CPA Firms Houston Alternative looks ahead of December

What December cannot fix

A year of unlabeled deposits will not become clean because the calendar flipped. If September is open in November, September is the work. December is only one more month. We start with the hole, not with a speech about year end.

Personal spending that ran through the business all year has to be identified. Pulling it out in a single December entry is fine only when the items are real. A round number with no list is not a cleanup.

What December can still hold

Some contributions, some purchases, and some owner pay decisions can still be made, and some of them can be made just after the year with the right paperwork. We name which is which for your entity. Then the cash has to move, or the decision did not happen.

Estimates that are due before the year ends should be computed from closed months. If we cannot close in time, we say the estimate is provisional and we tell you what it is missing.

Summers here are hot and humid and winters are mild, with the Gulf shaping both. Every Texan knows that pattern. We feel the first cool week the way you do. We use that stretch to ask which bills from the hot months are still sitting outside the close.

A short list

Bring the last closed month, the cash you expect to take out, and any purchase you are about to make. We will tell you what still counts this year and what is already a next year item.

The form is enough to start. A call is better if the purchase is large or the months are far behind.

A list for the weeks before December

Start with the oldest month that is still open. If that month is August, December is not the subject yet. Close forward until you are standing in the current month. Only then does a purchase or a contribution belong in the conversation. People lose the year by shopping for deductions while the spring is still unlabeled.

Next, list the cash you expect to take out and the bills you already know. The list is not a budget hobby. It is how we see whether an estimate can be paid without starving payroll. If the cash cannot cover both, you should hear that before the estimate is sent.

Last, name one decision that is actually yours. A hire, a truck, a contribution, a choice to wait. We will tell you whether the books can support it before December and what has to be written down so the return matches the choice. Everything else can stay on the list for the new year.

Counts, early payments, and cash you already promised

If you hold goods, count them before you ask what the late weeks can still change. The count dates the goods. A count taken in January is a January fact, and we will not dress it up as December. Write the count on a sheet that shows the day you made it. We match that sheet to the items in the books.

Paying a bill early can belong in the old year or the new one, depending on what the payment bought. Insurance, rent, and a software term are the usual cases. We ask which period the payment covers. If you cannot say, the cash stays in the month it left and the question stays noted. A guessed split is worse than a plain expense.

Bonuses and owner cash you have already promised are spending, even when the transfer is still ahead. List them beside the tax payment and the payroll. If both cannot clear, you should see the collision while a choice still exists.

One decision is plenty in those weeks. Trying to redo an entire year at the end usually moves nothing and tires the people who have the answers. Pick the item with the largest cash effect. We work that item against the closed months and we write the rest down for January so nothing is faked.

Put the tax payment on that same list, next to payroll and the promised bonus. Owners forget the payment because it is not a vendor they see every week. Once it is written beside the other cash, the collision is obvious and the choice can be made while the money is still in the account.