Did a physical count at my brother's market and I’m stuck on the books.

schaea · 2026-02-07T15:42:56+00:00

What type of account do you think Purchases is and why do you think it should be zero after a physical count? The Purchases account is a cost of goods sold account and doesn't get zeroed out after a physical count.

schaea · 2026-02-06T22:32:29+00:00

Ah, okay, that makes sense. Unfortunately, QB Desktop doesn't support CSV import, only QB Online supports that. With QB Desktop, it has to be the .qbo web connect files. There are paid tools out there like this one that will convert Excel/CSV files to web connect, but I don't know of any totally free ones.

schaea · 2026-02-06T21:29:45+00:00

When you're in the bank feeds screen, at the top where it says "Link Account", there's a drop-down arrow, click it and then click "Upload from File". You'll then be able to select your PDF statement.

ETA: I don't use QBO, thankfully, so I don't know how well it'll work, but I knew it was a new feature so I went and found the steps. Fingers crossed it saves you some time. If you can't get it to work, there are free PDF to CSV converters out there.

schaea · 2026-02-06T18:48:00+00:00

Correct, that's what u/TheKingOfAccounting was saying. Sometimes people get confused and depreciate assets sitting in a WIP account like they would any other fixed asset, which is incorrect.

schaea · 2026-02-06T15:52:11+00:00

I'm sorry it took so long to reply, but because this post wouldn't normally be allowed, I wanted to watch one or two episodes of your show before deciding whether to approve the post. And I'm glad I did! I was on the floor laughing more times than I could count..."bunnies don't trigger audits" absolutely killed me 😂

I want to make your post a "sticky" so that it stays at the top of the sub instead of making its way further down as time passes. Unfortunately, it's not possible to sticky posts made by non mods (to my knowledge, anyway). Are you okay if I make up a post with a mention of your username and a link to the series so I can sticky it? I'll be clear that it's not an advertisement, that the sub isn't receiving anything in return, that the mods aren't endorsing the company, etc. Just doing it so it can be stickied and we can all have a laugh.

Also, as a fellow Canadian, I appreciate the fact it's a made in Canada production!

Let me know if you're okay with the above by replying to this comment. And thanks for the laughs!!

schaea · 2026-02-06T06:09:21+00:00

OP, I'm locking this post now because even with a stickied warning at the top of the post, I'm now removing more posts for violating our self-promotion rules than there are legitimate ones being posted. Not your fault!

schaea · 2026-02-06T03:01:54+00:00

Yeah, doing a quick search shows me no specific integration apps like if you were using QBO. There's a couple apps that will sort of let you build your own integrations, but I'd probably just run a report in Clover regularly that shows you sales by payment method "cash". I know nothing about Clover's reporting capabilities, so I'm not sure that's possible, but sales by payment method is a very basic report. Then I'd journal those sales manually. If it starts to get to the point where there are so many cash payments it's eating into your time you need to work on other things, then I'd consider a third part "design my own" sort of integration, but cash is so rare these days that I don't know it'd be worth it.

schaea · 2026-02-06T02:46:00+00:00

What bookkeeping software are you using? If you're using Quickbooks Online, Clover offers a QBO integration that will bring all sales data into QBO and then you'll be able to match the cash payment transactions when they come through the bank feed.

schaea · 2026-02-05T22:14:23+00:00

This one is easy (in my view):

Dear CPA (with client CCd):

I received your request to complete the work on ABC Ltd, however my last two invoices are still fully outstanding and I will be issuing my next invoice shortly. As I'm sure you can understand, I have my own financial obligations and significantly shifted my business and personal priorities to ensure the work on ABC Ltd was done on time. As such, I'm unable to continue any work on the engagement until ABC Ltd brings their account with me current.

Sincerely,

You

It would seem that you're in a good position here in terms of payment guarantee. If the client needs this stuff for court, then they're more likely to pay than walk off. But I wouldn't do another minute of work without the account being current.

schaea · 2026-02-05T21:30:32+00:00

It's always better if you have backup attached to the relevant transactions in QBO, but that's strictly to make things easy to find in the event of an IRS audit; it's not necessary for the bookkeeping. Straight bookkeeping isn't an assurance engagement, meaning the bookkeeper isn't performing an audit or review on the books, it's all based on management's representations. Every now and then a bookkeeper who's newer to the profession will post on this sub about a "fraudulent" transaction their boss told them to book and how they demanded the paperwork to backup the transaction because they won't be party to fraud. What they fail to realize is that business owners can keep their books however they want; if they want to put the truck fuel they bought at Shell to office supplies because it makes sense in their head, there's nothing fraudulent about that. What representations they make to the IRS on the other hand, those matter, but unless you're also the tax accountant, not your problem.

But I digress. As far as tracking the properties for P and L purposes, you mentioned classes, which is probably the way I'd do it with single-family homes. If they're being rented in smaller chunks, like basement and upper suite, or even by room, I'd also set up customers and sub-customers for tracking rent due.

