If you’ve kept up to date with daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly accounting tasks, then year-end accounting for your restaurant business is going to be a much smoother and streamlined process. Monthly bank reconciliation and financial report review, as well as quarterly reconciliation of balance sheet accounts are essential to beginning your year-end accounting. Use this checklist as a reminder to ensure you don’t miss any steps along the way in closing your restaurant group’s books.
Ensure Your Bookkeeping is Updated and Accurate
- Review each financial statement account to make sure amounts are correct and reflects all your transactions for the year.
- Review each line item on your income statement and balance sheet.
Finalize All Income and Expenses
- Record all business expenses.
- Pay all open bills from vendors.
- Pay contractors for completed jobs.
- Reconcile bank and/or credit card statements to your accounting records.
- Reconcile loans, lines of credit, payroll liabilities and asset accounts.
Update Fixed Assets
- Make sure fixed assets are up to date.
- Run depreciation.
Take Care of Your 1099s
- Request completed W-9 forms from your vendors (for example, in-house delivery drivers not on your payroll).
Prepare Year-End Payroll
- Make sure your payroll taxes match your quarterly payroll returns.
- Verify that all employee contact information is correct for W-2’s.
Account for Inventory in Your Books
- Count inventory on the date you close your books.
- Include packaging and paper products in your inventory counts.
- Double check the inventory on your balance sheet.
Review Your Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable
- Go through your supplier accounts to check that you’ve issued, logged, and stored invoice copies.
- Check to see if anything looks incorrect in your accounts payable.
- Ensure that your accounts receivable are correct (including payments from delivery apps).
- Pay any late bills before your year end.
Run and Verify Reporting
- Run and verify your profit and loss (P&L) report or income statement.
- Run and verify your balance sheet.
- Run your statement of cashflows.
Create a Tax Plan
- Conduct a year-end tax review with your CPA to get an estimate of your tax liability.
- Implement your CPA’s year-end recommendations to realize tax advantages.
Close Your Books
- Close your year-end books.
