It’s month end – are you ready to look at your accounts and see how you performed this month? First of all, let’s run through our month end checklist to make sure all transactions are posted and all our important accounts are reconciled.
What do we need to reconcile?
- All bank accounts, credit cards and loan accounts
- Paypal and cash accounts
- Overdraft or factoring accounts
- Aged Receivables and Aged Debtors
- PAYE, NIC and VAT liability accounts
How often?
Well, we would say monthly at the very least – but we would, wouldn’t we?
Why do we need to reconcile?
- To ensure we have accounted for all financial activity in the month
- To help us find any mistakes that may have been made in the accounts – banking, billing, paying suppliers, posting receipts to customer accounts.
- To mitigate the risk of fraud. If you employ staff you should segregate duties; the people who post the original transactions should not be the same people who reconcile at month end
- To ensure we have accurate Debtors and Creditor balances so we know who owes us and who we owe so we can predict and manage our cash requirements
- And finally – so that you can produce reliable and timely management accounts each month and make informed business decisions based on accurate financial information.
Know Your Numbers
You absolutely must know your numbers to be able to manage your business effectively. We appreciate that while you are expert in running your business, you might not be an expert in your bookkeeping so we have prepared a handy month end action list for you to follow.
Schedule Time
Put time aside in your diary each month to make sure you work through your month end process. Close the door, turn your phones off and don’t look at your email! Once you have completed the job, you can resume business as usual.
Checklist
Use our Month End Management Accounts Checklist to ensure you have a standard routine for your month end accounts reconciliation.
NB – we have assumed that if you are running your own month end management accounts, that you are fairly comfortable with month end processes. If any of the tasks in the checklist above make you feel a little queasy – please call us now to arrange a 1 to 1 Bespoke Bookkeeper training session.
Caseron Masterclasses
If you’d like to take a deeper dive into this topic, take a look at our bloody brilliant business expenses masterclass.
This masterclass covers the A-Z of business expenses. Learn which expenses can be put through your business, which are tax-deductible and which are not. Understand different accounting treatments for limited co and sole trader entities.
