October 1 leaves you thirteen weeks to change how this year ends. After New Year’s Day, the numbers are history and your CPA works with whatever the books say. Four reports in QuickBooks Online show where your business stands right now, and each one takes a few minutes to run.
1. Cash in the bank, reconciled first
Your bank balance and your QuickBooks balance should match to the penny. If you haven’t reconciled since summer, start here. Open the Reconcile screen, pick your checking account, and work through each month against your bank statement until you reach September 30.
An unreconciled balance hides mistakes. A deposit recorded twice makes you feel richer than you are. A missing debit card charge makes a job look more profitable than the work earned. Neither one shows up until someone compares the books to the bank line by line.
Once the account reconciles, you know the cash figure is real. Every other number on this list leans on this one.
2. What customers owe you
Go to Reports, then Standard reports, and run the Accounts Receivable Aging Summary. The report sorts unpaid invoices by age: current, 1 to 30 days, 31 to 60, 61 to 90, and over 90.
Look hardest at the last two columns. A final payment from a June remodel sitting at 95 days old needs a phone call this week, not another emailed reminder. Calling in October leaves room for a second and third follow-up before the year closes.
Also scan for invoices you know were paid. When a customer pays by check and nobody applies the payment to the invoice, the invoice stays open and your receivables look bigger than they are.
3. What you owe
The Accounts Payable Aging Summary sits on the same Standard reports page. Run this one next.
This report lists unpaid bills from suppliers and subcontractors, sorted by age. Compare the total to the reconciled cash figure from step one. If you owe $38,000 over the next 30 days and have $24,000 in the bank, you need a plan now. Collect the old receivables from step two, or talk with a supplier about timing before the due date arrives.
Bills entered twice, or bills paid outside QuickBooks and never marked paid, inflate this total. Clean those up before you lean on the report.
4. Profit so far this year
Run a Profit and Loss report with the date range set from January 1 to today. This is your year-to-date result and the starting point for your CPA in a few months.
Read past the bottom line. Check gross profit against total income, then add a comparison column for the same period last year. If your gross margin slipped, look for jobs bid too low or materials priced above what you charged the customer. If you tag expenses to jobs, the Profit and Loss by Job report shows which jobs pulled the number down.
A strong year to date gives you room to plan equipment purchases and estimated tax payments with your CPA. A weak one gives you three months to adjust pricing on the bids going out now.
Why October and not January
Every one of these reports runs fine in January too. The difference is what you do with the answer. In October you still have time to collect old invoices, move a supplier due date, and raise prices on new bids. In January, all you get is an explanation.
This week’s QuickBooks Tip of the Week video on TikTok (@sullivanbookkeeping) walks through all four reports in under a minute, if you would rather watch than read.
When the numbers don’t add up
If the reconciliation won’t balance, the aging reports show invoices you know were paid, or the Profit and Loss looks wrong, the books need a cleanup before these reports mean much. Sullivan Bookkeeping Services provides bookkeeping services for contractors and trades businesses in Prescott Valley and across Arizona, from catch-up cleanups to monthly books.
Book a free 15-minute consultation and we’ll go over your four numbers together.