15 bookkeeping tasks to complete weekly and monthly

From reconciling bank statements to managing daily transactions, the duties of bookkeeping are essential. Effective bookkeeping for small business can prevent errors, provide insights into business performance, and ensure compliance with financial regulations. The list of tasks can serve as a practical checklist for managing these responsibilities systematically.

Daily bookkeeping tasks

Recording bank transactions

One of the key tasks for a bookkeeper is to carefully record all transactions that occur within a business. This essential duty ensures that financial records and reports are accurate. Recording transactions daily promotes accuracy, reducing the risk of forgotten entries or misplaced documents. By maintaining this routine, bookkeepers can provide up-to-date information, which is crucial for identifying and correcting mistakes promptly. Additionally, ensuring a clear audit trail at all times helps prevent theft and fraud.

Tired of manual data entry? Why not try using Thriday, an accounting and tax software in Australia. It connects seamlessly with your bank accounts, automatically importing transactions in real-time. This eliminates human error, ensures your financial records are up-to-the-minute accurate.

Reconciling transactions

Daily reconciliation of transactions is an important task for bookkeepers. Using accounting software that synchronises with bank accounts can simplify this process. Bookkeepers can review and approve suggested matches from the software, making daily reconciliation less stressful than monthly reconciliations. For those without such software, manual reconciliation is necessary. Bookkeepers should review daily bank transactions through an online portal, ensuring they do not have full access to the account and employing two-factor authentication. Regular reconciliation helps spot and correct errors in a timely manner.

The thing is, manually reconciling accounts often means relying on static spreadsheets or paper records. This makes it difficult to get a real-time view of your financial position and can delay decision-making. This is where automation comes in. Thriday's smart technology automatically links your scanned receipts to the corresponding transactions, saving you hours of tedious work and ensuring your books are always accurate.

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Invoicing and billing

Timely billing of clients encourages prompt payments, as clients are more likely to remember recent transactions. This reduces confusion and allows for faster resolution of discrepancies. If invoicing daily is impractical, it should be done at least weekly. Consistent invoicing ensures steady cash flow and improves financial management.

Expense tracking

Tracking expenses daily is a fundamental bookkeeping task. Bookkeepers compile revenue and expense data from various departments to prepare a revenue and expense account. This account allows for better predictions of the business's revenue generation rates. By closely monitoring expenses, bookkeepers can help manage and control monetary resources effectively, preventing financial mismanagement.

Maintaining these daily tasks ensures accurate financial records, effective reconciliation, timely billing, and controlled expenses. Utilising bookkeeping software like QuickBooks or Xero can greatly aid in these efforts, making the process more efficient and less error-prone.

Weekly bookkeeping tasks

Review outstanding receivables and payables

A key part of bookkeeping involves handling accounts receivable and accounts payable. This includes keeping track of which payments are due or overdue. Bookkeepers should conduct an aging analysis, assessing upcoming and past-due invoices.

Maintaining a clear payment cycle is vital. This way, bookkeepers know when money is coming in and when it’s going out. For unpaid invoices, reminders are sent to customers. For payables, bookkeepers ensure timely processing of payments. They also manage activities like depositing checks and initiating debt collection procedures when required.

Wage payment management

Bookkeepers often manage the payment of employees and contractors. Accurate payroll records must be maintained to ensure timely payments. Poor payroll management can cause significant issues for any business. Properly updated payroll files help in assessing the expenditure on salaries in relation to the revenue generated by employees’ work.

Sorting expenses

Bookkeepers need to categorise expenses accurately. Using accounting software, if available, can simplify this task. These tools automate expense reporting and receipt gathering if payments are made electronically. If automation isn’t possible, expense categorisation becomes a manual task. Bookkeepers must enter any manual payments and verify entries for accuracy, ensuring all expenses are correctly recorded.

Stock control

Managing inventory finances is another essential bookkeeping task. This requires recording each transaction and investment related to inventory. Detailed records are critical for understanding the financial status of current inventory.

Bookkeepers track various stages of inventory, such as unfinished goods, manufacturing items, and raw materials. They also calculate the value of these assets to provide a clear view of the company's financial status in terms of inventory. This process helps in evaluating the net worth of the company by understanding where the money is invested in production and development stages.

Monthly bookkeeping tasks

Evaluate cash flow

Monitoring cash flow is crucial for managing finances effectively. For businesses with sufficient funding, cash flow forecasting might be done quarterly. However, if cash flow is tight, daily or weekly tracking can provide better insights into profitability over the coming months and years.

Modifying entries

Adjusting entries should be handled on a monthly basis if records are accurately maintained and frequently updated. This process involves reviewing journal entries to ensure no corrections or modifications are needed. For example, categorising certain expenses correctly can help maintain accurate financial statements.

