What should my bookkeeper be giving me every month, and what does a complete monthly bookkeeping package look like?

Are you checking a deliverable or supervising the bookkeeper?

You are checking a deliverable. How the bookkeeper runs the close is their procedure, covered by the month-end close checklist question. Your test is narrower: did each component you are owed arrive, and does the package show the month was closed, not just reported on?

That matters because reports can be run from books nobody has checked against the bank, and nothing on a profit and loss shows the difference. A reconciliation does: AccountingTools' definition of a bank reconciliation describes it as comparing the cash balance in the books with the corresponding balance on the bank statement. So a profit and loss arriving on time is no proof that any account was tied to a statement.

Which reports should arrive, and what does each tell you?

AccountingTools' article on financial statements says that, at the most minimal level, a business is expected to issue an income statement and balance sheet to document its monthly results and ending financial condition; the full set, which adds a statement of cash flows, is expected for a full fiscal year. So a monthly reporting package needs a profit and loss and a balance sheet, plus a cash flow statement if you agreed to one.

Recognize each report by the question it answers, not its file name:

• Profit and loss. Did the business make or lose money this month? The SEC's Beginners' Guide to Financial Statements describes the income statement as showing revenue earned over a period and the costs and expenses of earning it, with a bottom line telling you how much was earned or lost.
• Balance sheet. What does the business own and owe at month end, and what is left for the owners? The SEC's guide calls it a snapshot at the end of the reporting period of assets, things the company owns that have value; liabilities, amounts it owes to others; and equity, the money that would be left for the owners if the assets were sold and the liabilities paid.
• Cash flow statement, if agreed. Did the month bring in or use up cash? The SEC's guide notes that an income statement can tell you whether a company made a profit, while a cash flow statement can tell you whether it generated cash.

If you cannot answer one of those questions from what arrived, that report is missing, whatever the files are called.

Prior-month or year-to-date columns are a scope choice; once agreed, expect them every month.

What shows the month was actually closed?

In any engagement that includes reconciliation and reporting, four evidence items belong in every package:

• A reconciliation for every bank and card account. Expect one per account per month, including a dormant savings account and a card only one employee uses.
• A list of what is unreconciled or uncategorized. It should give each item's date, amount and description, or say "none". AccountingTools' definition of a suspense account describes one used to temporarily store transactions for which there is uncertainty about where they should be recorded; anything parked there, or in an uncategorized account, is money the reports have not yet placed.
• The questions waiting on you. It should name each item the bookkeeper cannot finish without you and what they need, or say "none".
• The close status. It should say whether the month is closed or still open and, if your system can lock a period, the date through which it is locked (QuickBooks Online, for example, uses a lock date).

Formats differ by system. Intuit's help page "Reconcile an account in QuickBooks Online", for example, describes reconciling as matching the transactions entered in QuickBooks with your bank and credit card statements, and says QuickBooks saves a reconciliation report when you finish. Intuit's page "How do I view, print, or export a reconciliation report?" says that report shows beginning and ending balances and which transactions were cleared and which were left uncleared.

Those reconciliations are the bookkeeper's own work, so check them against a record the bookkeeper does not control. Using your own bank and card logins, not copies the bookkeeper sends, compare each statement's ending balance with the balance its reconciliation was tied to. A mismatch, or an account you hold with no reconciliation, is a gap to raise.

Is the month closed, or still open?

It decides how far you can rely on the figures:

• Closed (and locked, where your system allows). Treat the figures as final unless you are told of a change. Intuit's help page "Lock your books in QuickBooks Online" says locking sets a lock date, and transactions on or before it can't be changed without approval. The same page says that, depending on your settings, QuickBooks either warns or asks for a password when someone tries to change a locked transaction, so ask whether your lock needs a password.

  Ask for the lock date, if there is one, in each package, and to be told of any change to a month already delivered: Intuit's reconciliation report page says that report is static, so a later change will not show on it, though it will affect all other reports. If prior-month columns are in your scope, compare them with last month's package; a difference means a delivered month changed.

• Still open. The package is an interim view whose figures can change as documents arrive or questions are answered. That is legitimate if it is labeled open and lists what is pending, but treat its figures as provisional.

Which components belong in every package, and which depend on your arrangement?

In a reconciling and reporting engagement, the universal set is the two reports and four evidence items above. Everything else depends on your contract and your business: cash flow, comparative columns, receivables and payables, inventory, jobs, payroll, sales tax, extra entities and a cover note. Check each against your engagement letter or scope of work before marking it absent: a generic list applied regardless of scope asks for work you never bought and weakens your real complaints.