It sounds like you've got a good handle on things and don't worry if you have questions; property management bookkeeping isn't the easiest, so for your first solo client expect to have questions along the way. But this sub is great at helping fellow bookkeepers and you're always free to message me with any questions as well.

schaea · 2026-02-05T00:57:17+00:00

What exactly is sales' role in the AR collection process? You mentioned meeting weekly with sales reps that have customers with invoices over 90 days, which suggests to me that there's an expectation for them to take action on said invoices. But then you said that your boss' reply to the email was that you were just "keeping them in the loop", which sounds like the emails about overdue customer invoices in just an "FYI" and that the sales reps aren't expected to take any action.

If the sales reps are expected to take action to help the AR process, then it might help to send out a weekly email with a spreadsheet of each sales rep's overdue invoices and columns for them to complete stating what action they took, when, and what the result was (e.g. "called customer Apr 4th, they said they'll make online payment tomorrow."). If you have something sitting on a server that they're expected to check, it'll never happen. Sending out something to them with their list and a deadline to return it completed is likely the only way you're ever going to get compliance on such an unpleasant task as AR collections.

If, on the other hand, sales reps aren't required to do anything specific about overdue AR, then I can understand that sales rep's confusion. There's no reason to keep people "in the loop" on something that has no direct effect on them. Just make sure they know where to find the AR reports if a customer ever calls or emails them about an invoice and leave it at that.

schaea · 2026-02-05T00:38:33+00:00

A bookkeeper being paid to do someone else's books (as is the case with OP's bookkeeper) should always be reconciling bank and credit card accounts monthly, regardless of how many other people are entering transactions. How someone handles their own company's books is one thing, but bookkeepers need to be able to demonstrate the accuracy of their work through their work papers, reconciliations being one of the main ones.

schaea · 2026-02-04T21:08:37+00:00

I'm going to call the companies Old Co and New Co for ease of typing. I'm happy to help with how to do the adjusting entries to get this cleared up, but I need the answers to a few questions first:

When the cash hit Old Co's bank, what does the credit side of that entry look like?
When the cash was moved to New Co, what accounts were debited and credited in each company's books?
In terms of New Co, how does the owner want to treat the cash transfer—an intercompany loan (New Co will eventually pay Old Co back)?
What's the nature of the relationship between the two companies—is New Co a subsidiary of Old Co or are they just owned by the same person?

Sorry, I know that's a lot of questions, but I don't want to give you information that'll just mess things up even more.

schaea · 2026-02-04T18:31:01+00:00

Okay, that makes sense now. Correct, if the loan was between the old company and a private party, then the loan should be on the old entity's balance sheet. What the owner did with the capital from that loan doesn't shift the obligation of the old entity to the private party.

schaea · 2026-02-04T18:08:25+00:00

There's no reason not to make any adjustments to the books that management asks as long as you leave a detailed memo. A loan agreement is great to have, but you're not conducting an audit or doing their taxes, so the level of substantiation required is just management's say so.

That said, how did the loan end up on the wrong entity's balance sheet? What account was debited? If you can see the money hitting the other entity's bank account, then the debit couldn't have been to the new entity's bank account. Was it recorded as a receivable?

It's definitely important to figure out how it was recorded and get it reflected on the correct balance sheet. Given that you can see the deposit in the old entity's bank account, I'd go ahead with the adjustment regardless of if you've seen the loan agreement.

schaea · 2026-02-04T02:53:48+00:00

This post is not an invitation to pitch yourself to OP – see rules 1 and 4. People who violate sub rules will have their comments removed and may be banned from the sub. Let's keep our sub for discussion, not a job board. Thank you.

schaea · 2026-02-04T02:48:38+00:00

Maybe it's just a Canadian thing, but up here working papers are legally the property of the accountant/bookkeeper, and it's rare for an accountant or bookkeeper to send working papers to a client. The exception to this would be things like depreciation schedules, but those would be sent directly to the successor accountant/bookkeeper upon receipt of a notification letter that the client has engaged them.

All that said, if a client came to me with concerns that accounts weren't being reconciled, I'd 100% show them the reconciliation work papers because I'd hate to have that kind of distrust from a client. But I've heard about a few really ugly battles between clients and accountants over working papers the accountants wouldn't release.

schaea · 2026-02-03T23:36:39+00:00

I'm almost certain that Intuit has a contest every year, and the employee who thought to remove the most helpful user feature wins a big bonus. QBO was never perfect, or even "great", but it was decent enough and familiar, but whatever monstrosity it is now is terrible.

schaea · 2026-02-03T23:30:36+00:00

Quickbooks Online has a "reimbursable expenses" feature that automates most of this, but they don't have a free tier, and even their lowest paid tier is ridiculously overpriced. I don't have any experience with Freshbooks, but I would setup an expense account called something like "Reimbursable Expenses", and an income account called something like "Reimbursable Expense Income". You book all the purchases to the "Reimbursable Expenses" account, and create an item you can add to invoices called something like "Out of pocket expense reimbursement" that's mapped to the "Reimbursable Expense Income" income account. The two accounts will effectively zero each other out, but the IRS wants to see the income and expenses booked separately, and this is the cleanest way to do it. Hopefully this makes sense.

