Several years ago the accounting departments of smaller construction companies with less than $10M in annual sales had to slog through dozens of mind numbing General Journal Entries in order to "Close The Books". With QuickBooks that process is mostly automatic.
There are still a few things the accounting department needs to do. The easiest method is to open QuickBooks and go to the help menu and click on the "Year End Guide" as shown below:
A QuickBooks Year-End Guide similar to the one shown below will pop-up. It may vary depending on the version of QuickBooks you are using.
When you click on a task with your mouse the help screen for that task pops up and guides you through the process which normally takes several hours depending on the amount of bookkeeping data in your QuickBooks file and how complex your construction accounting system is setup.
Gather Receipts Into One Container
Review Personal Bank Statements - Business
Review Business Bank Statements – Personal
Reconcile Bank And Credit Card Accounts
Verify Petty Cash Entries
Invoice Unbilled Work
Money In (Accounts Receivable)
Inventory Count By December 31st
Fixed Assets Balance And Depreciation
Money Out (Accounts Payable)
Retirement Contributions - 401 (k), IRA, Etc.
Notes Payable, Loans, Mortgages, Credit Lines
Mileage Log / Each Vehicle / Business Use
W-9’s From Vendors & Contractors Over $600
Payroll Tax Deposits Match Quarterly Returns
Verify Profit And Loss - Does It Make Sense?
Back Up All Your QuickBooks Data Onsite And Offsite
We strongly recommend you have a basic disaster recovery plan in place.
Step #1 back up QuickBooks onsite
Step #2 back up QuickBooks in the cloud
If your QuickBooks is resting on our QuickBooks Desktop In The Cloud Intuit Approved QuickBooks Hosting service that has multiple backup procedures in place you do not need to back up again.
We have prepared a PDF checklist you can download by clicking on the buttons below. There is nothing to fill out, simply click on the button and download it to your heart's content.
We offer QuickBooks year end closing services if you prefer not to do it yourself or rely on someone who only does it once a year and the prices are very reasonable.
If you find that QuickBooks is not doing what you want it to do and not giving you the reports you want you may want to consider trying Xero Accounting Online.
We offer both Xero and QuickBooks bookkeeping services for construction contractors and have found the dividing line is how you get paid.
Take Job Deposits
Have Change Orders
Issue Multiple Invoices
Need Job Costing Reports
Need Payment Applications
Periodic Invoices For Bank draws
Need Complex Construction Accounting Reports
Have Simple Jobs With One Invoice
Need Basic Key Performance Indicator Financial Reports
Do you want to use Xero Accounting Online, but dread moving everything from QuickBooks or some other accounting software? We can do it all for you:
Enter all of your year to date transactions
Enter all of your Accounts Receivable (Sales)
Enter all of your Accounts Payable (Purchases)
Previous year end bank, credit card and other account balances
Activate your bank and PayPal feeds for downloading into Xero
Enter all your customer and vendor contact information
Contact Sharie 206-361-3950 or sharie@fasteasyaccounting.com
Set up your organization in Xero Accounting Online
Prepare an application for Tax-ID number, if needed.
Set up your Chart of Accounts
Connect your bank and PayPal feeds
Give you a tour of the system and how it works
Provide ongoing virtual CFO support (We are more than bookkeeping services provider!)
Contact Sharie 206-361-3950 or sharie@fasteasyaccounting.com
Our Bookkeeping Services include:
Invoicing
Daily reconciliation of bank feeds
Weekly reporting
Monthly reporting
Year-end reporting for your tax preparer
Year-end updates and adjustments from your tax preparer
Options for payroll
Options for time keeping and project management
Options for receipt storage
Contact Sharie 206-361-3950 or sharie@fasteasyaccounting.com
Pricing Depends Upon the number of accounts, invoicing frequency and number, average daily transactions, number of employees, the amount of business coaching and virtual CFO services you want. We offer MANY other customization options so please ask.
Profitable Construction - Companies have known about the value of outsourced bookkeeping services for a long time and now you know about it too!
For Construction Company Owners who do not need the full power of QuickBooks for contractors and want 24/7 online access we offer Xero Accounting Online and we have custom setup for construction companies. Click Here For More.
We Scan Your Receipts And Invoices link them to QuickBooks transactions where it is appropriate and give you back a CPA-ready packet for your tax return and we provide ongoing Cloud Based Contractors Bookkeeping Services by accountants who understand construction.
About The Author:
Our Co-Founder Randal DeHart - Is a Certified PMP (Project Management Professional) with several years of construction project management experience. His expertise is construction accounting systems engineering and process development. His exhaustive study of several leading experts including the work of Dr. W. Edward Deming, Michael Gerber, Walter A. Shewhart, James Lewis and dozens of others was the foundation upon which our Construction Bookkeeping System is based and continues to evolve and improve. Follow Randal on Google+