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Episode 11 – What You Need to Do to Get Ready for Your Accountant
Episode 1123rd January 2026 • QuickBooks Mastery for Small Business Success • Erica Northrup & Lee Davis
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Episode Title: Episode 11 – What You Need to Do to Get Ready for Your Accountant

Getting ready for your accountant doesn’t have to be stressful. In this episode of QuickBooks Mastery for Small Business Success, father-daughter team Erica Northrup and Lee Davis share the simple steps to prepare your books before tax season (or a quarterly review) so you can save time, money, and frustration.

They explain why being prepared helps your accountant work faster (and helps you avoid missed deductions), then walk through a practical checklist you can use to get everything ready: reconciling accounts, clearing uncategorized transactions, organizing receipts, prepping payroll and loan documents, pulling key reports, updating invoices and bills, tracking major purchases and mileage, and making sure your personal tax documents are in order.

They also cover how to communicate with your accountant—what to ask for, what deadlines to confirm, and what not to send—so you can have a smoother process and fewer surprises.

Key Takeaways

  1. Preparation reduces stress, prevents missed deductions, and saves money on cleanup work.
  2. Reconcile bank and credit card accounts and keep personal and business transactions separate.
  3. Clear uncategorized transactions and organize receipts/documents (ideally attached inside QuickBooks).
  4. Pull key year-end/quarterly reports and review A/R and A/P—especially old balances that may become bad debt.
  5. Communicate early: confirm deadlines, ask what format they prefer, and summarize major changes in writing.

Questions to Reflect On

  1. If my accountant received my file today, what would they flag as “missing” or “messy”?
  2. Do I consistently keep personal and business transactions separate—and what needs to change if not?
  3. What are 3 business changes this year that my accountant should know in advance?

Mentioned in This Episode

Free QuickBooks Prep Checklist (PDF): Download Check list here

Free 3-Part Quick Start Guide to Getting Started with QuickBooks: www.leedavisandcompany.com

Send Us Your Questions: support@leedavisandcompany.com

Recommended Resources

  1. Schedule C- Click here to check it out

Timestamps

00:02.080 - Episode 11: Preparing for Your Accountant

03:20.110 – Why preparation matters (save stress, time, money, deductions)

07:42.000 – The checklist: what you should have ready

09:38.315 – Reconcile bank + credit cards (and keep personal/business separate)

10:25.143 – Categorize everything (clear “uncategorized” + clean coding)

12:52.724 – Organize receipts, documents, payroll + loan statements

15:06.329 – Pull/export key reports + update invoices/bills (A/R + A/P)

17:29.313 – Major purchases + mileage/home office/personal business expenses

21:14.000 – Communicating with your accountant (format, deadlines, what’s new)

27:54.000 – Mindset + wrap-up (peace of mind, fewer surprises, CTA + next episode)


Call to Action

If you enjoyed this episode, hit subscribe and stay connected with us at leedavisandcompany.com.

Download our QuickBooks Prep Checklist at Download Check list here to get ready the right way.

Have a QuickBooks question? Send it to support@leedavisandcompany.com — your question may be featured in a future episode.

Transcripts

Speaker A:

Welcome to QuickBooks mastery for small Business Success.

Speaker A:

I'm Erica Northrup.

Speaker B:

And I'm Lee Davis.

Speaker A:

I handle the tech and he handles the numbers.

Speaker A:

And together as a father daughter team, we bring decades of experience helping small to medium sized businesses thrive.

Speaker B:

We know that as a business owner, your time is best spent mastering your craft and growing your business, not getting lost in QuickBooks.

Speaker B:

Managing finances can be confusing and you don't have hours to waste sorting through spreadsheets or fixing bookkeeping mistakes.

Speaker B:

That's where we come in, helping you streamline QuickBooks so you can focus on building your business.

Speaker A:

Each week we break it all down into simple, actionable steps so you can focus on growing your business, not fixing your books.

Speaker B:

Let's embark on this journey together.

Speaker A:

Welcome back to the podcast where we help small, small business owners feel confident in their numbers and make decisions that move their business forward.

Speaker A:

I'm Eric Northrup and I'm here with my papa and co host, Lee Davis.

