One of the first signs that you need our Good Bookkeeping Audit and Clean-Up Service™is when your Bank Balance does not match your In QuickBooks Balance. You can easily see this when logging into to your QBO account and selecting the Banking tab on your left menu bar. When there is a significant difference between these dollar amounts, it means that the bookkeeping is not current, and should be audited. Keeping your books clean will help prepare you for tax time. Another telling sign that you need an audit and clean-up of your books is when you have numerous uncategorized transactions in QBO.
We Do a Deep-Dive into your Bookkeeping for up to 12 Months
With this service, your accountant will do a deep dive into all bookkeeping transactions for up to 12 months. We can audit beyond 12 months for an additional fee. There are so many things that can go wrong in QuickBooks Online when you don’t have an experienced person managing your bookkeeping. Our accountants are Members of the QuickBooks ProAdvisor Program that know what to look for and can easily fix both simple and complex errors. Your accountant will review transactions against your account statements and correct every error until your books are in perfect order for the audit period. This service does not include doing prior period transactional accounting work such as categorizing and matching transactions that were left in the connected bank feeds. This work would require a one-time project accounting fee in addition to the 12-month audit fee.
We will Carefully Review Account Statements for the Audit Period
All supporting documentation for the audit period should be provided to your accountant to review against the transaction history in your QuickBooks Online account. This includes bank, credit card, POS (Point-Of-Sale) and loan statements. You should also provide asset purchase documentation and advise on any owner equity transactions that have occurred. Owner equity transactions are recorded when you put money into or take money out of your business. Your accountant will send you a notification requesting audit support information that will show up on your client dashboard. You can upload documents into a folder within your secure document upload portal or email it directly to your accountant. We ask that you send multiple files being uploaded to a compressed zipped folder so that they can be downloaded by your accountant all at once.
We will Audit Your Accounts, Income Statement and Balance Sheet
With this service, your accountant will audit the transactions in your QuickBooks Online account and review your Income Statement and Balance Sheet for the audit period to ensure that any transaction errors are identified for correction following the audit. If we find Accounts Receivable or Accounts Payable errors, we will recommend project accounting services for a one-time fixed fee to research and correct these errors for you. Your accountant will focus on Accounts Receivable cleanup work as a first priority.
We will Provide a Detailed Bookkeeping Audit Findings Report
It is important to maintain accurate accounting records, as this saves you time and money throughout the year. When you are self-employed it is critical to know the true profits of your business, as you will need to pay Quarterly Estimated Self-Employment Taxes to the IRS based on your earnings. If your bookkeeping has not been done correctly, you may overpay or underpay your taxes. Once your accountant reviews your books for the audit period, they will provide you with a Bookkeeping Audit Findings Report that includes the details of what needs to be cleaned-up in your books. This Audit Report may include recommendations for one-time project accounting work to complete your book cleanup.
We will Perform the Good-Bookkeeping Clean-Up After the Audit
With this service, your accountant will utilize your Good Bookkeeping Audit Findings Report to clean-up your books for the audit period. Your accountant may request account statements and other supporting documentation to complete the clean-up process. This service does not include the clean-up of sales tax liabilities, past payroll processing or payroll tax liabilities. Your accountant may include recommendations for one-time project accounting work to cleanup payroll tax and sales tax liabilities on the Balance Sheet.
We will Correct Bank Feed Errors & Upload Missing Transactions
During the Good Bookkeeping Audit™ your accountant will identify past errors that were made when transactions were added via the bank feed during the audit period. These errors will be corrected during the Good Bookkeeping Clean-Up™ process. If the initial audit identified missing transactions in any of the bank or credit card accounts, your accountant sends you a notification to request an Excel csv file of the missing transactions for the date range in question that will show up on your client dashboard. You can upload the requested information into a folder within your secure document upload portal or email it directly to your accountant. This work is considered a one-time project as transactional accounting work such as bank feed categorization for prior periods in not included with our one-time Audit service. It is necessary for your accountant to import in missing bank feed transactions to categorize, match and reconcile for accurate financials. If your bank feeds look like the sample below, there are many missing transactions!
We will Correct Data Entry Errors & Fix Accounting Transactions
It is not uncommon for manual data entry errors to occur when creating transactions such as vendor bills, expenses, sales receipts, invoices, deposits, payments and journal entries in QBO. During the Good Bookkeeping Clean-Up™process, your accountant will correct these errors while fixing the linked accounting transactions by clearing any erroneously created debits or credits that may have been created as a result of the original errors. Your historical accounting transactions will be corrected to what actually happened so that they match your bank feed transactions and your account statements. This part of the audit service and no additional one-time fees apply in this case.
We will Correct Errors Made Transferring Money Between Accounts
One of the most common errors in the QuickBooks Online bookkeeping process is the incorrect transferring of money between accounts. During the Good Bookkeeping Clean-Up™process, your accountant will fix your transfers between accounts so that your debits and credits related to the transfers will be accurately recorded on your account registers. This service is included with the Audit and no additional one-time fees apply. Please note that payments made from connected bank accounts to connected credit card accounts are managed as transfers between accounts, credit card account payments are not added.
