12/7/2016

11 Checklists to Optimize Your Accounting Processesprocess.st/accounting-processes/

Adam Henshall

December 7, 2016

Accounting Processes From Invoicing to Reporting

Businesses of all sizes have to deal with accounting and it can be a bit difficult if you’re new to it.

Without an effective accounts receivable process, you risk losing out on valuable revenue.

If you don’t put a process in place for your accounts payable then you could be facing late payment charges oreven opening up space for fraud.

Accounting is vital to the health of a business and too many companies overlook it. In the UK, the Association ofAccounting Technicians revealed that SMEs were “leaking” £2.9bn every year through poor accountingpractices.

This is why we’ve created 11 checklists to guide you through your accounting processes.

Using the Checklists

You don’t need to be a CPA to create a balance sheet or an invoice. Our checklists enable anyone to performaccounting activities, and as you go through you’ll see the different steps explained where necessary. This way,you know what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.

With these Process Street checklists you’ll see how you can integrate Process Street with Zapier and Quickbooks to1/12

automate accounting processes, saving you time and money.

A lot of accounting work is knowing what the necessary process is and being able to follow it effectively. Theprocesses we have listed here range from onboarding accounting staff to invoicing clients, to bank reconciliation andend of year reporting.

We’ve tried to put this pack together in a way which caters to a broad scope of accounting needs.

If you want to go straight into them, they’re right here. Otherwise, scroll down for a brief intro to each one!

Quick Links

Accounting Onboarding Procedures

Onboarding new employees in any area requires a clear process focused on fitting the new hire into the company’sculture and operations.

Running effective staff onboarding results in higher productivity, better team morale, and enviable employeeretention rates.

In this checklist we focus on the administrative tasks required to bring someone new into your company, and thenguide you through bedding a team member into the group.

There are also tasks to review your employee’s knowledge on the specific areas they’ll be working on, with timeset aside for learning. Plus, importance is granted to getting your new hire working well with all the internalsystems which keep your company ticking over.

Click here to get the accounting onboarding procedures checklist.

Creating an Invoice

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Invoicing clients is the lifeblood of your business.

Without receiving remuneration for your services, you’re running a charity rather than a business. Which, whileadmirable, won’t put food on the table for you and all your staff.

To help you bring in your money when you need it, we’ve created this incredibly simple invoice generator.

Connect the Process Street checklist to Zapier to automatically fire your data into the generator with our Zap.

This checklist will provide a streamlined method of creating invoices while saving time in the process.

Click here to give the creating an invoice checklist a go!

Bank Reconciliation Template

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A large part of accounting is simply double checking your own work or the work of other people to find andcorrect mistakes. This is why so many accounting procedures seem complicated; you’re being asked to do the samecalculations in many different ways.

This can be confusing, but we’ve tried our best to show you how simple these processes can actually be.

In this checklist, you’ll start at the point of preparing your takings for the bank, and then you’ll be checking your ownmath – and that of the bank – to make sure it’s all correct.

Mistakes are easy to make and if left unnoticed can be very hard to correct – with huge consequences. Thischecklist is your first defence against errors.

Click here to use the bank reconciliation template in your business.

Expense Management Process

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Dealing with employee expenses can be a messy process.

Often there isn’t clarity as to what is being claimed for and why. Or it’s not certain who is meant to approve theclaim or whether that approval has been given or not. Then, there are the occasions where an approved andprocessed expense doesn’t end up being paid to the employee when its meant to be paid.

These are all scenarios to be avoided. It starts with a good process .

This process brings all of the different employees involved in the process into the conversation . They eachfulfil their respective tasks and the expense is dealt with smoothly and quickly, with each action documented for lateraudit.

Click here to use the expense management process in your business.

Accounts Receivable Process

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When you do work, you expect to be paid for it.

This process not only brings in industry tips on how to best ensure you receive the payment you’re due, but it allowsyou to keep your business going while waiting on those payments.

