It’s month-end, and as a small business owner, you’re probably thinking: Already?!

Time flies when you're running a business, especially when you’re focused on keeping things organized and ready for what’s next. And because you’re so proactive, you’re already looking ahead—with data, not just gut instinct 👏

That’s because you’ve got a solid month-end checklist at your fingertips. With it, you can ensure your financial tracking is accurate, that you’re compliant, and that you’re making the smartest decisions for your business.

So, what’s on that list? A few key tasks every small business owner should tackle each month, like these:

• Recording your transactions so you’ll always know where your money’s coming from, where it’s going, and what it means for your bottom line.
  
• Reconciling your bank accounts to catch errors or missed payments before they become bigger issues.
• Managing overdue invoices so cash keeps flowing and you’re not left chasing payments well into next month.
• Reviewing financial statements to understand how your business is really doing and how to make smart, data-backed decisions.
• Staying on top of tax compliance and reporting requirements to avoid late fees, stay audit-ready, and keep your business in good standing.

Reconciling your bank accounts

Keep reading to dive into each of these month-end must-do’s, and how they’ll set you up for a smoother, smarter next month.

How to prepare for month-end

Month-end is a big deal. Think of it as your business's runway. You can’t take off into a new month without making sure everything is lined up and cleared for takeoff.

To keep everything organized, you’ll want to gather all the relevant info, including:

• Invoices
• Receipts
• Transactions
• Bank statements
• Cash flow statement
• P&L statement
• Balance sheet

Depending on how you organize and run your books, this data may come from multiple sources: sales reports, bank statements, vendor invoices, payroll records, and payment platforms, just to name a few.

Once you’ve collected everything, your next step is to make sure every transaction is accurately entered into your accounting system. But don’t worry—if you’re already using Wave to manage your books, this part’s already done for you.

Which means, yes, you can check one thing off your month-end to-do list. ✅

Record your transactions

If there’s one rule every business owner should live by, it’s this: record, record, record.

Knowing where your money’s coming from, where it’s going, and why it’s moving around is essential to understanding how your business is really doing. And to be clear, this isn’t a once-in-a-while thing. Recording your transactions needs to happen regularly for optimal understanding of how things are going.

Enter month-end: the perfect time to hit pause, double-check your numbers, and make sure everything’s in the right place, including:

• Your income: This includes customer payments and invoiced revenue. The key at month-end is to ensure it’s accurately categorized—especially for tax reporting.
• Your business expenses: These include costs like supplies or materials. Remember, these costs could reduce your taxable income, so it’s important they’re properly recorded and supported by receipts. Cough, cough: audits 👀
• Miscellaneous transactions: Items like refunds or customer prepayments.

Already have a spreadsheet that you're using to track it all manually? That’s a start, but those spreadsheets are often prone to errors and swearing-out-of-frustration. (Hey, we don’t judge.)

When you’re busy running a business, the last thing you want to be doing is manually plugging in numbers on a Saturday morning, when you could be planning your next viral TikTok or out celebrating your latest win with an iced matcha latte and some sunshine.

That’s where accounting software like Wave’s comes in.

Wave can’t help with the latest trending dance moves or managing the so-called matcha shortage, but we can help manage your bookkeeping. Our easy-to-use software has been known to streamline and automate your way of recording your business transactions as smoothly as that new choreography you’re trying to master.

Here’s how it works:

To stay on top of your business transactions, connect your business bank account to Wave. This allows you to automatically import, organize, and categorize all your business-related activity, saving you time and reducing manual entry.

To help you record business expenses—even on the go—Wave’s receipts feature takes photos of your paper receipts, extracts the data, and organizes these expenses into your transactions list.

To make it easier to record income from invoices, you can enable online payments in Wave. This gives your customers a quick and easy way to pay. Those payments will then show up automatically in your transactions, so you’re more organized when month-end rolls around.

Reconcile your accounts

The real world is full of surprises. Some wonderful and some that you wish you were more prepared for. The good news? When it comes to month-end, reconciling your accounts helps you do exactly that: prepare.

Reconciling your accounts helps you make sure that the transactions you recorded in your business’s books match what actually happened in the real world.

For example: You just scored your dream wedding. Okay, it’s not yours per se, but as the chosen photographer, you get to shoot the happy couple on one of the best days of their lives. They’ve signed your contract (which was punctuated with an ecstatic text of WE DO!), you’ve sent them the deposit, and they send you another text to let you know the money is on the way.

You pat yourself on the back, thinking: Well done! Another wedding in the books. Then, you add the deposit to your spreadsheet.

Fast forward to month-end and it’s time to reconcile your books with your bank statement at month-end. And that’s when you notice it: the deposit never actually hit your account.

Turns out, the happy couple thought they paid your deposit, but their payment failed due to an expired credit card. Thankfully, you reconciled your transactions. You noticed that the money was not in the bank, and were able to get your deposit within the window you needed before rent for your studio came out of your account.

Not only does reconciling your accounts at month-end help you find mistakes like this one, but it can also help you catch:

• If a transaction was recorded incorrectly
• If you recorded duplicate payments for an invoice
• If you recorded duplicate payments for an expense
• If you missed recording an invoice payment
• If you missed recording an expense

If reading that makes you think (a) you’ve definitely been there, or (b) spreadsheets give you stress sweats, you’re not alone.

Plenty of businesses are in the same boat. Regular reconciliation helps you stay compliant with tax requirements and catch costly mistakes before they snowball. That’s why many business owners use software like Wave to make reconciling their accounts simple and stress-free.

