Year-End Checklist

Here are twenty Critical Areas for Review at Year End:

1. ___ Accrue any year-end costs associated with payroll and post to payroll expense and payroll liabilities.
   1. Review your fringe benefits to ensure they are accurately reported for the year.
   2. Ensure all your employee information is correct for year-end reporting (W-2, W-3, 940, 941).
   3. ___ Ensure all your vendor bills are posted by the year-end close date.
   4. ___ Invoice your clients to finalize any outstanding unbillable revenue to date.
      1. Adjust outstanding receivables that are deemed to be uncollectible against bad debt expense.
      2. Review if any should be sent to an outside collection agency for assistance.
      3. ___ Review your 1099 vendor information to make sure it is complete. (Check for Name, Address, Tax Id, Accurate coding of expenses as to whether they are eligible for 1099 tracking, etc.)
      4. 5. ___ Reconcile
         1. Your bank accounts.
         2. Your credit card accounts.
         3. Your loan accounts.
         4. ___ Conduct a physical inventory count and record adjustments within QuickBooks inventory.
         5. ___ Adjust any prepaid items, such as insurance, that need to be expensed.
         6. ___ Journalize any other accruals for year end that won’t be paid until the following year.
         7. ___ Calculate and record amortization, depreciation, and any other necessary year-end adjusting journal entries.

10. ___ Review your asset and expense balances to ensure that all fixed assets have been accurately recorded for any purchases or selling of assets.

11. ___ Update any changes in employee or sales tax rates for the New Year.

12. ___ Ensure any prepaid deposits received from clients throughout the year are adjusted to earned revenue.

13. ___ Review and update the business plan to include changes anticipated for the upcoming year as needed.

14. ___ Prepare the budget for the New Year if not done so previously.

15. ___ Prepare year-end reports, W-2, W-3, 940, 941, 1096, 1099 and any other applicable forms and remit to appropriate parties.

16. ___ Check to see if any local licensing or permits need to be filed with year-end data.

17. ___ Review memorized transactions to ensure they are still applicable for the New Year.

18. ___ Print your year-end reports, which should include

1. Profit & Loss Statement
2. Balance Sheet
3. Accounts Receivable Aging
4. Accounts Payable Aging
5. Budgeted vs. Actual

19. ___ Schedule a time to review the information with your client to see if the information seems reasonable to them. While we can prepare various data, it is always wise for us to review the information with them and discuss any variances we find.

20. ___ Ensure you have a regular backup process that includes verifying the data to help minimize any data loss. Consolidate and condense if needed for performance.