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Essential Year-End Strategies for QuickBooks® Online Users: Preparing for 2025

Wrapping up your fiscal year requires more than a flurry of activity as December closes in. As a diligent business owner employing QuickBooks® Online (QBO), the period to assure seamless year-end transition begins now. With evolving features and the IRS sharpening its oversight, proactive alignment before the year's end is a strategic maneuver to save time, minimize risk, and gear up for 2026.

1. Reconcile Accounts and Polish Transactions

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Head to Settings → Chart of Accounts → Reconcile. Align your closing bank and credit-card statements, audit our Undeposited Funds, and ensure all residual items are resolved. The inbuilt QBO guidelines spotlight unreconciled entries to prevent any unwelcome surprises come April.

2. Scrutinize Customer & Vendor Aging Reports

Execute Accounts Receivable Aging and Accounts Payable Aging analyses. Address cash-flow crippling receivables and due vendor invoices now to ensure that your profit-and-loss and balance sheet display precision. This exactness aids in expediting your tax preparation.

3. Harness Upgraded Reporting Abilities

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The "Modern View" of QBO standard reports boasts elevated filters, swifter loading durations, and superior customization. This enables more efficient generation of Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Forecasts.  

4. Arrange and Monitor 1099/NEC for Contractors

If your business engages freelancers or independent contractors, navigate to Expenses → Vendors → Prepare 1099s. Ensure W-9s are collated, payment thresholds are observed, and that QBO appropriately identifies vendors. Missing this step could lead to costly penalties early next year.

5. Finalize the Books & Affirm Fiscal Parameters

Within Settings → Advanced, verify the "First month of fiscal year". Then, issue closing balances and secure alterations. Locking down these details ensures stability in your year-end figures and delivers a polished account for your tax preparer.

6. Forecast for 2026 and Cultivate Cash Flow Stability

Leverage QBO’s Cash Flow projections to anticipate Q1 2026: foresee potential revenue draws, schedule tax obligations, and prepare for periodic cost increases. This foresight sets a buffer and enhances clarity, beyond simply tidying the prior year’s data.

7. Utilize Automation and Fresh Tools

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The latest QBO updates, such as streamlined pay item management and e-signatures for payroll documentation, enhance efficiency and mitigate error risk amid year-end pressures.  

Ultimately, dedicating 30-60 minutes weekly to account reconciliation, aging report review, deploying updated analytics, maintaining contractor documentation, and locking fiscal settings ensures you greet 2026 with orderliness rather than disorder. QuickBooks® Online transcends transaction recording—it's about being strategically prepared.

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