Speaker A:

This is episode 11, what you need to do to get ready for your accountant.

Speaker B:

Hello everybody.

Speaker B:

Today we're talking about something every business owner needs to hear, how to get ready for your accountant and tax season.

Speaker B:

As tax season can be very stressful for business owners and very stressful for accountants and bookkeepers.

Speaker B:

And because there's a great deal of volume of work that has to be done in a short period of time for all parties, whether you're preparing for tax season or just doing your quarterly review, getting organized can save you a lot of time, stress and money.

Speaker B:

And one of the areas that you have to be concerned about is the deadlines.

Speaker B:

ors and you have to file your:

Speaker B:

And so making sure that you have all your information correct and up to date, it requires not just something you do at the end of the year, but something you do through the year.

Speaker A:

Yes, absolutely.

Speaker A:

So I think that is why this episode is crucial, because tax season, whether we know it or not, is upon us.

Speaker A:

And I think having the right things prepared and ready is what's going to make the massive difference.

Speaker A:

Because we see business owners, they wait until the last minute every year, but with a few key steps, you can walk into your account's office confident, knowing everything is ready to go.

Speaker A:

And so I think that is the key to this episode and what we want to help you, our listeners, be able to do is walk into your account's office, be confident and ready that you have all the information you need so that it is seamless and as painless as possible.

Speaker B:

Yes.

Speaker B:

Because everybody, when they think about their end of the year work, they're always concerned about what they're going to owe and who they're going to owe it to.

Speaker A:

Yes.

Speaker B:

So getting the maximum amount of deductions and getting it right the first time.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Makes a difference, is what I think we're all interested in.

Speaker A:

Okay, so let's just quickly touch on why preparation matters.

Speaker A:

So when you talk about not doing things at the last minute, this is going to be more focused on what you're going to do the end of the year leading up into tax season and preparing to go into that meeting with your accountant in the future.

Speaker A:

We're going to do an episode that will lay out what you should do all year long and how you should prepare for the end of the year.

Speaker A:

Not just in the last week of the year or so, but we're going to talk about those and why preparation matters.

Speaker A:

So why do you think preparation matters, Papa?

Speaker A:

Why does it matter to go in confidently to your accountant?

Speaker B:

First and foremost, it cuts down your stress.

Speaker B:

If you're prepared, you will find yourself focusing on what matters and not be pulling documents together at the last minute or trying to make up something or realizing that your QuickBooks needs to be cleaned up and you really haven't paid attention to it.

Speaker B:

But honestly, just keeping track of your income and expenses and your work throughout each month.

Speaker B:

And some of the tools we've talked about, like reconciling your bank accounts.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker B:

Knowing that your accounts by the middle of January are ready or at the very least by the end of January.

Speaker B:

I'm going to help you make sure that your QuickBooks is cleaned up and all of your reconciliations are done.

Speaker B:

And it will reduce your accountant's cleanup time.

Speaker B:

You don't want to pay your accountant to clean up your QuickBooks, and a lot of accountants won't do that anyway.

Speaker B:

They'll refer it back to your bookkeeper or a bookkeeper to help you get the accounts ready.

Speaker A:

Because that's just going to save you time and money at the end of the day.

Speaker A:

Absolutely.

Speaker A:

And I think it's also going to allow your accountant to give you back information quicker and faster, get your taxes filed.

Speaker A:

All those things will just go smoothly if you go into that meeting prepared and ready to give them just the information they need and requested and that from there they're able to do their jobs more effectively.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

I think one of the tools that I use for my bookkeeping clients is when they're going to do if they're going to make any capital purchases, which would be something over $2,500, I make sure that particular bill is scanned in to that transaction so their accountants can pull that up and they can have all the necessary documents they need in order to figure out how to handle the depreciation.

Speaker B:

The accountants will prepare a depreciation schedule, and that will be something they oftentimes control internally.

Speaker B:

But you have to give them the correct information because they normally track the depreciation schedule and they're going to track any capital gains or losses.

Speaker B:

So that is just something that will affect your tax return.

Speaker B:

So having that information at their fingertips and even yours, if the accountant requests that information, you can refer them right to that transaction.

Speaker B:

And it's right there.

