What does monthly bookkeeping include?

Monthly bookkeeping usually brings together transaction organization, account reconciliation and financial reporting. The details depend on your business and the plan you choose. Handling payroll, sending customer invoices, paying supplier bills and cleaning up previous years may involve additional work or a different package.

Before comparing prices, ask what your bookkeeper will do each month, what you will need to provide and how you will work through questions together. A clear scope makes the quote much more useful.

Start with the accounts and transactions

Ask which bank accounts, credit cards and other financial accounts are covered. A business with one checking account has different bookkeeping needs from a business collecting payments through several platforms while managing loans and multiple cards.

Your bookkeeper needs enough information to understand the transactions. A description from the bank may not explain whether a payment purchased equipment, repaid a loan or reimbursed an owner. Receipts, statements and your answers can help resolve those questions.

Useful questions include:

• Which accounts and transaction volumes does this quote cover?
• How will we handle transfers, owner transactions and items that need more explanation?
• How should I provide statements and supporting documents?
• What happens if the business adds accounts or becomes more complex?

Ask about reconciliation

Organizing transactions and reconciling accounts are related but different tasks. Reconciliation compares the records in your bookkeeping system with account statements and helps identify differences that need investigation.

For example, an imported payment could also have been entered manually. A duplicate may affect the reports even when the transaction list looks tidy. Ask which accounts will be reconciled and how unresolved differences will be communicated.

If earlier balances do not make sense, your bookkeeper may need to review historical work before establishing a dependable monthly routine. That is a reason to discuss cleanup at the start rather than assume the current month can be handled in isolation.

Agree on reports and timing

Ask which financial reports you will receive and what period they cover. Common examples are a profit and loss report and a balance sheet. Your needs may also include receivable or payable reports if that work is part of the engagement.

Then talk about timing. When do you need to provide records? What happens if documents are missing? When should you expect the agreed reports, and how will you know whether anything remains unresolved?

A report is more useful when you know whether it includes all the information needed for that period. Agree on a practical process for questions and outstanding items instead of assuming every plan follows the same close schedule.

Check payroll, invoices and supplier bills individually

“Monthly bookkeeping” does not describe one universal package. Some plans include support with payroll, customer invoicing or accounts payable. Others focus on recording and reconciling activity after those tasks have been handled elsewhere.

Ask about each task you need. Preparing an invoice, tracking an unpaid invoice and collecting payment are different responsibilities. Recording a supplier bill and approving its payment are different responsibilities, too.

At SnapBooks, the Growing Business and Established Business packages include the payroll, invoicing and accounts-payable services listed for those tiers. Confirm the package, limits and work involved in your quote. Those services are not automatically included in the monthly starting price.

Separate historical cleanup and tax preparation

If your books are behind, tell the bookkeeper how far back the work may go and whether a tax preparer has identified specific issues. You do not need to diagnose the problem yourself.

Historical work may involve missing records, incomplete reconciliations or balances that need attention. SnapBooks offers a free bookkeeping cleanup review so we can discuss what the project involves before quoting the work. Cleanup is priced separately from ongoing monthly support.

Tax preparation is also separately priced. You can discuss tax support with SnapBooks or continue working with your existing tax preparer.

Know who to contact

Find out who will handle your books, how to ask questions and what information they need from you. This is an ongoing working relationship, so communication belongs in the comparison alongside tasks and price.

SnapBooks provides a dedicated bookkeeper you can reach by call, text or email. Our work is delivered virtually, and we serve businesses nationwide. Monthly bookkeeping starts at $150 per month; your quote depends on the work your business needs.

You can explore monthly bookkeeping services or tell us about your business. Let us know about your software, ongoing needs and any backlog, and we will talk through the next step.