Year-end guide for QuickBooks Desktop

Learn how to complete year-end tasks and prepare for the new year in QuickBooks Desktop.

Check your accounts in QuickBooks Desktop and get them ready for the end of the year. This is to make sure that your transactions are correct.

In this article, you'll learn how to:

• Review and reconcile
• Run year-end reports
• Work with your accountant
• Close the books

Review and reconcile

Review and reconcile your accounts. This is to make sure your accounts are correct before you process year-end tasks.

Review the first month of your fiscal year

Select a month for your fiscal year to set up your ledgers in QuickBooks.

1. Go to Company and select Company Information.
2. In the Report Information section, select when your fiscal year starts. This is to make sure your financial reports use the right dates.
3. Select OK.

Review customer account balances, statements, and deposits

Check your client's account balance. Make sure all information is up to date. Run an Accounts Receivable Aging Summary or Detail report. Here's how.

1. Go to Reports and select Customers & Receivables.
2. Select A/R Aging Summary or A/R Aging Detail.
3. Review reports.

Note: If you find outstanding balances, you can create and send statements to the customers.

Review supplier account balances, pay bills, or write cheques

The end of the year is the perfect time to take care of:

• Outstanding bills you owe for the year
• Outstanding credits, discounts, or products you owe from your suppliers

To review and pay outstanding bills, run an Accounts Payable Aging Summary or Details report:

1. From Reports, select Suppliers & Payables.
2. Choose A/P Aging Summary or A/P Aging Detail.
3. Check the report if you have outstanding bills to pay before the year ends.

Reconcile accounts

Reconcile all accounts to match your QuickBooks company file with your bank accounts. Do this to make sure your year-end reports are accurate.

Run year-end reports

Review the year-end reports. Identify and resolve any issues. Here's how you can run the report.

1. Go to Reports and select Company & Financial.
2. Select the report you need.

Note: QuickBooks automatically adjusts at the end of the year, for the next fiscal year.

Work with your accountant

Accountants give expert advice on data entry, year-end procedures, and the company’s financial forecasts.

Share data with your accountant

Work on your company file with your accountant. You can create a copy of your company file to share with your accountant. Update your books after they're done.

Prepare your year-end tax return

Accountants usually do taxes for companies. Share the Accountant's Copy file with your accountant. They'll have the information to prepare and file your taxes.

Close your books

QuickBooks Desktop doesn't require you to close the books for the year-end. You can set a closing date password to limit access to the closed accounting period.