Speaker B:

You don't have to scan it.

Speaker B:

You don't have to go look for it.

Speaker B:

It's right there.

Speaker A:

It's all right there.

Speaker B:

And they can print it out.

Speaker A:

Yep.

Speaker A:

And having these steps, everything prepared and going into that meeting, everything ahead of time, prevents mistakes.

Speaker A:

It prevents you from any misductions that you are owed.

Speaker A:

Who wants to miss out on money?

Speaker A:

No one wants to miss out on money.

Speaker A:

That's massive because those deductions could be the make or break of your business if you're actually reporting things correctly and giving the right information to your accountant.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

It will help your accountant give you better and faster advice because they'll take a look at the work and they run it through their own system anyway.

Speaker B:

Many of them have their own tax accounting file that they work on, whether they use QuickBooks or whether they use a tax program that integrates with QuickBooks.

Speaker B:

So it really allows them to focus on what they need in order to complete your return.

Speaker A:

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

Speaker A:

And I think at the end of the day, this is about you being a proactive business owner, not a reactive, active business owner.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

So you're staying on top of the ball.

Speaker A:

You know what's going on with your business.

Speaker A:

We talked about this a couple weeks ago.

Speaker A:

We talked about how to run a business effectively and efficiently.

Speaker A:

And it's when you know what's going on with your money, where you know where it's going, you're able to make those decisions about your business.

Speaker A:

You are proactive.

Speaker A:

You're not just reacting to what's happening.

Speaker A:

You are proactive in making informed decisions for your business.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Awesome.

Speaker A:

Okay, so let's move on to that checklist.

Speaker A:

We've put together a list of some of the Top things that we think you need ready to have to give to your accountant.

Speaker A:

So we're going to make this checklist available to you.

Speaker A:

You can download it as a PDF so you can check it off as you go along.

Speaker A:

But we're going to go over those things so that you can start pulling these things together for your accountant for tax preparation.

Speaker B:

Yeah, I think it's a great checklist that I think can give people point and oftentimes people do well with checklists.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

And rather than keep going over it, we could refer people to our website and say, make sure you've reviewed this checklist.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Here's a resource for you and it's a great resource.

Speaker A:

We are renovating this almost:

Speaker A:

I am laying out the kitchen and I create a checklist as to all the different kinds of drawers and spaces that I wanted in that kitchen so that at the end of the day something doesn't get missed.

Speaker A:

And I think that's the same concept for your taxes.

Speaker A:

You want to make sure that you're able to check off all the things that accountant needs so that you don't miss anything.

Speaker A:

You don't miss out on anything.

Speaker B:

Yeah, I think one of the important pieces, I think we've hit on it in prior podcasts, but make sure that you don't mix your personal with your business transactions.

Speaker A:

I don't think we can say this enough, papa.

Speaker B:

If your accountant gets wind that you mix your personal and your business, he's just going to throw it back to you and say you need to get that taken care of.

Speaker A:

So for all the people in the back that are listening, do not mix your personal expenses with your business expenses.

Speaker A:

Have separate credit card, have separate debit cards.

Speaker A:

Have separate accounts.

Speaker A:

Keep it separate.

Speaker B:

Yeah, I mean that feeds right into the bank and credit card accounts.

Speaker B:

Reconcile.

Speaker B:

Make sure that you can reconcile your credit card account and if you have used them for personal business, make sure that you've accounted for them.

Speaker B:

I have several clients who have been caught in the next year.

Speaker B:

They then open separate credit cards for their businesses.

Speaker A:

Learn from our mistakes and we grow from them and we just move in a different direction.

Speaker A:

That's the reality.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

But make sure your accounts, your bank and your credit card accounts are reconciled and that.

Speaker B:

And that sometimes I recommend that you attach the year end bank statement and the credit card statements into QuickBooks.

Speaker B:

They have a file where you can upload your statements and some banks will actually have them available in QuickBooks so that you can just click on the link and it's attached automatically.

Speaker B:

There are some helpful tools there.

Speaker A:

Awesome.

Speaker A:

Okay, so then the next thing on our checklist is all transaction categorized in QuickBooks, so no uncategorized item.

