Guides
Bookkeeping firm SOPs: the daily checklist
A bookkeeping firm's daily checklist works when each step names an owner, a trigger and a place to record the result, not when it lists good intentions.
What to take away
- A step without a trigger and an owner is decoration. Nobody opens it on a Tuesday.
- Daily work must happen daily for that client, or the cadence belongs in the engagement letter as a weekly one.
- The monthly close runs in a fixed order, and each step depends on the one before it.
- Every open exception carries an owner and a three business day escalation age.
- Employment tax records are kept for at least four years, and the offboarding list says so.
Write each step the same way
Every line in the SOP has four parts: trigger, owner, output, location. The trigger is the event that starts the work, such as a bank feed landing. The owner is a role, never a first name. The output is the artifact that proves the work happened. The location is the folder path where that artifact is saved.
A weak line reads "reconcile bank accounts". A strong line reads "when the feed lands, the preparer clears the account within five business days and files the tie-out in the client folder".
Weak step vs. strong step
Weak step
- Trigger
- None
- Owner
- Unclear
- Output
- Reconcile
- Location
- Not stated
- Deadline
- None
Strong step
- Trigger
- Bank feed arrives
- Owner
- Preparer, reviewed by senior
- Output
- Reconciled to statement
- Location
- Tie-out saved to client folder
- Deadline
- By fifth business day
The format survives staff turnover, because a new hire reads the trigger and acts without asking. Firms that lose this discipline often have a hiring problem as much as a writing problem, so Getting reliable hands in a bookkeeping firm is worth reading next to the SOP itself.
The daily layer
Keep the daily list short. Everything on it must genuinely happen every day for that client.
- Clear the bank and card feeds for every client on the daily list.
- Categorize what the rules engine leaves alonenew vendors, odd amounts, owner draws.
- Log documents received and match them to the open request list.
- Work the exception queue and escalate anything past three business days.
- Answer client questions within one business day.
If a client's volume does not justify daily work, set a weekly cadence and write it into the engagement letter. A daily checklist applied to a quarterly client is theatre. The package you sold and the cadence you run should match, which is the argument in Bookkeeping firm bundles and pricing tiers.
The monthly close, in order
- Cut off the period and post the last bank and card transactions.
- Reconcile every bank, card and loan account to its statement, and write down the reason for each difference.
- Clear the clearing and suspense accounts to zero.
- Post accruals, prepayments and depreciation for the period.
- Tie out payroll liability against the provider report and the bank.
- Reconcile sales tax and other control accounts to the returns actually filed.
- Run senior review against the scope thresholds below.
- Deliver the package and log the open items.
Monthly close sequence
- Cut off period, freeze transactions
- Collect source documents
- Reconcile bank and card accounts
- Clear undeposited and clearing accounts
- Post payroll, accruals, depreciation
- Review trial balance
- Prepare statements and variance note
- Send package for client review
Step three is the one firms skip. A clearing account that never reaches zero hides a misposting, and the error compounds month over month. Supporting documents for each tie-out belong in the client file, and IRS recordkeeping guidance describes the standard a reviewer will expect. For Canadian clients, the same tie-out runs against the CRA GST/HST return figures.
Exceptions need an owner and an age
| Field | What it records |
|---|---|
| Owner | the role holding the item, not the person who noticed it |
| Opened | the date the item entered the queue |
| Cause | vendor, feed, missing statement or client delay |
| Escalation | who is told when the item passes three business days |
Three business days is the age limit. On day four the item goes to the senior bookkeeper, and the client receives a written request for whatever is missing. Typical residents of the queue include uncategorized transactions, missing statements, duplicate feeds, stale outstanding checks, deposits in transit and payroll differences.
Review before delivery
Review is risk based. Every delivered package gets a second pair of eyes on the accounts that move.
Scope the review by risk: cash, clearing accounts, payroll liability, sales tax payable and related-party balances. Then add anything that changed by more than 10 percent or $2,500, whichever is lower, a threshold many firms use as a starting point.
Payroll liability sits on that list because IRS Publication 15 keeps withholding and deposit duties with the employer even when payroll is outsourced. Record the reviewer's name and the date, because that record protects the firm when a client disputes a number. For a wider set of checks, see Inspecting bookkeeping firm service quality.
Offboarding
Work these in the same week the engagement ends:
- Finish the agreed period.
- Document every open item.
- Get final client approval.
- Collect any balance.
- Export the books and workpapers.
- Transfer access and remove users.
- Retain records.
Keep employment tax records for at least four years after the due date of the tax or the date it was paid, whichever is later, as IRS employment tax recordkeeping states. Confirm any state rule with your state board.
Keeping the checklist alive
Review the document quarterly and change one step at a time. When the same step fails twice, the step is wrong, not the person.
Track three measures: close days per client, open exceptions by age and review turnaround. A longer dashboard gets read once.
Reconcile billing to the engagement list each month. An active client with no invoice, or an invoice for a departed client, both signal a broken process. Recovering that work starts with Setting bookkeeping firm prices that cover costs and leave a margin.
