Basic Bookkeeping Overview
In this blog, we go over the following:
Bookkeeping Isn’t for Everyone
What Does a Bookkeeper Do?
As financial advisors, we can’t stress enough how important bookkeeping is to a business. Not sure if bookkeeping is the right financial accounting solution? Here’s a blog on the benefits of outsourced bookkeeping. The tasks of a bookkeeper are endless, but the following are just a few to give an idea of how much behind-the-scenes outsourced bookkeepers do so business owners don’t need to worry about it.
Set up work and keep track of financial records
Invoice transactions (data entry)
Allotting the items to their correct account heads and credit card records
Management of basic ledger
Bank account and credit card reconciliation
Month-end and year-end closing
Audit Trail
Financial Reporting (Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet, Cash Statement, and more)
For more information on how to read reports, check this tutorial playlist just for CEOs
As a business owner, you’re going to need most of these services taken care of by a financial professional. In order to keep the business running successfully and working more closely with what you’re truly passionate about, here’s a video on why hiring a professional is an important investment.
General Ledger
What is a general ledger? This is the fundamental foundation of any accounting system which holds financial information. It is used to record all of a company’s financial transactions. Here’s an example of general journal entries to the general ledger, which is prepared after the journal entry is made. This general ledger is important since it helps prepare other financial statements.
Reconciliation
According to Investopedia, reconciliation is defined as “an accounting process that compares two sets of records to check that figures are correct and in agreement”. This process helps keep track of accurate and consistent financial data. This is important since it ensures that if there is anything out of the ordinary, errors can be avoided or fixed right away just by reconciling the bank statements. The following flowchart shows a quick basic reconciliation process.
Month/Year End Closing
Month-end close and year-end close are processes that are similar in which both ensure the account has accurate data and activities reflected for the month, quarter, or year. The importance of month-end closing helps in analyzing any accounting issues rather than year-end. Here are 10 month-end and year-end closing tips to note:
Record incoming cash
Update accounts payable
Reconcile accounts
Review petty cash
Look at fixed assets
Count inventory
Organize & review statements
Check revenue & expense accounts
Review information before closing
Prepare for the next month
Here are the tasks you should complete before the year-end:
Confirm employees’ identification information
Make sure all paychecks are recorded
Verify employee wages, benefits, and deductions
Look up remaining time off for all employees
Order Form W-3
Get updated labor law posters
Check your employment tax rates
Have employees review their withholding allowances
Determine your deposit schedule for federal income and FICA taxes
The few tasks for after the New Year
Update payroll for the new wage rates and deductions
Distribute Form W-2 to the employees and governments by January 31
File Form 940 by January 31
File either Form 941 or Form 944 by January 31
Audit Trail
Financial GPS cannot stress how important the process of documentation is truly the groundwork for a business. An audit trail is a process that traces all the financial information of an account’s history. In other words, an audit trail is a piece of evidence that can prove and protect and help you when you run into unfavorable situations in the future. Auditing accounts keeps things in check. Therefore, the inspection and evaluation of where the company’s financials are at are crucial and can even help save money. Here’s how to use the audit trail feature in Quickbooks Online.
Bookkeeping Isn’t for Everyone
It truly isn’t, and that’s why Financial GPS is here to give a helping hand. But it is important to have some sort of knowledge on it so as a business owner, you’re not truly in the dark. For more information, please contact us today if there are any questions about our services.