We will Correct All Unapplied Cash Income or Cash Bill Payments
Small business owners wear many hats and often hand-write checks to vendors and quickly receive payments customers in QuickBooks Online. It is not uncommon for these business owners to enter the corresponding customer invoice or vendor bill on a later date. When this occurs, it results in the recording of unapplied cash payment income and unapplied cash bill payment expenses. This happens anytime a vendor bill or customer invoice date is later than the payment date. Your accountant will correct these errors during the book clean-up process. This service is included with the Audit and no additional one-time fees apply.
We will Clear & Match Your Undeposited Funds to Bank Deposits
If the correct order of operations is not followed when receiving payments from customers in QuickBooks Online, you can quickly rack-up a balance in Undeposited Funds account. This account is what we refer to as your virtual deposit slip. Money received from customers is supposed to be deposited to this account before your QBO bank deposit is created and matched to the deposit that comes into your bank feed. If you mistakenly receive customer deposits that come into the bank feed directly to income accounts and robotically match and add deposits in the bank feed, you can mess up your books. Your accountant will clear Undeposited Funds balances by creating deposits in QBO from groups of received payments to match to your bank feed deposits. Your accountant will also add funds to deposits to record the expense of bank fees or cash-back received when deposits were made. This will ensure that the reconciled deposit amount matches what actually happened in your bank account. This service is included with the Audit and no additional one-time fees apply. As long as the Accounts Receivable transactions in your books are accurate, this service is included with the Audit and no additional one-time fees apply.
We will Record Your Loan Liabilities & Related Interest Expenses
A common oversight we find during the Good-Bookkeeping Audit™process is the absence of business loan liabilities and related interest expenses on the Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss Report. When business owners setup their QuickBooks Online accounts, they are understandably focused on connecting accounts and setting up customers, products and services, and vendors. For this reason, liabilities and related interest expenses may be overlooked. Your accountant will review your business loan statements and verify your loan payments, balances, and interest expenses are recorded. This service is included with the Audit and no additional one-time fees apply.
We will Record Your Businesses Fixed & Other Current Assets
Most small business owners will get help from their accountant to record the fixed and other current assets for their business. If you have been in business for some time and have filed income tax returns for your business in prior years, it is likely that these assets are recorded. With the Good-Bookkeeping Clean-Up™service we will add any additional business assets that were not previously recorded so that they are accurately reflected on your Balance Sheet. This includes recording inventory stock value, investments and loans to shareholders. This service is included with the Audit and no additional one-time fees apply.
We will Undo & Re-Reconcile Bank and Credit Cards Accounts
Some business owners will attempt to reconcile their bank and credit card accounts directly within their account registers. Others will reconcile accounts with manually entered transactions, leaving bank feed transactions unmatched and outstanding in their bank feeds. It is also common for reconciliations to be completed with unreconciled differences otherwise known as reconciliation discrepancies, miss-matched transactions, duplicate transactions, and unresolved opening balance equity transactions. Your accountant will undo some reconciliations, resolve reconciliation discrepancies and opening balances, then re-reconcile your accounts. This service is included with the Audit for up to 12-months of account statement reconciliations, one-time. If there are Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable, or missing transactions that result in multiple 12-month reconciliation attempts, a one-time project accounting fees may be incurred. Your accountant will communicate this to you with the Audit Findings report.
We will Prepare New Financial & Transaction Detail Reports
Once your accountant has completed the Good Bookkeeping Clean-Up™, they will create a new set of Financial Reports and a Transaction Detail Report that will be accessible directly within your QBO Reports menu under Custom Reports. You should expect to find that your register balances match your bank and credit card account balances when this service is complete. This service does include the clean-up of your Accounts Receivables or Payables, chart of accounts, products and services, or your vendor and customer lists.
Your Personal Guide to Seamless Accounting: Advanced QuickBooks ProAdvisor at Your Service
Hey there! I’m Gina, and I’m the proud co-founder of Lend A Hand Accounting. Why did I start this? Well, I believe that everyone should have access to affordable, efficient, and flexible accounting and bookkeeping services. It’s all about making sure these essential services fit snugly into your budget without any fuss.
We’ve ditched the traditional hourly rate system and adopted a flat fee pricing. You might be wondering, “Why does this matter?” Well, this way, you know exactly what you’re paying for upfront and there are no unexpected surprises. You get to pick and choose the accounting services you need, like a customized menu. And the best part? You’re in complete control of when you start or stop using our services. We’re essentially just a call or a text away, no need for endless phone calls or draining trips to the accountant’s office.
I’m not just any accountant though. I’m an Advanced QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor. That means I’m equipped with advanced expertise and resources to help you leverage QuickBooks Online to its full potential. My goal is to make your accounting process smooth and efficient so you can focus on what you do best – running your business.
Ready to get started? Reach out to me directly at 360-637-4799. We can even kick things off immediately if you’re ready. Simply create a free account, and I can instantly take a look at your books and let you know where you stand.
At the end of the day, we’re here to serve you. We really appreciate the trust you place in us and we’re eager to meet all of your accounting and bookkeeping needs. Looking forward to being part of your team!
Take care,
Gina
The Content is for informational purposes only, you should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
