Breaking Down the Month-End Close Process in QuickBooks Online
Closing the books each month is an essential part of the bookkeeping process. It allows you to double-check the books for errors or anything that needs further investigation, giving you a level of assurance that things are running properly.
Over the years, I have created a process for my month-end work for all of our clients utilizing QuickBooks Online since I’m a 100% QBO shop. This has helped me streamline our procedures, saving us more time to work on other things in our business or for our clients. I wanted to share our QuickBooks Online month-end close process with you so you can customize it to fit your needs.
The Phases of Month-End
Like every other routine, we need to have specific steps that we follow. I’ve organized the QuickBooks Online month-end close process into different phases. You actually get started before the end of the month with a planning phase. Then, once the month begins, we can jump into bank reconciliations and workpaper creation. Once you are near your deadline (mine is usually between the 15th and 20th of each month), then you complete your month end by reviewing everything and preparing reports for your clients.
Phase 1: Planning
I usually like to take some time on the last Friday of the month to plan out my upcoming month-end. During this time, I list which clients I have to complete month-end for and schedule the deadlines for the following phases.
Why can’t the deadlines be the same each month? Well, life is why. I have certain goals – like bank recs are done around the 5th, workpapers around the 10th, and reports are out by around the 15th. But, this isn’t always reality.
We need to work around things like weekends, holidays, other work we are doing, and vacations. So, for example, July 4th always seems to be a deal. Most of us aren’t working that day, so we need to plan all of our regular work and the additional work we end up doing during month end.
I also take a look at the chart of accounts to see if anything new has been added, which could mean more work during the month end close.
Phase 2: Bank Reconciliations
It’s important to start with bank reconciliations to ensure that you have all of the month’s transactions in the books. You’ll want to review your balance sheet and reconcile as many accounts as possible.
Many people think bank reconciliations are a breeze, and they can be, but there are some things you should pay attention to. The point of the reconciliation is to confirm the bank balance with some third-party information, like the bank statement.
What happens when the bank balance doesn’t match the bank statement? Then we need to figure out why. Was a check written this past month that just hasn’t cleared yet? {That’s fine.} Or, was it a check written last year that hasn’t cleared yet? {Not a good sign.} I often see bank reconciliations with a ton of unreconciled items.
There are plenty of acceptable reasons to have unreconciled items, but you need to make sure that you are looking at those transactions to make sure they should still be in the bank register. If you have a bunch of really old unreconciled items, then it is time to take a deep dive into those and see if they need to be moved, voided, or deleted.
Also, don’t forget that credit cards and loans should also be reconciled. I’ve also seen a ton of books where the credit card was never reconciled. You do get credit cards from banks, right? Again, think about this – if you can get third-party confirmation of the balance {like a statement} then it can be reconciled.
Phase 3: Workpapers
A lot of bookkeepers are confused when I mention the term “workpapers”. Workpapers come from my audit {and very limited tax} days. We use workpapers to verify other balances in the books. My focus is usually on the balance sheet.
Say you have prepaid expenses on the balance sheet. Well, how do you know the balances of what has been prepaid? Since the balance sheet is a continuous up and down of transactions and doesn’t start over each period, you could spend a bunch of time trying to figure out that answer. Well, the easiest solution is to have a separate workpaper to track that. On the prepaid workpaper, you’d have the additional prepaid transactions and then the current expense of prior prepaid items. All of which add/subtract to the final balance shown on the balance sheet. {It if it is different, it’s time to investigate.}
Phase 4: Review & Report
The final phase of the month end process is to take a second look at all of your support. This is especially important if you have several team members in your firm. You should have at least one person doing the month end work and then someone else to review everything {seeing the bigger picture}.
During this time, I like to run a comparative balance sheet comparing the current period to the prior period. That way I can see if there are any accounts that have big changes that I need to investigate. And, at the same time, I’m verifying that my workpaper balances still match what is on the balance sheet. Remember, we might have done some clean up work, so we just want to make sure everything all matches up.
Next, I run a comparative profit & loss statement. I compare the current period {usually a month} to the prior period, last year’s same period, and year-to-date information. By doing this, I’m able to scan all the accounts to see if there are any anomalies. When something pops out, I make sure to look into it.
Finally, I’ll pull together my reporting for clients if they want that. I’ve created my own excel spreadsheets {after exporting reports and editing them to make a customized dashboard}. I’ve used QuickBooks Online’s “Management Reports”. And, I’ve also used third-party apps to create custom dashboards and reports for my clients. Whatever you end up using, keep track of what you provide and make sure to be consistent in providing that information each month.
Need Help With Your Month-End Process?
So, that’s my month-end process at a glance. If this seems overwhelming, we are always here to help. We can assist with setting up a process for you or just take over the process for you to give you some assurance that your books are in order each month. Just reach out, and we’ll set up a meeting.