Year-End Bookkeeping Essentials: Your Ultimate Checklist

For many people, January is a new beginning. It’s a time when goals are set for the year ahead. However, for business owners, January signals an end. It’s time to gather year-end documents to prepare for the 2024 tax season. Coulee Bank’s digital banking platform can help give you the information needed to prepare the documents, many of which are free to download.

As we approach year-end, Annie Bertram, AVP of Treasury Management, highlights essential tasks for a seamless close:
 
  1. Reconcile accounts and download all bank statements.
  2. Review accounts receivable and payable.
  3. Leverage account history to export various download options, including formats specific to QuickBooks, as well as CSV, PDF, and more.
  4. Review all expenses.
    1. Your account history can be filtered by credit/debit to aid in that review.
  5. Prepare financial statements: income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement.
  6. Adjustments and closing entries.
    1. This means matching revenues and expenses to the time they occurred. Adjusting entries are made before financial statements are prepared. Examples include recording accrued revenue, prepaid expenses, and depreciation.
    2. Transfer balances from temporary accounts to permanent accounts. Temporary accounts include revenue, expenses, and dividends. Closing entries are made after financial statements have been prepared. The purpose of closing entries is to reset temporary account balances to zero so they can be used again in the next accounting period.
  7. Consult with your accountant.
In addition to gathering pertinent documents, business owners using our digital banking platform can give accountants view-only access to review all statements. “With our digital banking system, you can monitor or restrict all viewing privileges,” says Bertram.  Account administrators can edit at any time, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. “You can also give your accountant seasonal access through tax season,” says Bertram.

Overall, Coulee Bank’s digital banking platform allows you to seamlessly gather all needed items, so you can successfully close out 2024 and focus on the year ahead.