loss.
4. Document depreciation and amortization
Recording depreciation and amortization precisely displays the worth of your belongings over time and impacts your monetary statements.
Tips on how to do it
- Seek the advice of together with your accountant or IRS documentation to find out the suitable depreciation technique.
- Log objects, like actual property and stock, which might be topic to depreciation.
- Collect receipts and gross sales data to find out the present worth in comparison with the unique buy value.
SEE: Laptop {Hardware} Depreciation Calculator (TechRepublic Premium)
5. Accrue bills and revenues
Accrual accounting requires that bills and revenues be recorded when they’re incurred, not when money adjustments palms. So, you’ll want to trace what prices and invoices have occurred in the course of the 12 months, even when you’ve got but to obtain or ship funds for them.
Tips on how to do it
- Establish any bills incurred however not but paid and revenues earned however not but obtained.
- As soon as fee happens, it ought to be retroactively utilized to the present 12 months’s tabs.
- Mistakenly attributing a fee to the brand new 12 months will give the misunderstanding of extra revenue or loss for that 12 months.
6. Generate monetary statements
Monetary statements present a complete view of your enterprise’s monetary efficiency and are important for tax preparation and strategic planning.
Tips on how to do it
- Software program like QuickBooks On-line can mechanically generate studies in a snap.
- Alternatively, you possibly can manually “comply with the cash” and add up every transaction.
- Double-entry accounting is essential to creating studies that depart a transparent path of the place each cent went.
7. Again up your monetary knowledge
Guaranteeing your monetary knowledge is backed up protects towards knowledge loss and facilitates future reference. This straightforward restoration prevents issues if the IRS requests an examination or for those who work with an accountant.
Tips on how to do it
- Make copies of all paperwork. This course of could get dear with ink and paper, however it’s value it within the occasion of an audit or different points.
- Again up digital recordsdata to a cloud storage service like Google Drive.
- Take pictures or scans of receipts and retailer them together with different paperwork.
8. Overview tax paperwork
Reviewing and making ready your tax paperwork ensures you adjust to IRS laws and keep away from potential penalties. You also needs to examine new laws that go into impact on January 1.
Tips on how to do it
- Gather all vital tax paperwork, together with W-2s, 1099s and receipts for deductible bills.
- Overview the IRS web site for bulletins on new legal guidelines and insurance policies.
- Seek the advice of together with your accountant or tax submitting software program to finalize your return.
9. Seek the advice of together with your accountant
A licensed accountant can present skilled recommendation, guarantee compliance with tax legal guidelines and assist determine potential points. In the event you don’t have already got such knowledgeable, take into account making a shortlist of candidates to contemplate hiring as your enterprise grows.
Tips on how to do it
- Schedule a gathering together with your accountant to assessment your monetary statements and tax paperwork.
- Talk about any discrepancies or considerations you could have.
- Make any really helpful changes earlier than finalizing your books.
10. Plan for the subsequent 12 months
Planning for the approaching 12 months helps make clear monetary objectives and expectations. This foresight makes it straightforward to forecast how lengthy it’ll take to achieve your required stage of progress.
Tips on how to do it
- Overview your monetary efficiency and set objectives for the approaching 12 months.
- Use insights out of your monetary statements to make knowledgeable enterprise selections.
- Replace your price range and monetary projections through software program like QuickBooks On-line.
The takeaway
Closing your accounting books on the finish of the 12 months is a essential job for small enterprise house owners. It ensures accuracy, compliance and a transparent monetary image, particularly as tax season looms. Using accounting software program simplifies this course of by eliminating handbook work, like tallying up transactions.