Starting the Year with Organized Books

A clean January makes for a calm December. These are the decisions worth making in the first weeks of the year.

Separate business and personal accounts

If you do nothing else, do this. One dedicated business checking account and one business card eliminates the largest share of bookkeeping cleanup work.

Set the year's opening balances correctly

Bank, credit card, and loan balances as of January 1 should match your statements exactly. Every month afterward inherits whatever you get wrong here.

Decide who does what

Write down who codes transactions, who reconciles, who runs payroll, and who reviews the reports. Ambiguity is how a month quietly goes unreconciled.

Calendar the deadlines

Payroll deposits, sales tax, quarterly estimates, and annual filings — put them all on the calendar in January with reminders a week ahead.

Choose the reports you will actually read

A profit and loss compared to the prior year, a balance sheet, and an accounts receivable aging report are enough for most businesses. Reports you never open are not worth producing.