Verify future deadlines

Meeting all deadlines is vital to maintaining cash flow and financial order. Ensuring that billing, payments, and payroll are completed on time avoids disruptions that could throw off financial records. Proper tracking and attention to detail prevent complications that might be challenging to correct later on.

Generate financial reports

Preparing financial statements is an essential monthly task. These include the profit and loss statement, cash flow statement, and balance sheet. Regularly checking these reports ensures a clear picture of the company’s financial health. For new businesses, monthly inspections might be more frequent to track financial performance until stabilisation. As the business matures, these can be done quarterly or twice a year.

Legal compliance

Staying updated on tax laws and regulations is a key responsibility of bookkeepers. Any new tax amendment or regulation must be understood and applied to keep the business compliant. This includes keeping updated records and ensuring all legal requirements are met to avoid penalties.

Tax readiness

Bookkeepers must follow all tax deadlines and requirements throughout the year. Before the tax season begins, having ready accounting books is vital. This facilitates the tax preparation process and allows the bookkeeper to provide necessary support to accountants, auditors, and other tax experts, ensuring the business meets all tax requirements.

Data backup

Backing up financial data monthly is essential to protect against data loss. Since banks typically issue monthly reports, having a backup means there’s a secure copy of records. Utilising accounting software or cloud storage for backup further secures data. This process ensures that in case of failures or errors, redoing the books is manageable, and lost data can be easily restored.

Maintaining these monthly tasks is important for precise financial management. Accurate records and timely reporting benefit the business's overall financial health. Regularly completing these tasks ensures the business remains on track, compliant with legal standards, and ready for any financial challenges.

How does Thriday shake up your financial admin routine?

From chasing down receipts to deciphering bank statements, it's enough to make anyone's head spin. But what if there was a way to make it all... easier?

That's where Thriday comes in. It's like having a super-efficient financial assistant who works around the clock, without the coffee breaks.

• No more manual data entry typos? Thriday's got your back. It connects directly to your bank accounts, pulling in transactions automatically. So you can say goodbye to those frustrating "fat finger" errors.
• Reconciliation giving you a headache? Thriday's got the cure. It matches your receipts to transactions like a pro, so you can skip the spreadsheets and get back to business.
• Need a quick financial snapshot? Thriday's on it. It gives you a real-time view of your cash flow, so you can make smart decisions on the fly.

With Thriday, you'll trade in those bookkeeping blues for a sense of control and clarity.  So you can focus on what you do best – running your business. Try Thriday for free!

Frequently asked questions

Which tasks would be regularly performed by a bookkeeper in their daily routine?

Daily tasks of a bookkeeper may include:

• Entering financial transactions
• Managing accounts payable and receivable
• Reconciling bank and credit card statements
• Processing payroll
• Generating financial reports
• Preparing invoices and managing debt collections

These activities ensure that the financial aspects of a business run smoothly and remain organised.

What are the key differences between daily, weekly, and monthly bookkeeping tasks?

Daily tasks focus on capturing and organising transactions as they happen. Weekly tasks involve reviewing and reconciling financial data, while monthly tasks provide a more comprehensive overview of the business's financial health.

Why is it important to perform bookkeeping tasks regularly?

Regular bookkeeping ensures accurate financial records, which are crucial for making informed business decisions, complying with tax regulations, and securing funding.

How can bookkeeping software like Thriday benefit my business?

Thriday automates many time-consuming bookkeeping tasks, reducing errors and saving valuable time and resources. This allows businesses to focus on growth and strategic planning.

What is the cost of monthly bookkeeping services in Australia?

The cost of monthly bookkeeping services in Australia can range from $200 to $2,500 or more, depending on several factors like businesses with higher transaction volumes or more intricate financial structures will typically require more extensive bookkeeping services, leading to higher costs.

On the other hand, automated accounting and bookkeeping software like Thriday can significantly reduce these costs. By automating many routine tasks, Thriday eliminates the need for extensive manual bookkeeping, allowing you to manage your finances efficiently at a fraction of the cost.

Final thoughts

Bookkeeping may be the backbone of any successful business, but let's be honest, manually tackling those endless tasks can feel like a never-ending uphill battle.  It's time-consuming, prone to errors, and can leave you and your team feeling overwhelmed.

Now, picture this: what if you could reclaim those countless hours spent on data entry and reconciliation? What if you could trust your financial records with absolute confidence? Automation makes it possible. Solutions like Thriday streamline your bookkeeping, turning a tedious chore into a seamless process that pushes you with accurate, real-time financial insights.

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