A monthly bookkeeping routine should leave you with explained transactions, reconciled balances and a manageable list of unresolved questions. Uploading receipts or accepting bank-feed suggestions is only part of that process.
This checklist is a practical working routine, not a universal legal timetable. Businesses with frequent transactions or reporting needs may process records more often and still use month end for a structured review.
1. Collect every source of activity
Gather sales invoices, supplier bills, expense evidence and statements for bank, card and payment accounts. Include cash takings, refunds, platform reports and bills paid personally on the business's behalf.
Keep the record collection process consistent. Check whether a staff member, supplier portal or separate email account holds documents that have not reached the books.
GOV.UK's company-record guidance describes the financial information companies must maintain. The precise record set depends on activity; the monthly checklist should reflect the business rather than another company's template.
2. Check completeness before categorising
Confirm the period covered by statements and feeds. Look for missing days and duplicate imports. If a feed stopped and a replacement file was uploaded, check overlap before processing it.
List missing documents with date, amount, payee and a person responsible for recovery. Do not silently leave the transaction out or invent a description. Separate actual evidence from an explanation still awaiting confirmation.
3. Record transactions on a consistent basis
Check the business identity, dates, descriptions and categories. Distinguish customer receipts from new sales, supplier payments from new costs and transfers between your own accounts from income or expenses.
Where invoices are already entered, match payments to them. Otherwise both the original invoice and a second bank-based entry can appear in the records.
For an illustrative consultancy, a £600 invoice paid in two £300 instalments should be cleared by those receipts. Recording two new £300 sales would leave a false unpaid invoice and duplicate the revenue.
4. Explain payment-provider settlements
Do not assume a net deposit is the complete sales record. Platforms may deduct fees, process refunds or hold balances.
In a simplified fictional example, gross collections are £1,000, refunds are £100 and fees are £20, producing an £880 settlement before any other movements. The records should explain the bridge between activity and cash. Tax treatment and reporting timing remain separate review questions.
Keep settlement reports and reconcile amounts retained by the provider at month end.
5. Reconcile cash accounts to statements
Check each bank, credit card and relevant payment-account balance. Investigate missing charges, duplicate payments, transfers and timing differences.
Do not use an unexplained balancing adjustment simply to achieve a zero difference. Record legitimate outstanding items and check that they clear when expected.
Save the reconciliation evidence. A feed importing transactions successfully does not prove their classification or matching is correct.
6. Review customer and supplier balances
| Ledger item | Monthly question |
|---|---|
| Overdue invoice | Is it genuinely unpaid, disputed or unmatched? |
| Customer credit | Is there an overpayment or refund to resolve? |
| Supplier bill | Is it approved, due and not duplicated? |
| Supplier credit | Has it been matched or followed up? |
Where supplier statements are available, compare individual items rather than entering the statement as another purchase. Update collection and payment actions using accurate balances.
7. Check connected schedules
Review loan balances against lender information and distinguish capital repayments from interest and fees. Gather asset purchase or disposal documents. Match payroll information to approved calculations and payments where applicable.
Flag annual subscriptions, missing bills and other timing questions for accounting review. Do not create adjustments you do not understand merely because a report looks uneven.
Identify owner transactions clearly. Transfers to or from an owner are not automatically wages, dividends or ordinary business expenses.
8. Review tax codes and unusual items
Check large, unfamiliar, mixed-use and overseas transactions. Tax and VAT treatment should be reviewed on the facts rather than chosen from a software suggestion.
For businesses within the relevant VAT digital-record rules, GOV.UK explains the applicable information and links. A monthly bookkeeping review supports that process but does not replace a properly prepared return.
9. Close with an action list
Give each unresolved item an owner, next action and date. Explain which gaps could materially affect the figures. Record the review status before reports are shared.
If later changes affect a reviewed period, retain the reason and tell whoever uses the reports. A consistent close process helps prevent management making decisions from different versions of the same month.
Make the routine sustainable
Set internal collection and review dates, with cover for absence. Process recurring tasks regularly so month end is a check, not an annual backlog in miniature.
Must every receipt be found before anything can be done? Complete the supported work and keep gaps visible. The treatment of unresolved evidence needs review.
Can software do the checklist? It can assist with imports, matching and reports; people still need to explain exceptions and review completeness.
Discuss EPOS Accountancy’s bookkeeping service and agree which monthly steps it will handle, which remain with your team and how queries are resolved.