Connecting your bank account to QuickBooks is a helpful start, but it doesn’t mean your bookkeeping is finished. Transactions can be missing, expenses can land in the wrong categories, and customer payments can be recorded twice if they aren’t handled correctly.
A consistent monthly review helps you catch these issues while the details are still fresh. It also gives you a clearer picture of what your business earned, what it spent, and what needs your attention.
Here are five things I recommend reviewing in QuickBooks Online each month.
1. Bank-feed activity and transaction categories
Start by checking each connected bank and credit card account. Look for transactions waiting for review, connection problems, and unexpected gaps in the activity.
A connected account doesn’t guarantee that every transaction downloaded successfully. If your business was active throughout the month but QuickBooks shows several weeks with no activity, compare those dates with your statements.
When reviewing transactions, ask:
- Does this belong to the business?
- Is the category appropriate?
- Is it already recorded somewhere in QuickBooks?
- Do I have enough information to explain the purchase?
If a downloaded transaction matches an existing entry, match it rather than adding another copy. For example, adding a customer’s bank deposit as new sales income when the invoice payment is already recorded can overstate income.
Pro Tip: Review transactions categorized by bank rules, too. Rules save time, but a familiar vendor doesn’t always mean the same type of purchase.
2. Bank and credit card reconciliations
Categorizing transactions and reconciling accounts are different jobs.
Categorizing explains what the activity represents. Reconciling compares the activity recorded in QuickBooks with your bank or credit card statement for a specific period.
Use the statement’s ending date and balance, then work through the transactions to identify differences. Missing entries, duplicates, fees, and incorrect amounts can all cause problems.
Don’t force a reconciliation to balance with an adjustment you can’t explain. Find the reason for the difference—or get help investigating it.
Also review older transactions that remain uncleared. An outstanding check may be legitimate, but an old duplicate or incorrectly dated entry needs attention.
Pro Tip: Keep the statement and reconciliation report together in a monthly folder. That makes it easier to retrace your work if a question comes up later.
3. Unpaid customer invoices and upcoming bills
If you invoice customers, review what is still outstanding and how long it has been unpaid. An accounts receivable aging report can help organize those balances.
Before sending a reminder, confirm that the customer hasn’t already paid. A payment recorded incorrectly or left unapplied can make a settled invoice appear overdue.
For oilfield consultants and other service providers, it’s also worth asking: Did I invoice for all the work I completed? An overdue-invoice report won’t show a job you never billed.
If you track vendor bills in QuickBooks, review unpaid bills and upcoming due dates as well. Otherwise, maintain a separate, reliable list of upcoming obligations.
Knowing what you expect to collect—and what you need to pay—helps you plan beyond today’s bank balance.
4. Your Profit and Loss report
Once transactions are reviewed and accounts are reconciled, run your Profit and Loss report for the month.
Compare it with the previous month and review the year-to-date totals. Keep the reporting basis consistent—cash or accrual—so you aren’t comparing reports prepared differently.
Look for:
- Income that seems unusually high or low.
- Expenses that jumped without an obvious explanation.
- Categories that seem inconsistent with your business.
- Uncategorized amounts or balances still waiting for clarification.
A change isn’t automatically a mistake. A large equipment repair, seasonal slowdown, or annual insurance payment may explain it. The goal is to understand the numbers.
Remember that profit and available cash are not the same thing. Loans, owner transfers, equipment purchases, and the timing of customer payments can affect cash differently from profit.
Pro Tip: Pick one meaningful change and investigate it. Understanding why an expense increased is more useful than simply noticing that it did.
5. Your Balance Sheet and owner transactions
Your Balance Sheet shows what the business owns, what it owes, and its equity at a particular date. Review it as of the end of the month.
Check whether bank, credit card, and loan balances make sense. Look into unexpected negative balances, unfamiliar accounts, or amounts that haven’t changed when you expected activity.
Pay particular attention to transfers between accounts and money moving between you and the business.
Moving money from business checking to business savings generally isn’t an expense. Paying a credit card balance shouldn’t record the underlying purchases as expenses a second time. Owner contributions, distributions, payroll, and reimbursements also need to be distinguished appropriately.
If a personal purchase went through a business account, identify it so it can be handled correctly rather than left in a business expense category.
The right treatment depends on the transaction and your business structure. When something is unclear, flag it for your bookkeeper or CPA instead of guessing.
Turn the review into a monthly habit
Set aside a recurring time after your monthly statements become available. Work through the same five areas:
- Review bank feeds and categories.
- Reconcile bank and credit card accounts.
- Check unpaid invoices and upcoming bills.
- Review income and expenses.
- Check balances and owner transactions.
Write down questions as you go. You don’t have to solve every issue immediately, but keeping a clear list helps prevent the same unanswered questions from carrying into the next month.
Want help keeping QuickBooks current?
I help oilfield contractors, self-employed professionals, and small service businesses keep their records organized and understand their numbers.
If your monthly review keeps getting pushed aside—or QuickBooks shows balances you can’t explain—schedule a free consultation. I’ll learn about your business, review the support you need, and discuss the next step.