Speaker A:

And what are some of these items that your accountants are going to want to see that are categorized?

Speaker B:

They're going to want to see if you have.

Speaker B:

And I think using the Schedule C as a good example is that if you compare the Schedule C to your profit and loss, you can then see, oh, do I have things pretty much categorized correctly?

Speaker B:

And because books will tell you if you have any uncategorized transactions.

Speaker B:

And so sometimes I see that people, instead of categorizing something, they'll leave it blank and it'll fall in the uncategorized bucket.

Speaker B:

So get all those uncategorized bucket items reviewed, but try and make it easy for your accountant to get your Schedule C done.

Speaker B:

And just keep that in mind as you talk about what you've categorized.

Speaker B:

And one big item is that if you bought equipment that you want to make sure that you've broken down your bills for the equipment, if it's $2,500 or less, you can expense it each item.

Speaker B:

If you buy furniture and the tables were $800 or $1,800 a piece, I take care of a restaurant, just make sure that you've attached that itemized bill that shows each table was $800, because you may expense those.

Speaker B:

So it's not the total how much the furniture was, but it's the individual large items.

Speaker B:

So make sure that you just break that down and make sure it's clear, because your account may be able to take them all as a one lump sum under a special depreciation.

Speaker B:

But you want to just make sure that you have all your information and the accountant can print out your bill and see that.

Speaker B:

So this is one area of making sure how you Categorize information in QuickBooks.

Speaker B:

And you want to make sure you have your principal and interest statements, because many times you'll get an interest statement at the end of the year.

Speaker B:

It's supposed to get them out to you by January 30th.

Speaker B:

So make sure that you have verified your interest and that you've broken down any principal and interest payments on your fixed assets.

Speaker B:

So that's just a quick tool that you want to make sure that you've looked at that.

Speaker B:

Don't leave that for your accountant, because that could be a misduction.

Speaker A:

That's a great call out, really great Call out.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

So that's one area you want to think about.

Speaker B:

And again, I think we've talked a little bit about receipts and documents organized.

Speaker B:

I'm a big fan of putting bills into QuickBooks.

Speaker B:

Scan them in.

Speaker B:

Don't keep a lot of paper if you can help it.

Speaker B:

And.

Speaker B:

But make sure you have your QuickBooks backed up.

Speaker B:

That's been something I've been guilty of.

Speaker B:

But make sure that if you scan your work in.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

That you've got it backed up and it saved a lot of time.

Speaker B:

If you have an audit, the irs, they're going to come in and they're going to ask you for a bunch of documents and if you have them, and they're going to pull a few bills and want to see those bills.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker B:

Okay.

Speaker B:

So if you have it right there, you're not going through and finding it.

Speaker B:

Consider your receipts and documents, get them organized and have them in a digital or a physical file that's easy to access.

Speaker A:

Love that.

Speaker A:

Love that.

Speaker A:

Okay, so the next thing on our checklist is payroll summaries and loan statements ready.

Speaker A:

Have all of the stuff ready to go for your accountant.

Speaker A:

Is there anything specific on this checklist item that people should be aware of?

Speaker B:

Yeah, definitely.

Speaker B:

Depending on the structure of your company.

Speaker B:

How if you are a C corp and there are going to be certain types of payroll information that they're going to report, make sure you have your payroll summary and that information all easily laid out so that they can report correctly.

Speaker B:

I have the nonprofit, for example.

Speaker B:

Companies, they are going to have to have a checklist separate for the nonprofit.

Speaker B:

They're going to want to see your various tax forms that came from your payroll company and your W3 and the different tax forms.

Speaker B:

So that should included in the checklist.

Speaker B:

If your accountant is going to request that information, they're going to send you that checklist.

Speaker B:

But again, there's various receipts and documents, including the payroll summaries and loan statements because some accountants want to tie out significant depreciation schedules.

Speaker B:

So sometimes they may want to see some of your new loan documents.

Speaker B:

So anyway, it really depends.

Speaker B:

But have them ready.

Speaker A:

Have them ready.

Speaker A:

It's just a good rule of thumb.

Speaker B:

Have them ready and reconcile.

Speaker B:

Make sure your loans are all equal in your chart of accounts.

Speaker A:

Love that.

