Year End Bookkeeping Checklist
Close your books with confidence. Use our step by step checklist to reconcile your accounts, tidy up receivables and payables, and hand a clean file to your accountant. Built for Canadian small businesses, and used every day by our team.
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Everything you need to close your year end
Year end is where messy books catch up with you. When every account is reconciled and every balance is confirmed, your return is faster, your numbers are trustworthy, and there are no surprises. Work through the checklist below in order. We keep our own clients on this exact rhythm inside QuickBooks Online, so nothing slips between the cracks.
Your year end bookkeeping checklist
Five sections, in the order we work them. Tick each item off before you send your file to your accountant.
Reconcile everything
- Reconcile every bank account to your December or fiscal year end statement, so the closing balance in your books matches the bank to the penny.
- Reconcile every credit card and line of credit the same way, including cards you rarely use.
- Clear out uncategorized transactions and anything sitting in an "ask my accountant" or suspense account.
- Match and clear open items so nothing is left uncleared or double counted from the year.
- Confirm your opening balances still tie to last year's closing numbers, so nothing has shifted.
- Review any transfers between accounts so a single movement of money is not recorded twice.
Accounts receivable and accounts payable
- Confirm your accounts receivable balance and make sure every open invoice is real and still collectible.
- Review aged receivables, then review and write off bad debts you know you will never collect.
- Confirm your accounts payable balance and check that every bill you owe is entered.
- Apply customer payments and supplier payments to the correct invoices and bills so nothing shows as open in error.
- Chase down any duplicate invoices or bills and remove them before they distort your totals.
- Record any accruals for expenses you have incurred but not yet been billed for.
Assets and inventory
- Count your inventory and adjust your books to the actual count on hand at year end.
- Write down or write off inventory that is damaged, obsolete, or unsellable.
- Record fixed asset purchases, such as equipment, vehicles, and computers, in the right asset accounts.
- Record any asset disposals or trade ins, and remove items you no longer own from the books.
- Check that expensed items and capital purchases are split correctly, so a large asset is not buried in your expenses.
- Note prepaid expenses, such as insurance or software paid in advance, so they land in the right period.
Payroll and sales tax
- Reconcile payroll for the year so wages, source deductions, and remittances agree between your books and your payroll records.
- Confirm your T4 and T4A slips are prepared and filed, and that the totals match what you paid.
- Reconcile the HST and GST you filed against the sales tax recorded in your books for every period.
- Confirm your sales tax remittances and refunds are recorded and cleared against the right periods.
- Review employee benefits, bonuses, and any taxable benefits so they are captured correctly.
- Check that contractor payments are tracked so your slips and totals are complete.
Get ready for your accountant
- Review shareholder or owner draws and loans, and make sure they are recorded to the correct accounts.
- Reconcile any due to or due from owner accounts so the balances are clean and explained.
- Run a year end profit and loss and balance sheet, and scan for anything that looks off.
- Gather supporting documents, such as loan statements, asset receipts, and payroll summaries, in one place.
- Write a short note on anything unusual during the year, so your accountant has the context.
- Hand a clean, reconciled file to your accountant, ready to turn into your return.
Keep your records safe once your year end is closed. The CRA generally requires you to keep your business records and supporting documents for six years from the end of the tax year they relate to. See the official guidance on how long to keep your records on canada.ca.
Let us handle your year end for you
Reconciling accounts, cleaning up receivables, and prepping for your accountant takes time you would rather spend running your business. We do all of it inside QuickBooks Online, and we can onboard you or switch you over from whatever you use today. Fully virtual, for clients right across Canada.
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We work in QuickBooks Online
We run everything in QuickBooks Online. Already on it? We pick up where you are. On something else? We onboard you and switch you over so your books are done right going forward.
Reconciled and ready
We keep your accounts reconciled all year, so year end is quick and your file is ready for your accountant when the deadline comes. See our bookkeeping services.
Reporting you can act on
Clean books power clear numbers. Our financial reporting gives you a profit and loss and balance sheet you can actually use to run the business.
Fully virtual, all of Canada
We work with digital records only, so there is nothing to drop off or pick up. Share your documents online and we handle the rest, wherever you are in the country.
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Year end bookkeeping FAQs
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