Here’s a snapshot of how reconciling your accounts with Wave works:

1. Start by collecting your first statement for the account. 
2. In Wave, go to Accounting, then Transactions. 
3. Find the relevant account, then click Get Started. 
4. You’ll want to enter the ending balance date from your statement (ex: December 31, 2024) and the ending balance amount, then click save.

From here, two things can happen.

1. Congrats! You’ve successfully reconciled a pay period! 
2. Whoops! The balances are not the same. If that’s the case, Wave will load a page with all your transactions that period so you can review them to see what’s not matching up.

To learn more about reviewing transactions, fixing them, and how Wave helps protect your hard-earned money, watch this video or follow the step-by-step guide here.

Manage your overdue invoices

Nobody likes managing overdue invoices, but unfortunately, it’s a part of running a business. Unless, by chance, you only deal with clients who pay on-time 100% of the time.

…We didn’t think so.

Let’s jump back to that soon-to-be-married couple. Turns out, they’re not so great at paying their invoices—something you’ve now found the closer they get to the big day.

Case in point: too caught up in the pre-ceremony jitters, your clients are late again on paying for their next photo session—the engagement shoot. You understand that they’re busy, but you’ve got bills to pay and a studio roof to keep over your head.

Because you’re calm, cool, and collected in everything you do (especially running your business), your next steps are simple:

1. Reach out to the client, letting them know they’re payment is overdue and how to move forward
2. Receive the payment that you’re owed
3. And, if that’s not possible, work with your clients to create a payment plan that suits both parties

Some clients might be easier to coordinate with others. For example, a simple email reminder might be all it takes to see the money in your bank.

To make things ever easier, Wave’s Pro Plan lets you set up automatic reminders on your invoices. That means you don’t have to do the dirty work of ChatGPT-ing a friendly-but-not-too-friendly reminder for your clients to pay on time.

Review your financial statements

Next on the checklist is reviewing your three main financial statements: balance sheet, profit and loss statement, and cash flow statement.

Here’s a quick overview of what they are and what they mean for your business:

• Balance sheet: This statement shows what your business owns, owes, and is worth right now (i.e. your assets, liabilities, and equity). Some people call it the next best thing to a crystal ball, and we don’t blame them. When updated regularly, your balance sheet has the power to show you the financial standing of your business. Plus, it can give you a fair warning when things are looking a little off.
  
• Profit and loss statement: A profit and loss (P&L) statement is key to understanding your business’s financial health. It shows what’s working, what’s not, and where you might need to step in. That’s why it’s so important to keep it up to date. To create a P&L, you’ll follow this formula: Profit (or Loss) = Total Income – Total Expenses.
• ‍Cash flow statement: Your cash flow statement tracks all the cash (and cash equivalents) coming into and going out of your business over a specific period of time. Simply put, it records every time you earn or spend money.

On their own, these documents might look like enough to get by at month-end or any other time of the year. But the real power is when they join forces with the rest of your month-end checklist.

And if that’s not enough reason to keep you up-to-date on your records, here’s a few more to maintain and review these documents on a regular basis. (And if all else fails, you’ve just earned yourself some bonus trivia knowledge.)

• You’ll need both your balance sheet and P&L statement when filing your year-end taxes.
• Your profit and loss statement shows if you're making a profit (or not) over a set period of time.\
• Your cash flow statement is key to tracking liquidity. It shows you if you have enough cash to cover expenses, which is why it’s great to maintain—especially at month-end.
• Comparing month-over-month reports helps spot trends. Are expenses creeping up? Is revenue dipping? Regular month-end reviews help you catch good and less-good patterns early.
• Consistent reviews make audits way less stressful. If you're ever audited, you’ll be relieved to have clean, consistent records.

Last but not least, when you use Wave, these three financial statements are automatically generated. No manual inputting. No math. No spreadsheets. Record your transactions with Wave and 🪄poof! 🪄

You’ve got everything you need to stay organized and on top of your books at month-end.

Review your tax compliance and reporting requirements

If you hated paying late fees at your local video stores (cue the nostalgia), you’ll definitely want to stay ahead of your tax obligations. Month-end is the perfect time to make sure you're not caught off guard by penalties from missed payments or overdue filings.

The good news? Reviewing your tax compliance and reporting at month-end helps you stay in the clear. The better news? Wave makes it easy. Tools like P&Ls, cash flow statements, and balance sheets are automatically generated and organized—so you always know what’s due and when.

And if you ever face an audit? Accurate, well-kept records mean you’re already prepared.

Maintain good month-end habits for your business

Just like developing good habits helps keep your personal life organized, establishing consistent month-end routines is essential for keeping your business in order.

Here are a few accountant-approved habits to practice:

• Each month, it’s important to take time to record all your transactions accurately. Track every sale, expense, and refund to help you maintain reliable financial records.
• Reconciling your accounts. Comparing your business records with your bank and credit card statements will ensure everything matches up so you can identify any mistakes or missed transactions.
• Managing overdue invoices is also important at month-end. Follow up with clients who haven’t paid on time so you can keep your cash flow steady and prevent unpaid invoices from piling up.
• Reviewing your financial statements, like your profit and loss statement and your balance sheet. This gives you a clear picture of how your business performed in the past month, so you can make informed decisions about budgeting, spending, and planning ahead.
• Staying on top of your tax compliance and reporting requirements. This helps you avoid late fees and penalties. Plus, regularly reviewing your tax obligations ensures you’re prepared for deadlines and keeps your business in good standing with tax authorities.

Small business software like Wave make these month-end tasks much easier by keeping things automated and organized. This means less manual work for you and more accurate, up-to-date records to help keep your business running smoothly and confidently this month-end and all the ones after.

‍Start prepping for your next month-end now with Wave and see how seamless it can be. Trust us: you’ll never look at a check-list or spreadsheet the same way ever again.