You need to create a single structure of the bookkeeping checklist, which will combine all the necessary information for all accountants, and get rid of unnecessary information on customers by transferring to CRM or delete it. Then both the accountant and the manager will be able to navigate and understand the information in the checklists freely.To create a checklist for the management, a uniform base of clients with the main characteristics (the plan on hours of service, cost of service, dates of signing and breaking a contract), and also the list of reports which the accountant has to hand over. Then the management will be able to control which reports the accountant handed over and which not, and the accountant will see if he forgot to hand over something. A single customer base helps the accountant not to forget to add a new client. The bookkeeping checklist for new clients is created separately.
Instead of the fact of the report delivery, use the date of the report delivery. As a result, it will be clear what reports are late, and how often accountants do not have time to turn in the work on time. To compare, we will need to create scheduled delivery dates for reports.Build reports based on the information filled in by accountants in the bookkeeping checklist template, so the manager has an opportunity to compare the results of employees in one place, dive into the data and not waste time on the extraction of reports manually.
Peculiarities of daily bookkeeping and other periods
Here are some sample tasks that you can include in a bookkeeping checklist created for different periods:
- Daily bookkeeping – check the amount of cash you have, check incoming and outcoming payments;
- Monthly bookkeeping – make the balance of the checkbook, review balance sheet at the end of the month, meet the requirements of payroll tax;
- Quarterly bookkeeping – estimate annual profits and losses, pay quarterly sales tax, pay income taxes;
- Annual – analyze inventory status at the end of the year, review financial reports for the whole year, check tax returns, and transfer them to the accountant.
Also, you can include other tasks because every accountant has an individual checklist. The task depends on the profile of your company, on your experience of work, on the number of staff in the financial department of your company.
Bookkeeping checklist template: Basic rules
Once you prepare the customer base, you can begin to develop a universal bookkeeping checklist. To do this, we divide the checklist into two parts: one – for the assistant accountant who collects the primary documents, the other – for the accountant who is engaged in the formation and submission of reports. This is done to ensure that each user works in their own sphere and does not interfere with the other.All information is loaded into the checklist automatically from the database maintained by the head of the department. The accountant can only put the date of delivery of the report in the bookkeeping checklist. No other filling is required from it, which saves time for entering information.The bookkeeping checklist displays a column that counts the number of submitted and remaining reports. The accountant now knows exactly how much he/she has left to hand over. Besides, you would add the planned deadline for submission of the report (if your deadline was previously used, which is slightly earlier or later than that under the law). The entire checklist should ideally fit into one screen.
