When starting to work with a bookkeeper there is a lot of documents and information that will need to be gathered. It can be time consuming to get things going, but it is worth the effort! Some of the items that are necessary can include the following:
- Your contact information (so we know the best way to communicate with you)
- Articles of Incorporation (to make sure we know your legal business name, accounting method and start of fiscal year)
- EIN (to confirm information)
- Tax Return (to see if there are assets that should be added to the books as well as depreciation for those assets)
- Monthly statements for each bank account and credit card starting with the month before the bookkeeping starts (to be able to reconcile the accounts)
- Monthly loan statements (to be able to break out the interest and any fees from the principal payment and reconcile the loan account)
- Purchase paperwork from any assets purchased by the business (including buildings, land, machinery, vehicles, etc. in order to properly add the assets to the books)
- Paperwork from the sale of any assets (to be able to properly remove them from the books and categorize the income from the sale properly)
- Payroll reports by month or pay period (to reconcile payroll and track payroll expenses and taxes)
- Payroll tax payment forms (to reconcile payroll taxes paid)
- Sales tax information (if applicable)
Additionally, when onboarding and setting up a new QuickBooks Online account, there will be a session with your bookkeeper to set up QuickBooks Online and connect bank and credit card accounts in the bank feed to automatically import transactions.
If you’re interested in learning more about how working with a virtual bookkeeper could help you run your business more efficiently and smoothly, please set up a call with us! We’d love to hear all about your business!