Quarterly Bookkeeping Checklist

Pull statements for every operating, savings, payroll, and merchant account through the last day of the quarter. Missing a sweep account or a dormant savings account is the most common reason close work has to be redone in week two.

Run the QBO or Xero reconciliation against the bank PDF, not the bank feed. Feeds drop transactions on holiday-adjacent dates; the statement is the source of truth.

Include Stripe, Square, PayPal, and any embedded-payments processors. Watch for fees posted net vs. gross — gross is the correct treatment so that processor fees show as an expense.

Build a workpaper listing any uncleared check or deposit-in-transit older than 30 days, with an aging bucket. Items over $1,000 or older than 60 days should be flagged for partner or client review before the period locks.

Aging total should equal the GL receivables balance to the penny. Variances usually trace to journal entries posted directly to the receivables account instead of through customer invoices — flag those for reclass.

Send dunning notices through the billing system and log a follow-up call for any 60+ aged balance. Hand off 90+ balances to the client or controller for a payment-plan or write-off decision.

Process the Bill.com or Hubdoc inbox first so nothing sits in suspense. Code to the correct GL account and class/location dimension — never dump into Ask My Accountant unless you genuinely need a client decision.

Match the run to the cash position from the bank rec. Prioritize bills approaching credit-term cutoff to preserve vendor relationships; defer non-critical payments if cash is tight.

Pull every vendor that received over $600 in services year-to-date. Confirm a current W-9 is on file and the entity-type field matches the 1099-NEC eligibility rule (corporations exempt except for legal/medical). Catching missing W-9s in Q3 is far cheaper than chasing them in mid-January.

Total Gusto/ADP/Paychex registers for the quarter, then tie to the wages, employer-tax, and benefit-deduction GL accounts. Any difference usually points to a manual JE booked outside the payroll integration.

Check each scheduled deposit against the federal schedule (semiweekly or monthly per lookback period). A late deposit by even one day is a 2% penalty; bank holidays around quarter-end are the usual culprit.

If the pay period straddles quarter-end, accrue the earned-but-unpaid days based on register-rate hours. Reverse the accrual in the next month's first close so the actual payroll posts cleanly.

Coordinate with the warehouse or store manager so the count happens before any new receiving. Use the perpetual report as the count sheet only after spot-checks on high-value SKUs.

Pull capex from the bill register over the firm's capitalization threshold (typically $2,500 de minimis). Update the fixed-asset module with cost, in-service date, and useful life so next quarter's depreciation entry is correct.

Walk the prepaid schedule line by line — insurance, software annual contracts, deposits. Recognize the quarter's portion to the correct expense account; carry the remaining unexpired balance forward.

Filter the GL for entries posted by the bank-feed rule engine and review for miscoding — owner draws sitting in a meals account, transfers booked as income. Update the bank-feed rules so the same mistake does not recur next quarter.

Compare each GL account against the prior-quarter and prior-year balances. Flag any account moving more than the engagement's materiality threshold (typically 5% of revenue or $10,000, whichever is smaller for SMB engagements).

Required when material variances are flagged. Write a one-page memo: account, prior-period and current balance, root cause, supporting workpaper reference. Partner reviews before financials go to the client.

Refresh the forecast in Fathom, Float, or the engagement spreadsheet using the closed quarter's actuals as the new baseline. Adjust the next-quarter assumptions for any client commentary on the pipeline or cost changes.

Run the Avalara or TaxJar nexus report against state economic-nexus thresholds (most $100K or 200 transactions, post-Wayfair). A new threshold crossed this quarter triggers registration in that state before the next sales-tax filing.

Apply for the sales-tax permit in the newly-crossed state and back-file any returns owed under amnesty or voluntary disclosure. Confirm filing frequency assigned by the state — most start new registrants on monthly filing.

Calculate using the safe-harbor method (110% of prior-year tax for high earners) or annualized-income method, whichever is smaller. Confirm the federal voucher and any state estimates with the client before scheduling EFTPS payments.

Set the closing date with a closing-date password under Account and Settings → Advanced. Without the password, anyone with edit rights can post backdated entries that silently break the closed financials.

Export the QBO backup or run the Rewind snapshot to encrypted SmartVault or ShareFile. The backup is part of the WISP-required retention; it must live somewhere you can recover from in a ransomware event.

Send through the client portal: balance sheet, P&L with budget comparison, cash flow, management commentary, and tax-payment vouchers. Confirm receipt and book the quarterly review call within five business days.