“What does a bookkeeper need from me?” is a fair question, because most late monthly closes are not caused by the bookkeeping. They are caused by one missing statement, one unanswered question about a $1,400 payment, or receipts that arrive in a batch on the 20th. The fix is a short, fixed list of what moves each way: a one-time setup, a monthly handful of documents, quick answers, and a set of reports coming back to you. Here is ours.
What a bookkeeper needs at the start (one time)
The first month asks the most of you, and nearly all of it happens once. Expect to provide:
| What | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Access to your accounting software | The work happens in your own file. You add the bookkeeper from your own account and can remove them any time. |
| Bank feeds for every account | Transactions arrive daily without anyone typing them in. |
| A list of every account | Bank, card, loan, PayPal, Stripe, Shopify and the rest, so each one gets reconciled, including the one you only use for one thing. |
| Last year’s tax return and year-end balance sheet | The opening balances, and what your tax preparer will expect to see next time. |
| Payroll reports or an accountant login | Wages, taxes and liabilities recorded the way the payroll system shows them. |
| Loan and lease agreements | Payments split correctly between principal and interest, and equipment recorded as an asset. |
| Sales tax registrations | Which states, how often you file, and what is due next. |
| Contractors and their W-9s | January’s 1099s come from records kept all year, not from a scramble. |
Access is the step that holds most people up. Here is how to give your bookkeeper access in QuickBooks Online, Xero and other software, step by step. For us, it means inviting hello@remotebookkeepersllc.com as your accountant.
What to send as the month closes
- Bank and credit card statements for every business account, including the one you only use for Amazon. Bank feeds pull transactions but not the closing balance, and the closing balance is what a reconciliation proves against.
- Loan and merchant financing statements. The payment out of the bank is part principal and part interest, and only the statement says how much of each.
- Sales channel reports. Shopify payout reports, Amazon settlement reports, Stripe or Square summaries, or the point-of-sale month-end report. The deposit in the bank is a net number; the report explains what was taken out before it landed.
- Payroll reports from Gusto, ADP or whichever platform runs it, if the bookkeeper does not have their own login.
- Receipts and bills over your threshold. Agree a number, often $75 or $100, and send anything above it. Below the threshold, the bank description is usually enough for the books.
- Anything new. A new account, a new loan, a new sales channel, a new employee, a new state you ship to. New things are where categorizing goes wrong.
Answering questions quickly is half the job
Every month there will be a handful of transactions the bookkeeper cannot place: a transfer with no description, a personal-looking purchase on the business card, a deposit that does not match an invoice. A good bookkeeper batches these into one list rather than sending them one at a time. Your side of the deal is answering the list quickly, the same day if you can. A close that waits two weeks on three questions is a close that lands after the sales tax deadline.
Four transactions we could not place from the bank feed. A one-line answer to each is enough.
- Ask
$1,400.00 transfer to J. Ortiz on March 9
A contractor payment, a loan repayment or an owner draw? If a contractor, do we have a W-9?
- Ask
$219.46 on the business card at an online store, March 14
Office supplies, or personal and to be booked as a draw?
- Ask
$2,350.00 Stripe deposit on March 21
It does not match an open invoice. Which client paid, and for what?
- Ask
New $49.00 monthly software charge from March 3
A studio subscription, or a cost for one client that you bill back?
Example only: a made-up business. The figures belong to no real client.
Answered the same day, four lines like these take five minutes. Left for two weeks, they hold up the whole close.
What you should get back
- Profit and loss for the month and year to date, with the prior month alongside so the swings are visible.
- Balance sheet with every bank and card balance reconciled to its statement, and the reconciliation reports attached or available.
- Receivables and payables aging if you invoice or are invoiced: who owes you, who you owe, and how old it is.
- Liabilities by agency: sales tax collected and not yet paid, payroll taxes due, loan balances. These are the numbers that turn into surprises.
- A short note in plain English: what changed, what was unusual, what needs a decision. Three or four lines is plenty.
- The filing calendar for the next thirty days: sales tax, payroll deposits, estimated taxes, and who is doing each one.
With us, the reports arrive by the 5th of each month. If yours come weeks later, or only when you ask, that is worth a conversation. Our month-end close checklist shows everything that should happen before they land.
Making most of it automatic
The list above sounds like a lot until you set it up once. Bank feeds handle the transactions. A receipt app handles receipts as you spend: QuickBooks and Xero both have mobile apps that attach a photo of the receipt to the transaction, and many tools give you an address to forward digital receipts to. Shopify, Amazon and Stripe reports can be pulled by the bookkeeper directly if you give them a user with report access, and payroll platforms have accountant logins for the same reason. Statements are the one thing that still tends to need a person, and some banks let you add a user who can only view and download them.
Once that is in place, your monthly job shrinks to answering the question list and reading the note. That is what it should feel like when a bookkeeper is doing the work and not just recording it.
A simple monthly rhythm
- Last days of the month to the 2nd
- Statements and reports arrive, most of them automatically.
- The 1st to the 4th
- We reconcile and send one short question list; you answer it the same day if you can.
- By the 5th
- Your reports and the note land in your inbox, with the filing calendar for the month.
If your current arrangement does not look like this, it is usually fixable in one setup month.
Common questions
What information does a bookkeeper need to get started?
Access to your accounting software, bank feeds for every account, a list of all your bank, card, loan and payment accounts, last year’s tax return, payroll reports or a login, loan agreements, your sales tax registrations, and a list of contractors with their W-9s.
What documents does a bookkeeper need each month?
Bank and credit card statements for every business account, loan statements, sales channel or point-of-sale reports, payroll reports, and receipts or bills above an agreed threshold. Most of these can arrive automatically through bank feeds, receipt apps and logins for your bookkeeper.
What reports should my bookkeeper send me?
A profit and loss for the month and year to date, a balance sheet with every account reconciled, receivables and payables aging if you invoice, liabilities by agency such as sales tax and payroll tax, and a short plain-English note on what changed.
Do I need to send every receipt?
No. Agree a threshold with your bookkeeper, commonly $75 to $100, and send receipts above it; below it, the bank description is usually enough for the books. For your tax records the IRS rules still apply: for travel, gift and car expenses, for example, you do not need a receipt for an expense under $75 other than lodging, but you still need a record of what it was for (IRS Publication 463).
What if I cannot find a receipt?
Send what you have. The bank or card line shows the date, payee and amount, and a short note saying what it was for makes the record much stronger. Most vendors can resend an invoice, and online accounts usually keep past orders.
How quickly should I answer my bookkeeper’s questions?
The same day if you can, and within two or three business days at most. The close usually waits on the last answer, and so do the reports and any filings built from them.
Not sure where your books stand right now? A free books review tells you. Add us as your accountant, and within about 48 hours you get a written list of what is misclassified or unreconciled. It is free, yours to keep, and nothing in your books changes.