Your year-end: Step 1, gathering up your records

The first thing you need to do is get all of your transactions into an accounting application (preferably Wave, of course). That means:

• all your expenses
• all your income
• all your sales taxes, paid and collected

Begin by choosing the option below that describes where your records can be found now, and follow the instructions!

• I have electronic bank statements I can rely on
• I’ve been using a spreadsheet
• I’m switching from another accounting application
• I’ve been using an expense-tracking software
• My receipts are still in a shoebox
• Wait… I was supposed to track this stuff?

If more than one of these options apply (for example, maybe you have part of your records for the year in a spreadsheet, and part of it in a different accounting application), simply follow the steps for each option that applies to you, until your data is all in Wave.

Just make sure that you don’t overlap time periods and enter info twice. For instance, if your January records exist on your spreadsheet as well as in your old accounting application, make sure only one of those is input into Wave.

Finished with Step 1? Move on to Step 2!

Need more help? 
If you want more assistance, or if you prefer to let someone else do the work, we can put you in touch with accountants and bookkeepers from the Wave Pro Network. Find a Wave Pro.

Wave is 100% free online accounting for small businesses. 

This post is part of our year-end tax resources series, which you can find year-round in Wave in our Year End Resource FAQs.