Speaker A:

Okay, now we talked about this a couple of weeks ago.

Speaker A:

Reports.

Speaker A:

So we are all experts at doing reports around here, or at least we should be at this point because that was an excellent episode.

Speaker A:

So if you haven't listened to that, go back and listen to episode eight.

Speaker A:

We did specifically on reports.

Speaker A:

But now that you have those reports, make sure that you export them out.

Speaker A:

Export the end of the year or quarter reports or print them out so that you can give those to your accountant.

Speaker A:

Is there anything specifically like any kind of specific reports you think that would be good to have printed or exported out for your accountant?

Speaker B:

Yeah, I think there are a couple of reports that while they may not help you tax wise, they may alert you about some questions you might have for your accountant.

Speaker B:

In other words, if you looked at your expenses and certain expenses were particularly high compared to the previous year, you may want to discuss those with your accountant.

Speaker B:

What it feeds more into is some business planning before your end of the year session with your accountant.

Speaker B:

After tax season is over, you may want to schedule a appointment with your accountant and your lawyer around business planning, for example, and they may have some great input for you.

Speaker B:

Running those reports and just having them and analyzing them can be a part of your year end planning.

Speaker A:

It is a great time of year to do those kind of things and get things ready for the next year to start.

Speaker A:

Okay, this is what happened last year.

Speaker A:

This is what we did.

Speaker A:

Okay, let's plan for next year at least next quarter and so on and so forth.

Speaker A:

And that being said, this feeds really great into our next checklist item which is outstanding invoices and unpaid bills updated.

Speaker A:

So it's a good time of the year to go through and make sure people have paid their invoices that needed to pay their invoices and you have all that stuff reconciled and pulled together to give to your accountant.

Speaker B:

Particularly if you have any bad debt accounts.

Speaker B:

If you've got an old account on the accounts receivable, that might be something that could be a tax item for you, it may be time to report that as a bad debt and take it as a loss.

Speaker B:

So it's a good time to review with your accountant and to make sure that you have all of your bills updated and your accounts receivable invoicing looked at and so you can make any decisions you want at that point.

Speaker A:

I love that.

Speaker A:

Now you've mentioned this a couple of times in various parts of this particular podcast, but the next item on our list is list of any major purchases.

Speaker A:

So this is vehicles, equipment, items that you purchase so that those are things that you can pull as deductions for your business.

Speaker B:

Absolutely.

Speaker B:

And those are capital items and in some cases they're fully deductible and so they could be big purchases if recorded correctly.

Speaker B:

They can help your accountants minimize your business Income.

Speaker B:

So incredibly important.

Speaker A:

Very important.

Speaker A:

Huge.

Speaker A:

Okay, then the next item on our list is mileage.

Speaker A:

It's pulling together all of those business expenses that you've tracked.

Speaker A:

So mileage, home, office or business use.

Speaker B:

Personal expenses, can't be stated enough that a part of your review should be.

Speaker B:

If it's beneficial for you to take mileage, then don't treat your gas as an expense.

Speaker B:

Okay.

Speaker B:

Because if you can get 60 cents.

Speaker A:

A mile, that's better than what you would get for the just paying your gas.

Speaker B:

Yes.

Speaker B:

Because in some cases that could represent significant mileage.

Speaker B:

Like I have a client goes back and forth from North Carolina to New Hampshire and she can deduct anywhere from 8 to $10,000 in mileage.

Speaker A:

Yes.

Speaker B:

Okay, so that's a significant tax deduction.

Speaker A:

Absolutely.

Speaker A:

And anytime you're having to travel for business.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

It's keeping all those receipts, tracking all that information.

Speaker A:

I don't know how you feel about this one, but I saw this reel the other day where a business owner is talking about turning your vacations, turning the things that you do into things that you can claim for your business.

Speaker A:

So for if you go on a vacation, turn it into a board meeting with whoever's on your board, make sure that they're present.

Speaker A:

So if it's a family run owned business, make sure that all people are present on that trip.

Speaker A:

And then 50% of meals, you can claim 100% of travel, a hundred percent of your hotel.

Speaker A:

Those are all things that you can claim that you could deduct from your.

