It’s crunch time, bookkeepers. We all know that for bookkeeping firms, year-end can be the most stressful and hectic time of the year. The busy season is all booked with tax season preparation, staff shortages due to holidays and illness, and the general stress of the holiday season. You’re balancing a difficult workload on top of a long to-do list at home. That’s why we here at Aero want to help give you the best chance at having a successful year-end with a little advice… 

Use bookkeeping checklists! Though it may seem like a simple strategy, we can’t endorse the checklist enough. Bookkeeping checklists allow you to nail your procedures every time without missing any crucial details. Here are some of the many year-end tasks that solid checklists can help you get through at year-end! 

1099s

When it comes to 1099s, you can create two checklists – one for preparation and one for filing. To prepare for 1099s, you should create a checklist including steps like run a vendor list and send W9 requests to vendors that don’t have them on file. 

Holidays & Shortages

Unexpected staff shortages don’t have to throw the workday entirely out of whack. Plan for unplanned absences by documenting client work with written checklists and procedures and creating lists that include some of the following items: notify staff of deadline to file time-off requests, identify areas where cross-training is a good option and implement cross-training, and make sure everybody is up-to-date on the firm’s sick policy and Work-From-Home options. 

Client Communication

There’s a lot of important documents and information you have to gather at year-end, and checklists can help YOU remember to send our client reminders. Make a list of all the items you need to request from clients. That way, you’ll know which reminders you still need to send out and by when. 

Onboarding & Offboarding

At year-end, it’s out with the old and in with the new. You might have new clients signing on in 2024 and you might be saying goodbye to some others, but luckily checklists can help with both. Onboarding and offboarding both involve detailed processes with vital steps that can set the tone of a relationship and protect your firm from legal consequences. For example, forgetting an item like close client accounts in appropriate apps or update passwords can create a security risk. 

Reviewing Engagements 

As we prepare for a new year, it’s important to review our current engagements in order to ensure profitability and reduce scope creep. When you create your checklist for this task, it can include items such as run a job-costing report by client and look for unbilled, out of scope activities. 

Do you need more help getting started with year-end checklists? You can download our free guide here! Aero Workflow also comes loaded with all sorts of ready-to-use checklists that you and a library of detailed procedures. Plus, you can create an unlimited number of checklists with Aero and customize them to suit your unique business needs. Check out our free trial!