What changes on the accrual basis or with receivable and payable ledgers?

AccountingTools' article on the accrual basis says accounts receivable, accounts payable, accrued revenue and accrued liabilities are used under the accrual basis but not the cash basis, which requires no accruals. On the accrual basis, the package should add these four items:

• Receivables aging. It shows who owes you, and how late. Intuit's help page "Run an accounts receivable aging report in QuickBooks", for example, says the detail report shows which customers have past due balances and how long each transaction is past due.
• Payables listing. It lists accounts payable, which the same accrual article describes as amounts billed by suppliers that have not yet been paid.
• A tie-out of each listing to the balance sheet. AccountingTools' definition of a control account says its ending balance should match the ending total for the related subsidiary ledger, so each listing's total should equal its balance sheet line.
• Adjusting entries with reasons. The same accrual article advises fully documenting the reason for each adjusting entry. The list shows how income earned and costs incurred in the month but not yet billed, and any estimates such as bad debts, were handled.

If your books are on the cash basis but track customer invoices and supplier bills, expect only the receivables aging and the payables listing: the cash basis uses no receivable or payable accounts for them to tie to.

What if you contracted for categorization only?

Then the legitimate package is smaller: the month's categorized transactions, a list of what could not be categorized, and the questions for you. Reconciliations, a lock and reports are outside that scope, so their absence is not a gap, but any report run from those books rests on unreconciled data. If you need figures you can rely on, add reconciliation to the scope.

What if a separate provider runs payroll?

Settle who owns each payroll piece before calling it missing. A payroll system produces its own reports: Intuit's help page "Create a payroll summary report", for example, says that report shows total payroll wages, taxes, deductions, and contributions. That page notes the report is dated by paycheck date, not pay period, so ask which dates the bookkeeper matches on. Ask the provider and the bookkeeper in writing who produces each piece (the provider's monthly reports, the payroll entries in your books, the payroll withdrawals on the bank reconciliation) and who passes the provider's reports to the bookkeeper. Only a bookkeeper-owned piece can be missing from their package.

What do you have to supply, and what happens if you don't?

The IRS page "What kind of records should I keep" says purchases, sales, payroll and other transactions generate supporting documents, and that these contain the information you need to record in your books. You usually owe statements or feed access for every account, including new ones; the month's supporting documents; answers to open questions; reports from systems the bookkeeper cannot reach, such as payroll; and, on accrual books, supplier bills and invoices issued outside the books.

A missing input stalls a specific component:

Before raising a gap, read this month's and last month's open questions. If the component is waiting on you, the gap is yours to close.

What decides when the package arrives?

The closed package follows the last input, not the calendar. AccountingTools' bank reconciliation article says to reconcile, at a minimum, shortly after the end of each month, when the bank sends you a bank statement. After the statements, the package waits on your documents and answers, third-party reports such as payroll, and, on accrual books, the month's supplier bills. A sensible agreed date is therefore relative: a set number of working days after the last of those arrives. If you need figures sooner, agree a fixed day for an open package, labeled open with its pending items, with the closed package to follow. When a package is late, ask what it is waiting on.

Is a note or commentary part of the package?

Only if you agreed to one. AccountingTools' article on financial statements says statements issued strictly for internal use have no presentation guidelines other than common usage. A useful cover note covers two things:

• Any change made to a month already delivered
• A one-line reason for each large change from last month

How do you check a package as it arrives?

For an engagement that includes reconciliation and reporting, every line in this table applies:

Mark these present, absent or not applicable after checking your scope and your business:

On a categorization-only engagement, mark three lines: the month's categorized transactions (Present / Absent) and, from the first table, the uncategorized list and the open questions. Mark every other line not applicable.

A package is incomplete when a universal line, or a scope line you contracted for, is absent. A brief package has every line, some reading "none"; "none" is an answer, silence is not. Keep the same shape every month; if a line disappears without explanation, ask why.

Why is a component missing, and how do you raise it?

A missing component has one of four causes, each needing a different response:

Check the first two yourself, from your scope and the open questions. Then ask the bookkeeper which of the other two applies, naming the component, the account and month, what you checked on your side, and the evidence that would settle it. For example: "The March package has no reconciliation for the card ending 4417, which is in our scope; I sent that statement on April 3. Please send the March reconciliation report for it, or tell me what it is waiting on and when to expect it."

An answer that resolves the gap contains the missing component, or a reason and a date; says whether any figure already delivered changes; and, if one does, includes the revised reports.