“You have to amend last year’s tax return,” I said to a new bookkeeping client.
It was early May and I was going through our Deep Dive 25 checklist for a new client. During this audit, I discovered that the current bookkeeper never did December.
While probably slightly less panic-ridden than, “You’re getting audited,” no one wants to hear they have to amend a prior year return. Sure, amending a return typically doesn’t cost more than the original tax return…but it’s still an expense (and headache) that could have easily been avoided had the business owner known there was a report available to do a quick double-check.
Enter the Reconciliation Summary report. It’s one of the most useful QuickBooks Online reports available to business owners.
It’s an easy way for a business owner to confirm that their bookkeeper or accountant has reconciled all financial accounts (checking, savings, PayPal, credit cards, lines of credit, loans, etc.) prior to providing reports to their tax preparer.
Click to Tweet: Learn about one of the most useful QuickBooks Online reports available to business owners:
How To Find The Reconciliation Report in QuickBooks Online
There is a video at the end of this post.
NOTE: These instructions are for the regular users. The instructions are slightly different for users with Accountant access.
Step One:
- Select Reports from the left navigation menu
- Type: Reconciliation Reports in the search bar
Step Two: Select “Summary” in the upper right corner
You should now have a summary of all banking related accounts, the last statement reconciled and when that reconciliation was done.
From the example below, you can see all accounts were reconciled on August 11, 2018 for the July statements, except for the Wells Fargo savings account. In this case, the statements are only generated quarterly, so it’s as current as it can be.
There’s a certain peace of mind that comes–especially at tax time–with knowing that bank accounts are reconciled.
Now you know how to run the report, and knowledge is power!
TBA Tip: Ask your bookkeeper to provide this report prior to filing taxes. Review it to assure accuracy, and then provide it to your tax preparer, too.
PS: You can hire us to do an audit of your books! Learn more here.
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Video Instructions