Straight answers to the questions owners actually ask

Common signals: bank and credit-card accounts that will not reconcile, balances that do not match statements, a long list of uncategorized or duplicated transactions, months with no entries at all, or reports you would not want to hand to a tax preparer. If you cannot answer 'what did the business earn and spend last month' from your own records, cleanup is usually the starting point.

Author

Jackie Westenberger (attribution pending approval)

Published

Pending review — publication date set when Jackie approves

Updated

Pending review — publication date set when Jackie approves

General information only. Not tax, legal, or accounting advice, and not a substitute for guidance about your own business.

A cleanup typically covers identifying which periods are incomplete, gathering statements for those periods, reviewing and correcting transaction categorization, reconciling each account month by month, checking opening balances, and finishing with financial reports for the corrected periods. Scope depends on how many months are open and how complete the underlying records are.

Author

Jackie Westenberger (attribution pending approval)

Published

Pending review — publication date set when Jackie approves

Updated

Pending review — publication date set when Jackie approves

General information only. Not tax, legal, or accounting advice, and not a substitute for guidance about your own business.

Monthly is the common standard, matched to each bank and credit-card statement period. Reconciling monthly keeps errors small and easy to trace. Waiting until year-end means investigating twelve months of differences at once, usually at the busiest possible time.

Author

Jackie Westenberger (attribution pending approval)

Published

Pending review — publication date set when Jackie approves

Updated

Pending review — publication date set when Jackie approves

General information only. Not tax, legal, or accounting advice, and not a substitute for guidance about your own business.

At minimum a profit and loss statement for the period, a balance sheet as of the period end, and confirmation that accounts were reconciled. Many owners also want a comparison to the prior month or the same month last year, plus a short note on anything unusual that showed up in the activity.

Author

Jackie Westenberger (attribution pending approval)

Published

Pending review — publication date set when Jackie approves

Updated

Pending review — publication date set when Jackie approves

General information only. Not tax, legal, or accounting advice, and not a substitute for guidance about your own business.

Generally: reconciled bookkeeping through year-end, bank and credit-card statements, loan statements, payroll reports if you have employees, fixed-asset purchases, and documentation for any large or unusual transactions. Requirements vary by business type, so confirm the specific list with the person preparing your return.

Author

Jackie Westenberger (attribution pending approval)

Published

Pending review — publication date set when Jackie approves

Updated

Pending review — publication date set when Jackie approves

General information only. Not tax, legal, or accounting advice, and not a substitute for guidance about your own business.

Bookkeeping is the ongoing recording, categorizing, and reconciling of business activity throughout the year. Tax preparation is the periodic work of compiling and filing returns based on those records. Accurate bookkeeping makes tax preparation faster and less expensive; the two are separate services and may be performed by different professionals.

Author

Jackie Westenberger (attribution pending approval)

Published

Pending review — publication date set when Jackie approves

Updated

Pending review — publication date set when Jackie approves

General information only. Not tax, legal, or accounting advice, and not a substitute for guidance about your own business.

Typically when bookkeeping is regularly postponed, when reconciliation is falling behind, when reports are not being used because they are not trusted, or when the owner's time is worth more spent on the business itself. Growth in transaction volume, adding employees, or taking on financing are also common triggers.

Author

Jackie Westenberger (attribution pending approval)

Published

Pending review — publication date set when Jackie approves

Updated

Pending review — publication date set when Jackie approves

General information only. Not tax, legal, or accounting advice, and not a substitute for guidance about your own business.

Start with a business bank account and card kept separate from personal spending, choose accounting software early, decide how receipts and invoices will be captured and stored, and set a monthly close routine from the first month. Registration, licensing, and state or local filing requirements should be confirmed with the appropriate Nevada and Clark County authorities.

Author

Jackie Westenberger (attribution pending approval)

Published

Pending review — publication date set when Jackie approves

Updated

Pending review — publication date set when Jackie approves

General information only. Not tax, legal, or accounting advice, and not a substitute for guidance about your own business.

A clear description of the current state of the books, access details for accounting software and statements, a list of accounts in use, any known problem areas, and what you want out of the arrangement — catch-up only, ongoing monthly support, or tax-season preparation.

Author

Jackie Westenberger (attribution pending approval)

Published

Pending review — publication date set when Jackie approves

Updated

Pending review — publication date set when Jackie approves

General information only. Not tax, legal, or accounting advice, and not a substitute for guidance about your own business.