Year-end bookkeeping checklist
Print it, tick it off, and hand your accountant a tidy package.
1. Close out your accounts
- Reconcile every business bank account through the last day of the year
- Reconcile every business credit card
- Reconcile loan and line-of-credit balances against year-end statements
- Review uncategorized or “needs review” transactions and categorize them
- Check that transfers between your own accounts are recorded as transfers, not income or expenses
2. Customers and income
- Review unpaid invoices; follow up or flag any you don't expect to collect
- Confirm all customer payments are matched to invoices
- Check processor payouts (Square, Stripe, PayPal) against your income
3. Bills and expenses
- Enter any bills you owe as of year end
- Gather receipts for large purchases (equipment, vehicles, computers)
- Review meals, travel, and vehicle expenses and add notes where needed
- Cancel subscriptions you no longer use
4. Contractors and payroll
- List every contractor you paid and the total for the year
- Collect any missing W-9 forms
- Get annual payroll summaries from your payroll provider (if you have employees)
5. Owners
- Total each owner's contributions and draws for the year
- Note any loans between owners and the business
6. Reports for your CPA
- Profit and loss for the full year
- Balance sheet as of year end
- General ledger (if requested)
- Year-end bank, card, and loan statements
- A short note about anything unusual this year
7. Set up next year
- Put a monthly reconciliation reminder on your calendar
- Set aside money for estimated taxes, if your CPA recommends it
- Review your prices (try our consulting rate calculator)