Statements are only worth as much as the books behind them. If yours are behind or have drifted, catch-up and cleanup comes first, because a tidy report built on unreconciled records is worse than no report at all.

The three statements

Every close produces the same set. Individually they answer different questions; together they are what a lender, a CPA or a buyer will ask for.

Profit and loss

What you earned and what you spent over the period, and what was left. This is the one most owners look at first, and the one that tells you whether the last month actually worked.

Balance sheet

What the business owns and owes at a point in time. It is the statement that catches problems a profit and loss hides, because a business can look profitable on paper while its balance sheet quietly deteriorates.

Cash position

Where the money actually went, which is rarely the same story as the profit and loss. Profit is an accounting result; cash is what pays people. When the two diverge, this is the statement that shows why.

When you get them

Every month, once the books are closed, with a short plain note on what moved and why. Not a spreadsheet dump for you to interpret. If a number looks strange, the note usually explains it before you have to ask.

What your CPA gets

A year-end package prepared so it can be filed from directly: reconciled accounts, a trial balance that ties, and supporting detail where it is needed. The goal is that April involves no rework, no rebuilding, and no surprise invoice for cleanup your accountant had to do first.

I prepare the vendor list and totals for 1099s. Your CPA files them.

Statements are only as good as the ledger under them. If the books are behind, the honest first step is catch-up and cleanup. Producing statements from records that were never reconciled just gives you confident-looking numbers that are wrong.

Where to next

What it costs How a month works Common questions Book a call

Financial statement preparation