Speaker B:

Business, as long as the purpose is business.

Speaker B:

Even if there's a small vacation, which you can turn it into a business trip, you can deduct in some cases, like you say, 50% of the meals and, and then the hotel.

Speaker B:

And as long as it's used for business, it's a great way to combine the two.

Speaker A:

Love that.

Speaker A:

forms or your:

Speaker A:

So is there anything else here that you feel like people really need to know when they're thinking about these kind of forms and accounts and whatnot.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Just make sure that you keep an eye out.

Speaker B:

By the end of January, the payroll companies expect you to go online and they don't send your W2s to you.

Speaker B:

You have to download them or just make sure you, as part of your checklist, that you've done that.

Speaker B:

But also that you have checked to see if you have paid out any personal expenses.

Speaker B:

If you paid out out of your account that are business related.

Speaker B:

For example, I had a client who started up a new business and she spent anywhere from, oh, 10 to $12,000 in equipment that she paid for herself.

Speaker B:

Okay.

Speaker B:

Your accountant wouldn't know that.

Speaker A:

No.

Speaker B:

So make sure you have reviewed anything that you've paid out personally and that you've got your documents in order to prove that.

Speaker A:

Love that.

Speaker A:

Okay, so that is a really great checklist that we will make again available on our website.

Speaker A:

You can download it and you can also get that from the show notes too.

Speaker A:

But look at that checklist.

Speaker A:

Now, I want to talk briefly, Papa, just about communicating.

Speaker A:

I don't think you can communicate enough.

Speaker A:

I think if there's anything people need to work on more, it is communicating to other people what is going on.

Speaker A:

So we're going to talk about just briefly here, how to communicate with your accountant.

Speaker A:

What are the ways that your accountant's going to receive this information?

Speaker A:

What's the most effective ways to get all this information to your account?

Speaker A:

And I'd say before tax season, it's like make sure that you sit down with your accountant and you understand what his processes or her processes.

Speaker A:

They might have a checklist that you can actually download from them to make sure that they have all the information that they are requiring for you to do your taxes.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

If you've done business with them in the past, they'll mail you a checklist, a file just for you to go through and make sure that's completed.

Speaker B:

But the other piece is make sure, if your account is new to you, make sure that your accountant has access to your QuickBooks so that he or she can go right on to your file and put it into their tax software and run any reports or look to complete the forms they need and spit out the information they're still looking for from you.

Speaker A:

I guess it's also having that conversation with your account to find out what they prefer.

Speaker A:

Do they prefer to just be able to go into your QuickBooks and have access to that, or do they prefer all the information as PDFs or reports?

Speaker A:

I work with an accountant and I download the PDFs.

Speaker A:

He is like a separate website that I upload those PDFs too.

Speaker A:

And then he has all the information he needs to do my taxes.

Speaker A:

So I think just having the conversation with your accountant to find out, hey, how would you like this information?

Speaker A:

What do you need from me to be Successful.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Awesome.

Speaker A:

Then I think the next piece of advice that we would give is confirm their deadlines early, know when their deadlines are so that you don't miss out on working with that particular tax accountant.

Speaker B:

Yeah, there are tax deadlines that you've got to pay attention to.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

the deadline for filing your:

Speaker B:

We all know the tax deadline, and accountants are going to be incredibly busy.

Speaker B:

And so if you don't get your work into them by the deadline that they suggest, sometimes my accountants that I worked with, my clients, they're the end of February, the end of March, and if you get it in at the end of March, you're probably going to go on extension.

Speaker B:

Okay.

Speaker B:

So just understand that if you get it in by the March 1st.

Speaker B:

First, usually that's enough time for them to turn around an April 15 deadline, get it done.

Speaker B:

Otherwise they're going to put you on extension and you're going to figure out if you owe any taxes that has to be paid.

Speaker B:

And so it's just best to make sure that you meet the deadline.

Speaker B:

Super important because you might be one of 500 clients.

Speaker B:

Okay.

Speaker B:

So they're not necessarily going to make sure you meet the deadline.

Speaker A:

No, they don't meet your business.

Speaker A:

Definitely don't need your business.

Speaker B:

For sure.

Speaker A:

Okay.

