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Essential Year-End Checklist for QuickBooks® Users in 2025

Ensuring a seamless year-end transition should commence well before December for Gilbert-based businesses. Users of QuickBooks® Online (QBO) can alleviate last-minute stress by embracing structured, tax-prepared bookkeeping and strategic planning. With expanding features and heightened IRS oversight, proactive steps now can significantly streamline 2025 operations, minimizing risk while maximizing efficiency and readiness for 2026.

1. Reconcile Accounts and Tidy Transactions

Navigate to Settings → Chart of Accounts → Reconcile. Ensure your bank and credit-card statement endings are in alignment, review "Undeposited Funds," and confirm all outstanding activities. QBO aids by pinpointing unreconciled discrepancies, offering timely report accuracy to avoid unforeseen surprises come April.

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2. Monitor Customer and Vendor Aging Reports

Deploy Accounts Receivable Aging and Accounts Payable Aging assessments. Address any non-collectible invoices and pending vendor liabilities proactively, ensuring your financial statements and subsequent tax paperwork remain impeccable and timely.

3. Leverage Enhanced Reporting Features

QBO’s expanded “Modern View” of standard reports introduces superior filters, rapid load times, and enhanced customization. Streamline report generation for key financial overviews like Profit and Loss, Balance Sheets, and Cash Flow Forecasts with improved efficacy. Read more

4. Set Up and Manage 1099/NEC for Contractors

For businesses engaging freelancers, access Expenses → Vendors → Prepare 1099s. Ensure W-9s are collected, payment limits overseen, fostering compliance through QBO's contractor tagging, preventing costly Q1 penalties.

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5. Lock Financial Books and Validate Fiscal Settings

Within Settings → Advanced, confirm your fiscal year's initial month. Issue final balances and bolster data integrity by protecting against inadvertent modifications, ensuring pristine financial handover for tax preparation.

6. Plan for 2026 with Cash-Flow Projections

Utilize QBO’s Cash Flow estimates to map out Q1 2026, considering revenue fluctuations, tax due timings, and seasonal cost changes. Early preparation grants financial foresight beyond just tidy accounts from the previous year.

7. Embrace Automation and Innovative Tools

QBO now allows for simplified pay item cleanup (marking payroll items inactive) and introduces e-signatures for payroll documentation. These enhancements drive operational efficiency and diminish the potential for year-end errors. Explore updates

Concluding with a week-by-week diligence in account reconciliations, report reviews, contractor tracking, and fiscal finalizations, you ensure a stress-free year-end. More than mere transaction recording, QuickBooks® Online facilitates strategic proactive positioning.

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Martinez & Shanken, PLLC

1560 W Warner Rd Suite 200
Gilbert, Arizona 85233
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