The bookkeeper's year-end file: what your accountant wants


Every year, accountants send the same list of queries to clients, and every year clients answer half of them. The year-end file is how you break the cycle: a complete, organised pack that lets your accountant prepare the accounts without a fortnight of emails. Here is what goes in it.


The reconciled trial balance


Start with the end of the bookkeeping, not the beginning: a trial balance where every balance sheet account is reconciled. Bank accounts tied to statements, debtors and creditors agreed to aged listings, VAT control agreed to the returns, PAYE control agreed to the payroll summaries, and the directors loan account with a full transaction listing. An unreconciled control account is a question your accountant will ask; a reconciled one is a question they will not need to.


The supporting schedules


Behind each material balance, a schedule: fixed asset additions with invoices, prepayments and accruals with workings, stock valuation with the count sheets, and hire purchase or loan statements showing the split between capital and interest. If a number is more than pocket money, it needs a page explaining it.


The paperwork


Copies of the bank statements for the year, the VAT returns as filed, payroll year-end summaries (P60s, P11Ds), dividend vouchers and board minutes for dividends, new loan or HP agreements, and any HMRC correspondence. Digital copies in one folder beat a carrier bag of paper every time.


The narrative


A short note on anything unusual: the big bad debt written off, the grant received, the director who joined or left, the property bought or sold. Your accountant was not in the business all year; the narrative tells them where to look.


Start early


The year-end file is not a March panic; it is the product of twelve months of tidy bookkeeping. Businesses with outsourced bookkeeping, such as the clients of Finex Outsourcing, find the file practically assembles itself, because the reconciliations and schedules are maintained month by month.

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