Speaker A:

So then the next.

Speaker A:

Next item to communicate is we talked a little bit about this before we started recording, but is tell them about big business changes.

Speaker A:

So what are some of those big business changes that you think your accountants need to be aware of when looking at your business?

Speaker B:

I think if there are particular changes, let's say you're.

Speaker B:

You've purchased a new building, for example, that's a big deal.

Speaker B:

And that might definitely affect your tax, your opportunity to get investment credit, for example.

Speaker B:

So you want to make sure that your accountant doesn't have to go looking for things.

Speaker B:

are going to be coming up in:

Speaker B:

Make sure that you have communicated all of the changes to your accountant and so that you get the maximum deduction.

Speaker A:

That's what this is all about, is to help you get more money back in your pocket at the end of the day.

Speaker B:

That's correct.

Speaker A:

Awesome.

Speaker A:

Okay.

Speaker A:

I think just as important as what your accountant wants you to send them I think it's also important to know what they don't want you to send to them.

Speaker A:

Asking the question, okay, what are documents that maybe I've thought about sending?

Speaker A:

What do you not want from me?

Speaker A:

That way you're not overcomplicating things or whatnot.

Speaker A:

Can you think of any documents off the top of your head, Papa, that your accountant is not going to want to see that you might think about sending?

Speaker B:

Yes, primarily, most tax filers these days are taking the standard deduction.

Speaker B:

So that deduction is anywhere from $32,000.

Speaker B:

Most people won't get to that level with interest, home interest and taxes.

Speaker B:

They won't get to $32,000.

Speaker B:

Okay, so don't bother.

Speaker B:

You can run that calculation for yourself.

Speaker B:

But if you fall into the standard deduction, they don't need your home interest, they don't need your tax forms, your home taxes, your household taxes.

Speaker B:

Just keep in mind that there will be certain things they do need, but they don't need all that extra work.

Speaker B:

They don't need for you to provide that for them because you fall into the standard tax deduction.

Speaker A:

So I guess knowing your business and knowing where you would fall and what category you fall in would be beneficial for you.

Speaker B:

And they're going to ask you, for example, if you have pulled your last year's return, because they're going to ask you if you made estimated payments and they want you to confirm those.

Speaker B:

When you can find those usually right on the IRS website, and you can print out that schedule for them.

Speaker B:

Again, it's just know what, based on your tax filing, what your last year's return look like, and make sure that you don't send any excess.

Speaker B:

But look at what information you do need for sure.

Speaker A:

Most excellent.

Speaker A:

Okay.

Speaker A:

I think the last kind of thing to call out, this is a good habit to get in is keep a short summary or email or document of what's new this year that you can send to your accountant.

Speaker A:

So giving a short summary that you can send to your accountant, say, okay, this is what's new, this is what's changed, this is what's going on so that they have those bullet points to be able to effectively go through all the information that you're going to send to them.

Speaker B:

Yeah, I think what's new this year is really important.

Speaker B:

Make sure, particularly for a changing tax environment.

Speaker B:

Okay.

Speaker B:

Sometimes your accountants will send out, include that in checklists, but take a proactive approach and make sure that you know what's new this year.

Speaker B:

And it just makes it easier for all Parties.

Speaker A:

And that's what it's about.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Awesome.

Speaker A:

Okay.

Speaker A:

So again, you cannot communicate enough with your accountant.

Speaker A:

Find out what they need, what they don't need, and make sure they have the information that is crucial for them to do the job that you have hired them to do at the end of the day.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Most excellent.

Speaker A:

And the last piece.

Speaker A:

Piece we're going to wrap up on this podcast is this is why you want to do this checklist.

Speaker A:

I think at the end of the day, preparation equals peace of mind.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

You cannot do that enough if you do the right things now.

Speaker A:

If you do the hard things now, they only get harder if you don't do them.

Speaker A:

So things only get harder if you don't do your taxes.

Speaker A:

Things only get harder if you don't do the things now that are required of you.

Speaker A:

I think it's about being informed, not perfect.

Speaker A:

It's not about perfection.

Speaker A:

None of this is about being absolutely perfect.

Speaker A:

It's just about simply being informed so you can make the right decisions at the end of the day.

