We're in the final stretch as 2017 comes to a close to make way for 2018. Here's an easy checklist to make sure you're on track.
- Complete Day-to-Day Entries
- Be sure to have entered all of the year's transactions in your accounting system and to complete all entries.
- Analyze Receivables
- If you have any past due receivables and believe the likelihood of those customers paying is low, consider writing off the bad debt or send them to a collection agency.
- Take Inventory
- Always perform a physical inventory count and create necessary adjustments.
- Evaluate Fixed Assets
- Make sure to create postings for depreciation, enter retirements/acquisitions, and account for changes in value.
- Reconcile Accounts and Trial Balance
- Especially if manual adjustments have been made, check your AP and AR sub-ledgers balances against the general ledger, bank recs, etc. Beware of any canceled or uncleared checks.
- Perform Closing Entries
- Clear your profit and loss statement to your retained earnings through closing journal entries.
- Review Position
- Create financial statements for an in-depth look into your business to be able to establish and make any necessary changes to your budget for the coming year.
- 1099's
- Don't forget to make those 1099 forms for all vendors and independent contractors.
- Finalize ACA Reporting
- Cannot forget to run reports for ACA and send forms to the IRS and employees.
- Analyze & Submit
- Go through your payroll information. All annual amounts for payroll should reconcile with the totals for your 941s, W-2s and W-3s. Don't forget to double-check your year-end tax entries for your payroll! Then, submit tax forms – both federal and state (W-2, W-3, 940, 941, DE 9C, etc.)