Counting Down to Year End

Guest contributor Kashoo says:

Just two months remain on the 2012 calendar. And you know what that means, right? Aside from the ensuing blitz of holiday marketeering, it means decision and action time for small business owners—and their advisors—whose fiscal years mirror the calendar. From retirement contributions to equipment purchases to tracking down contractor tax forms, there's plenty for business owners to consider when it comes to end-of-year finances. To help, we tapped a handful of accounting experts (including our own in-house CPA, Sandra Tomlinson) to offer a few tips.

Reconciliations. There are specific reconciliations that should be done before year-end and then rolled forward to include year-end. These are necessary to ensure that transactions have been recorded correctly. Reconciliation examples include Bank to Books, Aged Accounts Payable balance to Accounts Payable balance on the Balance Sheet, Aged Accounts Receivable balance to Accounts Receivable balance on the Balance Sheet, and Undeposited funds on the Balance sheet to checks not deposited in the bank account.