Have you ever wondered if your accounting data is correct? Do you sense something is wrong with your books but you are not sure what? Are there areas in your books that you absolutely know are wrong? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may need to have a check-up of your accounting data.
Why do I need a check-up of my accounting data?
Most small business owners that come to us are not accountants or bookkeepers. They may know of certain areas within their data that need attention, but they are not sure if their accounting data is in good shape or not. In this situation, we will recommend that their books need a check-up.
So, if you come to us with an existing QuickBooks Online or Xero file, the first step in working with us is for us to do an assessment or a check-up of your file. The purpose of the check-up is to determine the health of your existing accounting file.
We really do not know what we will find. Sometimes we might even determine that it would be in your best interest to set-up a new accounting file rather than fix the issues in the existing file. We can only provide you our recommendations after we take a look, under the hood as it were, of your file.
What is included in a check-up?
As part of the check-up, our experts will conduct an inspection of more than 60 items in your books. Some of the areas we will look at include:
- Structure of the chart of accounts
- Compare the balance sheet account balances to the last filed tax return
- Compare the bank and credit card balances to the statement balances
- Open accounts receivable and payable transactions
- Compare the payroll expenses to payroll tax returns or reports
- Fixed asset account transactions
- Liability account transactions
- Revenue account transactions
- Expense account transactions
- And so much more…
The check-up is a review of your file only. It does not include our going in and modifying any of your data.
After we have completed the check-up we provide you with a report showing our findings as well as with recommendations as to what steps are needed to address the areas we uncovered.
What happens after a check-up?
After the check-up, we have a call with you to go over the report and our findings with you. We will discuss what areas you may want to address yourself and what areas you might need help with. We call this phase the clean-up. We then provide you with a proposal for the clean-up.
We have found that for the best results some personalized training in the areas that we uncovered issues with during the check-up is very beneficial. In light of this, the clean-up proposal includes one or more training sessions.
Next steps
After going through the process of both the check-up and clean-up, we know that you never want to go back to not knowing if your accounting data is correct. To make sure that your books stay in good shape, the next phase in working with us is ongoing services. We offer a variety of options to help you find the service level that fits your needs and budget for ongoing services.
We are here to help you get your accounting records straightened out and to keep them that way so that you can have confidence in the story that your numbers are telling you.
If you think your books need a check-up, get in touch with us to schedule an assessment of your QuickBooks Online or Xero file.