Accounting for accounts receivable is the art of accounting for money you don’t have. This is money which you willhave, and this process helps you operate as if it is there in your bank.

Maintaining this cash flow is something businesses typically struggle with, and is normally the result of havingproduct or service expertise in the organization without the internal accounting know-how .

Click here to employ the accounts receivable process within your operations.

Accounts Payable Process

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There are many purposes inbuilt within an effective accounts payable process.

The first, and most obvious, is to make certain you are paying for the things you should be paying for .

Part of this is to not miss payments. Missing payments could incur charges or interest, or the damaging of valuablebusiness relationships. Another part of this is to check you’re receiving what you are paying for. You don’t want tobe overpaying for something. This seems simple enough, but as organizations grow and become more complex itcan be easy to miss certain details.

Processes like these stop details being missed.

A further function of a well constructed accounts payable process is to minimize the risk of fraud. As companiesgrow larger and the outgoing payments they make begin to spiral upward in value, the risk/reward of fraud changes.Every company should have oversight procedures in place to protect company assets. This process acts as one ofthose.

Click here to bring this accounts payable process into your business.

Income (Profit and Loss) Statement Process

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There are three main pillars of business accounting reports and one of them is your income statement,otherwise known as a profit and loss statement.

The purpose of this document is quite simple. It is there to report the total amounts of money a company hasearned and spent over a specified period of time.

This helps you work out your gross profit, your profit before taxes, your retained earnings, and other important termsany good accounting overview of your business will need to represent.

Click here to get the income (profit and loss) statement.

Cash Flow Report

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Working out your cash flow is another staple aspect of business accounting.

The cash flow report, or cash flow statement, is focused on looking less at broad overviews of the business andtrends, and more on activity within business operations.

This requires investigating the cash payments, cash receipts, and cash net change across the operating, financing,and investing activities of a business over a particular timeframe.

This checklist guides you through what documentation you will need to consult, how to structure and record yourreport, and how to work out the important final figures .

Click here for the cash flow report checklist.

Balance Sheet Statement Preparation Checklist

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The balance sheet, sometimes known as the statement of financial position, summarizes a company’s assets,liabilities, and shareholders’ equity.

This is one of your key reports for itemizing what the company owes and owns.

If you have some upcoming meetings with investors, your balance sheet will serve as a quick way to demonstratethe assets of the business while also showing how much had been invested by other shareholders.

It’s a crucial document. Fortunately, this checklist guides you through the process and explains what you need to doto create your balance sheet. Plus, we try to make sure you understand it along the way, with explanation of keyterms and concepts.

Click here to access the balance sheet statement preparation checklist.

Business Tax Preparation Checklist

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Tax is tricky.

If you’re starting off in business, you might not know how much tax you have to pay or what you’re paying that taxon.

How do you account for expenses? How much information do I need to provide?

This checklist points you to all the different factors you need to take into consideration when compiling your businesstax return. It’s geared toward US companies but has a broad enough scope to assist businesses internationally.It’s geared to work for companies with both partnership and corporation structures.

Click here to access the business tax preparation checklist.

Annual Financial Report Template

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The annual report is the culmination of all the hard work put in over the course of the year .

This is the cup final of the accountancy season.

Annual reports cover overviews of the business activity during the year, including cash flow reports, incomestatements, and balance sheet statements. Though, the annual financial report is much more than merelynumbers.

The report is where accountancy meets with the rest of the business. It’s where future projections, built from theaccountancy team’s hard work, can be included.

There’s also a letter from the CEO and other details about changing nature of markets, products, and services.

The annual financial report is your detailed proof that you and your team did a great job .

Click here to use the annual financial report template to build your end of year documentation .

Try out another checklist

We hope this accounting processes checklist pack helps your business succeed.

Or maybe your accountancy department is already top notch and requires zero improvement? In which case, checkout these other template packs to help your other departments and business processes .

Make sure you sign up for a Process Street account if you somehow don’t have one yet. It takes moments to signup, and you can start using all these processes and more in your business straight away!

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