#month-end-close
Month-end Close
Streamline month-end closing procedures and checklists
Bank Reconciliation Checklist: How to Match Your Books to Your Bank Statement Every Month
A 9-step monthly bank reconciliation checklist that matches your book balance to the bank statement, separates timing differences from journal entries, and uses the divisible-by-9 rule to catch transposition errors in 30 to 60 minutes.
Accrued Vacation Pay Is a Liability You Already Owe: A Small Business Guide to PTO Accruals and Payout Rules
How to accrue unused PTO as a liability month by month under ASC 710, calculate it with payroll taxes, book the journal entries, and apply the three state-law buckets that decide whether you must cash out vacation at separation.
Four Bookkeeping Pitfalls That Quietly Cost Small Businesses at Tax Time
The IRS assessed about $4.8 billion in estimated-tax penalties on 15 million-plus returns in FY2024. Four fixable bookkeeping habits — commingled accounts, spreadsheet ledgers, personal credit for business spending, and lax records — cause most of the damage, and each has a same-day fix.
Sign Shop Bookkeeping: Monthly Books vs. Year-End Cleanup
A sign shop bookkeeping guide covering monthly close, job-level costing for materials/labor/overhead, deposit accounting, sales tax on signage, and Section 179 equipment deductions for 2026.
The CPA Search Now Takes 73 Days: A Small Business Guide to the Accountant Shortage
Filling a CPA-credentialed role now averages 73 days, 41% longer than non-credentialed roles, while the number of candidates sitting for the CPA exam fell from over 100,000 in 2016 to about 67,000 in 2022. This guide explains what is draining the pipeline, what the shortage costs in fees and delayed closes, and five ways small businesses keep books clean and filings on time without waiting in line for a firm.
When 5% of Your Customers Drive 40% of Your Returns: Serial Returners, Returns Reserves, and Refund Liability
ASC 606 treats a right of return as variable consideration, so an $80,000 sales month with a 9% historical return rate is $72,800 of net revenue, a $7,200 refund liability, and a recoverable-inventory asset — not $80,000 booked as final. This guide shows how to build a category-weighted reserve from 12 months of your own data, flag the 5 to 10% of buyers who generate 30 to 40% of returns, and apply graduated account limits that stay documented and defensible.
Food Hall Operator Bookkeeping: Percentage Rent by Vendor, CAM True-Ups, and One POS Across a Dozen Kitchens
Percentage rent by vendor (8–15% of gross sales, booked as ASC 842 variable lease income), CAM pools with annual true-ups, and one POS settlement split across a dozen merchants — the account structure a food hall operator needs, plus the benchmarks (revenue per square foot, bar share, occupancy) that show a hall is working.
The 1099 From Amazon Is Not Your Income: A Self-Publisher's Guide to Reconciling KDP, IngramSpark, and Audiobook Royalties
Amazon KDP's 1099-MISC (issued at just $10 in royalties) reports payments on Amazon's calendar — not your income. KDP dashboard earnings, bank deposits, and the 1099 never match because of 60-day payout lags, returns, and Kindle Unlimited fund allocations, and IngramSpark sends no tax form at all. A monthly per-platform, per-title close reconciles all three and documents the differences as timing items before Schedule C.
Elevator & Escalator Maintenance Contractor Bookkeeping: ASC 606 and Job Costing
A framework for elevator and escalator maintenance contractors to recognize FMA and O&G contract revenue ratably under ASC 606, track lumpy repair costs by job, and separate capitalizable modernization work from routine service revenue.
Marketing Agency Retainer Accounting: How ASC 606 Revenue Recognition Actually Works
A practical guide to applying ASC 606 revenue recognition to marketing and creative agency retainers, covering standing-ready vs. activity-based retainers, deferred and unbilled revenue journal entries, and the due-diligence risks of booking full retainers as revenue on invoice date.
Commercial Property Management Accounting: Trust Accounting and CAM Reconciliation Explained
Commingling trust and operating funds is illegal in all 50 states with fines from $1,000 to $25,000 per violation, and CAM reconciliation errors can trigger tenant audits years later — here's how three-way reconciliation and a property-specific chart of accounts keep commercial books compliant.
How to Bookkeep a Coworking Space: Deferred Revenue, Cost Allocation, and CAM Charges
A coworking space earns revenue across five distinct streams and must defer prepaid membership revenue, allocate CAM charges, and split costs by square footage to accurately price hot desks against private offices.