Speaker A:

Of course, then I think the last little piece of advice is a clean set of books means faster answers and fewer surprises.

Speaker A:

So.

Speaker B:

Right.

Speaker A:

The more you can have things ready and prepared and cleaned up and straightforward, the faster your accountant's going to get things done, the quicker it's going to be and the faster you're going to get back back those returns and the faster you're going to get that information back to you that you need.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

If you have your work into your accountant, usually by the end of February, then your accountant, you can have a quick phone call when he's going to run that work.

Speaker B:

And so there's fewer surprises.

Speaker B:

You don't want to get to April 15th and realize you have a big tax bill.

Speaker B:

You want to understand actually what that might look like pretty quickly so you can minimize.

Speaker B:

In some cases, some of my clients will look for a review before the end of the year so they can say, oh, it looks like you might want to purchase some equipment.

Speaker B:

Or if you think that you're going to buy something, it might be good to get it done before the end of the year.

Speaker B:

A major purchase, for example, or just something to help your tax situation.

Speaker A:

Great.

Speaker A:

Cotton thought about that one.

Speaker A:

It's okay.

Speaker A:

So perhaps reviewing this, all this stuff in December.

Speaker B:

Exactly.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

That you're able to then project ahead and see, okay, you know what?

Speaker A:

For my taxes, I'm going to owe this.

Speaker A:

So if I make this big purchase now, instead of waiting even a couple of weeks to make it in January or February, then it's going to offset the taxes that I'm going to owe for my business.

Speaker B:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker A:

Love that.

Speaker A:

That's a great call out.

Speaker A:

Excellent.

Speaker A:

So that is a wrap on our episode 11.

Speaker A:

So before you send your books off, take time to run through the checklist.

Speaker A:

It's a great resource, you guys.

Speaker A:

So utilize it.

Speaker A:

Use it.

Speaker A:

A prep now means smoother communication, faster turnaround and fewer headaches, people.

Speaker A:

And that is what we want.

Speaker A:

We want fewer headaches.

Speaker B:

And if you're not sure if your books are what we would consider ready.

Speaker B:

We work with clients on QuickBooks cleanup, training and support.

Speaker B:

Sometimes people don't necessarily know what they don't know.

Speaker B:

So have your QuickBooks looked at and have your list of questions and it may really help you as you take advantage of the maximum that you can receive on your taxes.

Speaker A:

We're here to help and this is some things that we do.

Speaker A:

We help people get their QuickBooks cleaned up so that you can go to your accountant.

Speaker A:

Be confident, be ready.

Speaker A:

Give the accountant the information that they need because your accountant is way more than your bookkeeper is going to be.

Speaker B:

Yes.

Speaker A:

How it goes.

Speaker A:

Awesome.

Speaker A:

So you can download our free Prep checklist at leedavisoncompany.com podcast to help you get started.

Speaker A:

You guys, thanks for tuning in to QuickBooks mastery for small Business Success.

Speaker A:

We have been having a blast recording these and we hope that you are enjoying these just as much as we are enjoying recording them.

Speaker B:

Next time we're talking about the benefits of of getting trained in QuickBooks and how it can transform the way you run your business.

Speaker A:

Awesome.

Speaker A:

You guys.

Speaker A:

Okay.

Speaker A:

Till then, keep mastering your numbers and building your businesses with success.

Speaker A:

We'll see you next week.

Speaker A:

Bye for now.

Speaker A:

Thanks for tuning in to QuickBooks mastery for small Business Success.

Speaker B:

If you enjoyed this episode, hit subscribe and stay connected with us@leedavisoncompany.com we know.

Speaker A:

QuickBooks can be overwhelming, so we've put together a free resource to help you get started right away.

Speaker A:

Grab your copy@leedavisandcompany.com and when you do, you'll also get access to our VIP email list where we share exclusive QuickBooks tips, business strategies and support, and we'd.

Speaker B:

Love to hear from you.

Speaker B:

If you have a QuickBooks question or a business challenge, send it our way@supporteadavisoncompany.com we might feature it in a future episode.

Speaker A:

We're here to help you simplify QuickBooks and grow your business one step at a time.

Speaker A:

See you next time.

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