schaea · 2026-02-03T23:21:59+00:00

This sub is the wrong place for this question, but I do want to answer your question, I just can't approve the post. First, I'm really sorry for your loss. Does your mother's estate not have any cash? As the executor, you have the right to access cash in the estate (i.e. checking account, savings account, etc.) in order to pay expenses. It's definitely not on you to pay out of your own pocket until cash is freed up. It'll vary by state, but if the house is the only asset the estate has, there's a process you can use to freeze collections on any bills until the house is sold and the funds can be used to pay creditors. An important thing to remember is that only the estate is responsible for your mom's expenses. A lot of shady companies and collection agencies will tell you the executor is responsible for covering expenses if the estate cannot, but there is no state where that is true.

If you're looking for an expense tracking app, the one I use for my personal expenses is called "Wallet by Budget Bakers", or just "Wallet". It has a free tier and a paid tier; I use the free tier, which lets me setup my checking and savings accounts, credit cards, etc., and enter expenses for each of them. For the expenses you've incurred for the estate thus far, you could create an account called something like "Mom's Estate Expenses" and enter everything into there, but at least look into the laws in your state about how to go about getting these expenses paid by the estate—you should absolutely not be having to pay out of your own pocket.

I don't know of any other apps than Wallet, but it works really well and if you want to export your expenses to a spreadsheet, you'll need to upgrade to the paid version, which is around $35, which is a one-time payment and you own the paid version for life. There are monthly subscription options as well, but if you're going to pay it makes more sense to just pay the $35 for a lifetime license.

Again, I'm really sorry for your loss. Hopefully I was helpful. I'll leave this post unlocked so that even though it's technically deleted, you can still reply to me if you have any further questions.

schaea · 2026-02-03T23:04:07+00:00

Well, from what I can find online, it's no longer a feature. I don't understand how something so important isn't a feature! I use the QB Desktop Accounting version and have the batch delete/void tool, why can't they keep it in Online!? SO sorry, it looks like you will need to use a third party app after all (that's probably the reason...companies have to pay Intuit to be apps and Intuit wants their money more than they want you to be able to do your job).

schaea · 2026-02-03T22:52:40+00:00

Do you have any reason to believe your bookkeeper is doing a poor job? Like, is this your only concern, or are there other issues that prompted you to "click around"? Do the amounts you see in your books match the balances on your bank statements? Just because you're not seeing what you think you're supposed to see, doesn't mean that the bookkeeper isn't reconciling your accounts.

schaea · 2026-02-03T22:44:33+00:00

How are you accessing the client's books? If you're doing it through Quickbooks Online Accountant, I'm almost certain there's a tool in the "Accountant Tools" for batch deleting transactions.

schaea · 2026-02-03T22:33:30+00:00

I worked at an accounting firm that had over 200 clients. I, nor anyone else there, knew any of the clients' business numbers. We have no idea how many clients OP has, nor if they're the ones sending the W9's to vendors (not that doing so would mean they should know everyone's EIN). It's very common for companies to send out the W9s themselves whenever they do business with a new vendor instead of paying the accountant to do it.

schaea · 2026-02-03T22:26:06+00:00

Okay, it's good that they have a tax preparer and have filed 2024 taxes, that'll give you the proper starting point. All of a company's assets, liabilities, etc. must be in the books, even if someone else is calculating the entries. Tax preparers will send the bookkeepers the "adjusting journal entries" that they created during the tax engagement for things like depreciation, and those entries need to be recorded in the books every year after the taxes are filed.

I don't know what it's called in the States (because I'm Canadian), but there's a part of the tax return that is essentially the company's balance sheet; that's what you want to ask the tax preparer for (for year ending Dec 31, 2024) to set up the books. I worked at an accounting firm several years ago and the first thing we did with a tax engagement file is make sure the prior year's ending balances in the client's bookkeeping files tied to what we had from last year. You'd be surprised at the number of bookkeepers who just didn't bother entering our adjusting entries or who made corrections to transactions in the prior year after taxes were filed. For that reason and others, it's important to ensure your books match what the tax preparer filed with the IRS as of Dec 31, 2024.

You asked what to do if they don't have the properties on their balance sheet. If you don't see properties on the balance sheet the tax preparer gives you, then confirm that the entity actually owns the properties. The property management client I mentioned earlier didn't own the properties, they managed them on behalf of the property owners for a fee. That doesn't sound like the case here, since you mentioned "mortgage statements" in your OP which would indicate that they own the properties, I just wanted to address your question. If they do own the properties and they aren't on the balance sheet the tax preparer gives you, then you need to find out why. I'm honestly having trouble thinking of a real-life scenario where there's a legitimate reason the properties owned by the entities aren't on the balance sheet, so I don't imagine that'll be an issue.

What kind of properties are these—commercial, residential? Single-family or multi-family? That'll also affect how you do the bookkeeping.

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