Start Thinking About Cleaning Up Your Books Now

Tax planning season will be upon us soon – now is a great time to start thinking about reviewing your financial information year-to-date and update or make corrections as needed.

• Complete bank and credit card account reconciliations monthly – helps discover errors like duplicate entries, incorrect amounts, or miscategorized transactions
  Review Accounts Receivable balances – fix unapplied customer payments; contact customers with overdue payments
  Confirm fixed assets additions and disposals have been recorded. Update depreciation expense.
  Review Accounts Payable balances – fix unapplied vendor payments; verify all needed information is entered for any new vendors for 1099 preparation
  Review loan balances – confirm corresponding principal and interest payments are accurate
  Review Profit & Loss statement and compare to prior year – examine any large variances from prior year or any other transactions or balances that look unusual

Your accountant at CDS can also assist with the cleanup process – they can obtain access to your QuickBooks file in different ways:

QuickBooks Desktop

1. Send your accountant an Accountant’s Copy of your QuickBooks file through the Accountant’s Copy File Transfer Service. You can continue to work in your company file while your accountant works on the Accountant’s Copy. When they’re done, simply import their changes sent back to you and update your books.
   Go to the File menu and hover over Send Company File.
   Hover over Accountant’s Copy and hover over Client Activities.
   Select Send to Accountant and then Next.
   Select Accountant’s Copy and then Next.
   Enter the dividing date. Then select Next.
   Enter your and your accountant’s email addresses.
   Create a file password for the file. Your accountant needs this to open it.
   When you’re ready, select Send.

QuickBooks Online

1. Invite your accountant to access your file:
   Click on the Gear Icon in the upper right corner and under the column heading labeled “Your Company” select Manage Users.
   Click on the Accounting Firms tab
   Click on the green Invite button in upper right of page.
   Enter in accountant’s information and click Save.

Questions on cleaning up your books? Contact one of our QuickBooks experts at (888) 388-1040.