We have gone over the monthly bookkeeping tasks and next up is the quarterly bookkeeping tasks required to effectively manage your business. If you are keeping up with your weekly and monthly bookkeeping tasks, the quarterly tasks will be minimal. The quarterly bookkeeping tasks include paying your quarterly estimated tax payments, reviewing your financial statements for the last quarter, and setting goals for the next quarter.
You will need to compile your financial statements for the following periods.
January through March (Due April 15th)
April through May (Due June 15th)
June through August (Due September 15th)
September through December (Due January 15th)
This way you can determine your tax liability and pay your estimated tax payments on time.
Review Your Financial Statements
You will need to review your financial statements (Balance Sheet, Income Statement, and the Statement of Cash Flows) to determine how your business has performed over the last 3 months. These quarters will differ from the financial statements generated above.
These quarterly statements will include the following periods:
January through March
April through June
July through September
October through December
You can determine what needs to be improved and what has been working well as well as determine how successful you were in completing any previous goals. This will help with the next task of setting goals for the next quarter.
Setting Goals
The last quarterly bookkeeping task is to set goals for the next quarter. Not all of these goals have to be a financial goal however your goals need to be specific, quantifiable, and have a completion date. This gives you a way to track your progress and you will know whether you have successfully completed that goal. A goal to increase revenue is a great goal to have but it needs to be specific, quantifiable, and a completion date. Here is one example: I will increase my revenue by $1,000 by adding 10 monthly clients by December 31, 20XX.
I have found all these quarterly bookkeeping tasks beneficial in my own business and I know you can benefit from them as well. Remember if you are keeping up with your monthly bookkeeping tasks than your quarterly tasks will be minimal. Please be on the lookout for the last of this series when I will discuss your yearly bookkeeping tasks.