Getting Started Business List
Here is the standard list of records and materials to gather, where applicable, when we begin to work:
- Checkbook (s)
- Out of pocket cash receipts to be reimbursed
- Bank Statements with checks (or copies) beginning with last completed year’s reconciled statement if possible, personal and business.
- Charge Card (personal and business) Account Statements
- Schedule of Investments and IRA’s
- List of Assets owned (furniture, equipment, autos, buildings, land, investments, retirement, profit sharing funds, etc) at cost or market value.
- List of Liabilities (notes, loans) also with dates of purchase at cost.
- Record of Deposits
- Beginning Inventory figures, ending inventory figures, last physical inventory amounts and dates.
- Any prepaid (security) deposits, or expenses
- Monthly sales paid, written and outstanding within the period
- Outstanding payables at the end of the final period
- Previous year’s Schedule C, or Corp Tax Return or Non Profit Reporting that shows standing and record of depreciable assets.
- A list of recurring Vendors, Customers.
- Any required government tax documents/forms/reports you received for current year required for tax work.
At NBS we like to keep all financial data in binders for easy access and storage. Please purchase a 2” binder, and buy a set of dividers to contain your financial data. You need as many dividers as you have bank accounts, plus three extras for Financials, Journal Entries, and GL. It is a good idea to purchase a 1.5” binder to keep a current Financial and Matching General Ledger for your CPA, CFP. If you do not hold inventory, I can convert your figures to cash basis on Excel for tax purposes for both receivables and payables.
Our first task is to translate your business into a Chart of Accounts (COA), which is the basis for your General Ledger. Both your Balance Sheet and your Income Statement are derived from this Chart of Accounts. We will then set up your beginning balances from your records and insert the data, and reconcile the banks and credit card statements to assure that we have accounted for all of your financial data.
Look forward to working together!