The Number: $4,500
January is the worst time to find out your books are a mess. Your CPA wants clean numbers, your 1099s are due, and you're trying to bid next year's work off a P&L you don't fully trust.
Here's how it usually plays out. Say $18,000 in material runs never made it into the books this year, receipts lost in the truck, a supplier invoice that got coded nowhere, a card charge nobody matched to a job. Those jobs now look $18,000 more profitable than they were. At a 25% combined tax rate, that's $4,500 in tax on profit you never made.
And that's just one leak. The same messy year also hides which jobs actually made money, which subs need a 1099, and how much retainage is still sitting out there.
This guide walks through the fix in two parts: close out this year while there's still time to chase what's missing, then set up the systems that keep next year from turning into the same scramble. This is Week 1 of The Year-End Guide. Every Tuesday through the end of the year, a new chapter goes deep on one step, and each one gets linked here as it goes live. Bookmark this page and work through it at your own pace.
Not sure how messy yours are? The free Bookkeeping Setup Scorecard takes about two minutes and tells you where to start.
What's in this guide
Your week-by-week plan
Week 1 (Oct 27): Take the Bookkeeping Setup Scorecard and see where you’re starting
Week 2 (Nov 3): Reconcile every account
Week 3 (Nov 10): Find missing receipts and fix job costing
Week 4 (Nov 17): Get your 1099s ready
Week 5 (Nov 24): Collect retainage and open receivables
Week 6 (Dec 1): Bill every approved change order
Week 7 (Dec 8): Meet with your CPA before Dec 31
Week 8 (Dec 15): Set up receipts, job costing, and sub paperwork for next year
Week 9 (Dec 22): Build a weekly and monthly rhythm
Week 10 (Dec 29): Plan your first 90 days of cash
Want it on paper? Download the free Year-End Guide checklist; all 10 weeks on one printable page. No email required.
Part 1: Close out this year (November and December)
The goal before December 31 is simple: every dollar that came in or went out this year is in the books, on the right job, in the right account. Here's where to start.
Week 2 (Nov 3): Reconcile every account through November
Bank accounts, credit cards, loans, the line of credit. If something has been unreconciled since summer, start there, because everything else depends on it.
Week 3 (Nov 10): Find the missing receipts and fix job costing
Go through card statements and supplier accounts and match every charge to a job. Home Depot, Lowe's, and most supply houses can pull purchase history by account, so the receipt that got lost in the truck isn't gone for good.
Clean up job costing. Look at every open and closed job. Are labor, materials, and subs coded to the right job? Are there costs sitting in a general bucket that belong to a project? This is what tells you which jobs actually made money.
Week 4 (Nov 17): Get your 1099s ready now, not in January
Pull a list of every sub and vendor you paid this year and make sure you have a current W-9 for each one. For payments made in 2026, the 1099-NEC threshold went up from $600 to $2,000 per payee, so check your list against the new number. Forms are due to the IRS and your subs by February 1, 2027.
Week 5 (Nov 24): Collect retainage and open receivables
List every job with retainage still held and when it should be released. Then work the AR aging report and follow up on anything past 60 days before the holidays slow everyone down.
Week 6 (Dec 1): Bill every approved change order
Every approved change order should be billed. If any were approved verbally and never invoiced, now is the time to document and bill them.
Week 7 (Dec 8): Meet with your CPA before December 31
A short planning call in November or early December gives you time to act on equipment purchases, estimated payments, or timing decisions. After December 31, those options are gone.
Part 2: Set up next year's systems (before January 1)
Cleaning up once feels good. Not having to clean up next December feels better. A new year is the easiest time to change how the books run, because you're starting with a clean slate instead of fixing things mid-stream.
Week 8 (Dec 15): Set up receipts, job costing, and sub paperwork for next year
Capture receipts the day they happen. Pick one method, a receipt app connected to QuickBooks or a photo sent to one shared inbox, and make it the rule for everyone who buys on the company card. The receipt gets captured in the parking lot, not found in the glovebox in March.
Set up job costing the right way from day one. Every new job gets created in your accounting system before the first dollar is spent, with cost codes that match how you estimate. When your estimate and your actuals use the same categories, you can finally compare them.
Collect sub paperwork before the first check. W-9, certificate of insurance, and license on file before a sub starts, and a lien release with every payment. If you do this all year, 1099 season takes an afternoon.
Week 9 (Dec 22): Build a weekly and monthly rhythm
A short weekly check covers bills, deposits, and receipts. A monthly close covers reconciliations, job cost review, and AR. The books stay current, and problems show up while you can still fix them.
Week 10 (Dec 29): Plan your first 90 days of cash
January and February are slow for a lot of contractors, while insurance renewals, payroll, and overhead keep coming. Mapping it out now tells you whether you need a reserve, a line of credit, or a faster billing schedule. Our 90-day cash flow forecast post walks through how.
Decide who does what. Your bookkeeper, your CPA, and a CFO-level advisor each play a different role. Figure out which layers you have, which you need, and who owns each task before January gets busy.
Where does your setup stand?
Before you start the checklist, take two minutes to see where you're starting from. The free [Bookkeeping Setup Scorecard]([SCORECARD URL]) asks a few quick questions about how your books run today and gives you a grade, plus the areas to fix first. No email required.
If the score comes back lower than you'd like, that's the point. It's better to know in October than to find out in April.
Take the Bookkeeping Setup Scorecard
And if you'd rather have someone walk through year-end with you, book a discovery call. We'll look at where your books are today and what it takes to start next year clean.