Closing out the month

This is a checklist of things that need to be done before the month is closed out for bookkeeping. By completing all the items on this list, we ensure a more accurate picture of actual income and expenditures -- useful when setting the budget. Sometimes transaction detailss that occur during a given month aren't known until a few weeks later, but in general many of these steps can be completed in the first week or two of the next month.

1. check the "Orphan" account for mistakes
   • Imbalance-USD
   • Orphan-USD
2. pay bills
   • record bills that have been paid automatically
   • write and mail checks for bills that need manual payment
     • (get authorization from appropriate committee if bill is at all questionable)
3. pay rent
4. pay health care reimbursements
5. record payroll transactions
   • regular payroll
   • substitute payroll
   • tax withholding
6. retirement
   • report 403(b) deductions (plus employer matches) to VALIC (online)
     • See instructions at How to report retirement plan contributions
   • write and send check to VALIC
7. record receipts
   • credit card
   • reimbursements (from cash box)
8. record daily income reports
9. record deposits
10. record online account transactions
    • eBay (Serge creates a spreadsheet)
    • online paypal donations (if any)
    • initiate a transfer to appropriate bank accounts and have michael finish it by transferring money into savings
11. check A/R accounts
    • recycling vendors (i.e. Calbag)
    • tenant sublets
12. check A/P accounts
    • recycling vendors (i.e. Total Reclaim)
13. reconcile bank accounts
    • ebay transfer
    • donations transfer
    • savings (operating reserve)
    • main checking
14. reconcile cash box