Books review in QuickBooks is a tool that makes it easy for accountants to stay on top of everything. It functions by listing key tasks so you can prioritise work, finalise outstanding issues, and customise your own tasks for review.
This guide will provide useful information about Books review, and explain how it can be used to prepare business activity statements (BAS). You can also watch a video of Books review in action, so you can unlock its benefits for your business.
Books review is a tool within QuickBooks Online that’s designed to support accountants by streamlining the BAS preparation and lodgement process.
The Books review tool provides a number of advantages such as:
Books review in QuickBooks Online can be accessed from the left hand menu. Click on ‘Books review’ and from there, you’ll see four distinct steps to help you prepare and lodge a BAS: Transaction review, Bank Reconciliation, Final Review, and Wrap Up.
1. Select the required month or quarter you’re working on.
2. Check all bank transactions for the period have been categorised. Select the Review now link to review any outstanding transactions. Mark it as ‘Done’ once completed.
3. Next, review any anomaly transactions QuickBooks Online has automatically surfaced for you. These can include:
Tip! Use the Ask Client feature to send a query to your client about any transactions. And mark each table as Done once reviewed so you and your team know where you’re up to.
4. Next, tailor the Shortcuts at the bottom of the screen to create your very own unique checklist of end of month/quarter/year reports and tasks. Add URL links to the shortcuts where you can to speed up access.
1. Select the accounts you want to reconcile for this client e.g. bank accounts, credit cards, payroll accounts etc, by clicking on Select accounts.
2. Next, click on the date or Never reconciled link to complete the reconciliation for each account to be reconciled.
3. Review the transactions outlined in the Outstanding Transactions section for anything that needs your attention.
4. Next, tailor the Shortcuts at the bottom of the screen to create your very own unique checklist for this section.
The Final Review stage in Books review provides an overview of Accounts payable and Accounts receivable transactions that are 90 days or older and may need some action taken.
1. Review the Accounts payable and Accounts receivable sections and action accordingly.
In this section, you can prepare the BAS workpapers, prepare and lodge the BAS and close the books so no further entries are made to the period you’ve just finalised.
1. To prepare the BAS workpapers, in the Prepare reports card, click on Select then BAS Workpapers.
2. Click on the Reports image on the left menu.
3. Review the reports in the BAS Workpapers pack and add, edit, or rearrange to suit your reporting needs.
4. Save and name your BAS workpaper pack.
5. Next, you can click on Send in the Send report package card to email the report package to a team member or client if required.
6. Then, click on Go to Tax Centre in the Prepare to Lodge card. From here you can select Prepare BAS and step through the BAS information. At the BAS Summary screen, you can either select Export to LodgeiT (to seamlessly prefill the data into the BAS form for electronic approval and lodgement) or Mark as Lodged (and then lodge using your usual method).
7. Lastly, you can select to stop any further data entry into the period you have just finalised by selecting Close now in the Close the books card and adding the required Closing date. And that’s it!
Books review provides a framework to streamline your BAS preparation and lodgement workflow. You can tailor each step in Books review to reflect your own processes so you and your team are consistently completing your BAS work, and it creates transparency by clearly showing where each BAS is up to. How much time can Books review save your practice each quarter? Take it for a run today.
BAS, or business activity statement, is a summary of all the business tax you have paid to the government over a specific period. You must lodge your BAS to the ATO at regular intervals: for example, monthly, quarterly, or annually. It is essential to keep track of your BAS lodgement dates and to maintain accurate records of business transactions.
Alee Cochrane is a Bookkeeper, Certified Trainer, FCPA and FIPA member and part of the QuickBooks Trainer Writer Network.
Alee is the Director of Total Bookkeeping & Business Solutions providing bookkeeping and business solutions to businesses in need, helping them achieve their goals and assisting them in putting processes in place that allow for further growth.
“One of my biggest tips for using the Books Review area in QuickBooks, is that you can actually mark individual transactions. And from within that section you can ask the client to say what it’s for, so you can get the additional information you need to complete the work.”
*Disclaimer: This is based on an Intuit study of 56 interviews and observations with accountants and bookkeepers using Books review QuickBooks Online for BAS preparation in 2021.
The Books review tool in QuickBooks Online takes the hassle out of preparing and lodging your BAS. This feature makes it easy to classify transactions – no more tedious spreadsheet work or manual receipt uploading.
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