QuickBooks Doesn't Replace a Bookkeeping Process
Bank feeds, automation, and rules can save time, but they do not eliminate the need to review transactions and reconcile accounts. A consistent monthly bookkeeping process helps catch problems before they accumulate across several months.
Adding Transactions That Are Already Recorded
One common source of duplicate activity is treating every bank-feed item as a brand-new transaction. If a payment, expense, deposit, or transfer is already recorded in QuickBooks, adding the downloaded bank transaction again can duplicate the activity.
Bank-feed transactions should be reviewed to determine whether they need to be matched to an existing transaction or added as a new one.
Categorizing Transfers as Income or Expenses
Moving money between two business accounts generally does not create new business income or a new business expense. If the two sides of a transfer are categorized incorrectly, financial reports can overstate income or expenses.
Transfers, credit-card payments, loan activity, and owner-related transactions deserve particular attention because their bookkeeping treatment depends on what actually occurred.
Skipping Monthly Reconciliations
A QuickBooks balance matching today's online-bank balance does not necessarily mean the account is properly reconciled. Reconciliation compares the books with the corresponding statement for a defined period and helps identify missing, duplicated, changed, or uncleared activity.
Completing reconciliations consistently also makes it easier to identify a problem near the month in which it occurred instead of discovering it much later.
Relying Too Heavily on Automatic Categorization
Rules and suggested categories can make routine bookkeeping faster, but an automated suggestion is not evidence that the accounting treatment is correct. Similar-looking transactions can represent very different business activity.
Automation works best when paired with review. Rules should be created carefully and periodically checked to make sure they continue to reflect how the business actually operates.
Waiting Until Tax Season to Review the Books
Leaving bookkeeping untouched for months can turn small issues into a larger cleanup project. Missing documentation, uncategorized activity, duplicate entries, and reconciliation differences are usually easier to investigate while the transactions are still relatively recent.
A monthly bookkeeping process helps keep records current throughout the year and can make year-end preparation more organized.
What If QuickBooks Is Already a Mess?
If several months of transactions need review, the first step is usually to determine what has already been recorded, which accounts have been reconciled, where inconsistencies exist, and what documentation may be missing. Cleanup and catch-up bookkeeping can then be scoped around the condition of the file.
Carlisle Bookkeeping currently offers qualifying businesses up to six months of eligible catch-up bookkeeping at no additional cost when they begin ongoing monthly bookkeeping services. Eligibility and scope are determined after reviewing the business's bookkeeping needs.
Learn about the Catch-Up Bookkeeping Offer →
QuickBooks Support From Carlisle Bookkeeping
Carlisle Bookkeeping LLC provides QuickBooks Online support alongside monthly bookkeeping, reconciliations, cleanup and catch-up work, financial reporting, and other bookkeeping services based on the selected service level.
Based in Irvine, California, Carlisle Bookkeeping serves small businesses throughout Southern California and can also work with businesses remotely.