Year-end is the moment your bookkeeping meets your accountant. Hand over clean books and your accountant produces statutory accounts and the corporation tax return quickly and cheaply. Hand over a mess and your fees go up, deadlines tighten, and tax planning suffers. This is the checklist we send every client a fortnight before year-end.
The two-week countdown
Two weeks before year-end
- Confirm year-end date with your accountant.
- Decide on year-end tax planning actions (pension, dividends, capital purchases).
- Send debtor reminders to anyone over 30 days late.
- Confirm with suppliers that all bills for the period have been sent.
Week of year-end
- Make any planned year-end purchases (capital allowances available).
- Process pension contributions (must be paid before year-end).
- Declare any final dividends with signed minutes and vouchers.
- Stock count on the last day.
Two weeks after year-end
- All reconciliations complete to year-end date.
- All receipts captured and published.
- All suppliers chased for any missing bills.
- Year-end checklist below worked through.
The full year-end bookkeeping checklist
Bank, cash, and card accounts
- Every bank account reconciled to year-end statement.
- All credit cards reconciled.
- PayPal, Stripe, Wise, Revolut, and any merchant accounts reconciled.
- Cash float reconciled (if you handle cash).
- Foreign currency accounts revalued to year-end exchange rates.
Sales and debtors
- All invoices for work done in the period are raised and dated correctly.
- Aged debtors report reviewed. Anyone over 90 days should be chased, provided against, or written off.
- Deposits received and not yet earned are sitting in deferred income, not revenue.
- Sales returns and credit notes processed.
- Cut-off reviewed: sales after year-end are in the new year.
Purchases and creditors
- All supplier bills for the period are entered, even if not yet paid.
- Aged creditors report reviewed for old unpaid items.
- Accruals posted for known costs without invoices yet (utilities, professional fees).
- Prepayments posted for costs paid in advance (annual software, insurance, rent).
- Cut-off reviewed: bills after year-end are in the new year.
Inventory and work in progress
- Stock count completed at year-end.
- Stock valued at the lower of cost or net realisable value.
- Obsolete stock written down.
- Work in progress valued (for project businesses).
Fixed assets
- Fixed asset register updated for additions and disposals.
- Depreciation posted for the full year.
- Asset disposals: book value removed, sale proceeds received, gain or loss calculated.
- Capital allowance review with your accountant — AIA, FYAs, special rate.
Payroll and PAYE
- All payroll posted including final period.
- PAYE control account reconciles to the year-end liability.
- Pension contributions paid before year-end where planned.
- P11D items identified for staff and directors.
- Year-end pay rise or bonus accruals posted.
VAT
- VAT control account reconciles to the next return liability.
- VAT on any year-end accruals correctly applied.
- Partial exemption annual adjustment posted (if applicable).
- Final quarter's return submitted or scheduled.
Directors
- Director's loan account reconciled. Confirm direction — overdrawn or in credit.
- Dividends paid in the period have signed minutes and dividend vouchers.
- Salaries align with what's been processed through PAYE.
- Director benefits (mobile, medical, company car) identified for P11D.
Loans and finance
- Loan balances agree to lender statements.
- Loan interest accrued and posted.
- HP and finance lease balances reconciled.
- Director's loans repaid within 9 months of year-end (if needed to avoid s455 tax).
Investments and intercompany
- Investments revalued where appropriate.
- Intercompany balances agreed across entities.
- Dividends from subsidiaries recorded.
Reports and lock
- Trial balance produced and reviewed.
- Suspense accounts cleared.
- Year-end management accounts produced.
- Period locked in software to prevent further changes.
The tax-planning window
Year-end is the deadline for several tax planning moves. Last-minute pension contributions, dividend declarations, capital expenditure, and director's loan repayments all depend on getting actions in before the year ends, not after. Talk to your accountant 6–8 weeks before year-end, not after. Our tax planning team runs a year-end review for every limited company client, and the savings usually pay for the engagement many times over.
What "clean" actually means to your accountant
When we describe a client's books as "clean," we mean: all accounts reconcile, all suspense items resolved, all balance sheet figures supported by either a reconciliation or a clear note, and all unusual transactions explained. Our annual accounts team can produce statutory accounts and the CT600 in a fortnight from clean books, versus six weeks from messy ones.
The five most common year-end issues
- Unreconciled credit card statements. Easy to leave hanging through the year.
- Director's loan account confusion. Mixed personal and business spending without a reconciliation.
- Missing supplier bills. Cost incurred but not invoiced means no accrual posted.
- Stock differences. The count doesn't match the system value.
- Dividend documentation. Dividends paid without formal declarations or vouchers.
If you're behind
If your books are months behind, year-end is not the moment to scramble. A proper catch-up project — usually 2–4 weeks of focused work — gets you ready properly. We run catch-up engagements regularly and we've written a separate guide on them. Speak to us via our contact page or book a year-end readiness call.
Year-end is predictable. It's the same date every year, the same checklist, the same outcome if done well. Build the discipline of running this checklist annually and your accountant becomes a tax planner, not a cleaner.