Preparing Your Books for Year’s End

With 2022 soon coming to an end, it’s time to start planning your accounting records for your year-end report.

Here’s what you need to do:

• Review your books
• Balance the financials
• Prepare tax returns (revenue, sales, payroll)
• Celebrate the close of another successful year

Let’s spend some time taking a look at each of these in detail.

Reviewing the Books

When you’re reviewing your financial books for the end of the year, you should be looking for all sorts of things. You may want to look at how much cash is sitting in each account and if any income needs to be recorded. You could also review your inventory to see if anything has been sold or moved around, or even just make sure that all the items are still accounted for.

When it comes to reviewing your accounts receivable and payables, these can help you figure out where there might be some issues with billing customers or paying suppliers on time.

It’s important that when reviewing these accounts, you don’t just go through them quickly; take a bit more time than usual so that something doesn’t slip past unnoticed. It’s not uncommon during this process—especially with payroll-related records—to find an error somewhere along the line (like accidentally leaving someone off their paycheck) which will cause problems later down the road when tax season rolls around again next year.

Balancing the Books

As you prepare your books for year’s end, it’s important to take a step back and review them to make sure they are balanced. You can do this by reviewing the financials and balance sheet.

The financial statements should match up with one another; in other words, there shouldn’t be any “missing numbers” on either side of the ledger. If you have made adjustments during the course of the year (for example, because you received or paid late), make sure those adjustments are reflected accurately in both places as well.

Additionally, check on cash flow: if your business needs more funds than it has available at present but isn’t expecting additional income anytime soon, then consider finding ways to cut down spending from other areas until new funds become available again.

Preparing Tax Returns

The end of the year is a good time to review your tax return requirements and ensure that you have all the necessary documents in place. If you use an accountant or tax preparation software, ask them if they need anything else from you. Keep records for at least 7 years as required by law (10 years if they’re financial transactions) but be aware that government bodies can request documentation at any time.

Celebrating the Close of Another Successful Year

It’s the end of the year and you’re busy preparing for it. With all your other responsibilities, it can be easy to forget about celebrating your successes. Don’t! Celebrate the success you’ve had by thanking your employees and customers, rewarding yourself with a vacation or some time off, and socializing with friends and family.

Trust DDL to Help you Prepare your Books for Year’s End

The end of the year can be hectic but with proper planning, you can get through it.

If you need help preparing your books for the end of the year, trust DDL to help you get them in order.

As a top accounting firm in St. Catharines, we provide a variety of advisory services in the area of taxation, business advisory services, assurance and accounting. Give us a call at (905) 680-8669 or request an appointment to get started.