15 Key Weekly Bookkeeping Checklist Items (Free Template)

Running a successful bookkeeping business means juggling several competing priorities at any given moment. 

Being organized is key to ensuring that nothing is being missed and you are handling your clients’ accounting efficiently. That’s where a good bookkeeping checklist comes in handy. 

Below is a list of 15 items that should be done each week to help you avoid overlooking any key activities.

15 Key Weekly Bookkeeping Tasks to Include in Your Checklist

By performing each of these tasks regularly (ideally, weekly), you’ll stay on top of your clients’ bookkeeping and have readily available answers to their accounting questions. Though not every task will apply to each of your clients, the list below covers the regular bookkeeping tasks you should complete.

1. Enter Transactions

By far the most basic bookkeeping function, it’s crucial that your clients’ activity is pulled into their accounting system regularly. Entering transactions weekly allows you to raise questions promptly before your client has forgotten the purpose of a transaction. 

You can also provide feedback to your clients quickly if there is a check or payment that doesn’t process correctly.

2. Categorize Transactions

Along with entering transactions, you can organize them each week to avoid having large batches of transactions to allocate at the end of a month. Categorizing transactions soon after they are made means the purchase is fresh in your clients’ minds. 

If there are unusual transactions from unfamiliar vendors, you can bring them to your client’s attention. 

3. Make Deposits

Though some clients make regular bank deposits on their own, you’ll need to make deposits at least weekly for clients in cases where you are responsible for posting deposits to accounts receivable and depositing the funds. 

If your clients collect payment electronically, you can match up deposits with the deposits received by the bank to ensure accuracy. 

4. Bank Reconciliation

Accounts are usually reconciled monthly once bank and credit card statements have been received. With online access to accounts, bank and credit card accounts can be reconciled regularly to quickly catch any missing transactions. 

The reconciliation task can be completed quickly, if you import transactions directly from the clients’ accounts. 

5. Accounts Payable

You should collect and enter bills each week to ensure nothing is missed. This is true whether the clients receive bills electronically or by paper. You should monitor bills on autopay to verify payments are being made by the due date and that the clients’ payment method has not expired. 

Being vigilant can help your clients avoid interest and late fees on missed bills from suppliers.

6. Account Receivable

Accounts receivable should be monitored weekly. This includes sending out any new bills to customers and posting payments against the customers’ accounts. If there are outstanding invoices or past due balances, you should contact the customers as a reminder and request payment. 

Excessively delinquent accounts should be brought to your clients’ attention so you can take action, such as contacting a collection agency. 

7. Review Inventory

Depending on the size and complexity of your clients’ inventory, you should regularly review inventory counts to ensure accuracy and completeness. A full inventory reconciliation should be completed once a year prior to closing the books at the end of the year. 

Weekly inventory checks may include verifying a single product or adjusting inventory levels for price changes.

8. Review Timesheets

Most hourly employees turn in their timesheets each week. By reviewing the timesheets weekly, you can follow up with the employees to verify hours soon after the end of the period but before it becomes more difficult to recreate timesheets or correct errors. 

Asking managers for weekly timesheet approval can avoid a scramble when it’s time to process payroll. 

9. Process Payroll

Though most employees are not paid weekly, you should check the payroll schedule each week to ensure you are processing payroll promptly. Though the rules differ by state, most states have hefty fines for late payroll payments. 

You should also check weekly to ensure that all outstanding payroll tax payments have been made.

10. Review Financial Statements

Though most clients want monthly financial statements, you should review your clients’ financial statements each week to check for anomalies and correct them before you need to provide financial reports. 

These weekly checks will include verifying that account balances make sense and expenses are properly classified.

11. Check Cash Available

Once all the transactions are recorded, you can look at the clients’ available cash and upcoming payments in accounts payable. By comparing the two balances, you can help your clients ensure they have cash available for upcoming payment responsibilities.

12. File Documentation

Handling paperwork each week as you complete bookkeeping will avoid a large backlog at the end of the month. You do not need to keep paper copies of receipts and other documentation. The paperwork can be scanned and properly filed on a server. 

13. Backup Data

After completing the week’s work, you should back up your clients’data. Backups can be cloud-based or kept on local servers. You also need to make sure you know how to restore the backup in case the original data is lost.

14. Client Billing

After you’ve handled all of your clients’ work, you should ensure that the billing for your bookkeeping firm is up-to-date. If you bill clients on an hourly basis, you should make sure your own timesheet is up to date and all invoices have been sent out.

15. Plan the Next Week

At the end of every week, you should take a moment to plan out your work for the coming week. This review should include a calendar check for meetings and planning enough time to complete your work. 

Make sure to build buffer time for unexpected client questions and requests.

Free Template – Bookkeeping Checklists

You can avoid having items falling through the cracks by standardizing your workflow. 

You can track your activities and tasks on paper, using spreadsheets, or within a workflow management tool like Jetpack Workflow. Jetpack Workflow is used by over 6,000 accounting and bookkeeping professionals to stay organized and avoid missing any critical deadlines. You can start with a free 14-day trial anytime.

If you’re not ready to transition to a full online workflow system, Jetpack Workflow has also created a set of 32 free workflow templates and checklists to help you get started (which includes a template of a weekly bookkeeping checklist).