Year-end guide for QuickBooks Desktop

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, then select My Company.
2. Select the pencil icon ✎.
3. Select Report Information.
4. Select when your fiscal year starts. This is to make sure your financial reports start on the right dates.
5. 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, then 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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.