What are general accounting services?
General accounting services encompass the core day-to-day and periodic tasks that keep an individual’s or business’s finances in order and compliant with regulations. Accounting Services in Cleveland. Think of these as the fundamental financial record-keeping and reporting functions.
These services form the backbone of a business’s financial structure and are typically provided by bookkeepers, staff accountants, or outsourced accounting firms.
Here is a breakdown of the most common general accounting services:
1. Bookkeeping 📚
This is the most basic and essential function. It involves the accurate, chronological recording of all financial transactions.
Data Entry: Logging all sales, expenses, receipts, and invoices.
Chart of Accounts Management: Organizing transactions into the correct ledger categories.
Maintaining Subsidiary Ledgers: Tracking details for Accounts Receivable (money owed to the business) and Accounts Payable (money owed by the business).
2. Bank Reconciliation 🏦
This critical service ensures the business’s internal records match the statements provided by its bank.
Matching Records: Comparing the general ledger cash account balance with the bank statement balance.
Identifying Discrepancies: Locating and correcting differences caused by outstanding checks, deposits in transit, bank errors, or unrecorded service charges. This guarantees the cash balance is accurate.
3. Financial Statement Preparation 📄
General accounting is responsible for preparing the key reports that summarize a company’s financial performance and position at regular intervals (monthly, quarterly, or annually).
Income Statement (Profit & Loss): Shows the company’s revenues and expenses over a period.
Balance Sheet: Displays the company’s assets, liabilities, and equity at a specific point in time.
Statement of Cash Flows: Tracks the movement of cash from operating, investing, and financing activities.
4. Payroll Administration 💰
While sometimes offered as a specialized service, managing employee compensation is a common general accounting task for small to medium-sized businesses.
Processing: Calculating gross wages, deductions, and net pay for employees.
Tax Withholding: Calculating and ensuring the timely deposit of federal, state, and local payroll taxes.
Reporting: Preparing and filing quarterly and annual payroll reports (like Forms 940 and 941 in the US).
5. Sales Tax Filing and Compliance 🧾
For businesses that sell goods or services, general accounting handles the collection and remittance of sales taxes.
Calculation: Determining the correct sales tax rate based on location and type of product.
Filing: Preparing and submitting periodic sales tax returns to the appropriate government authorities.
6. General Ledger Maintenance and Cleanup ✨
The general ledger is the central repository of all financial data.
Journal Entries: Recording period-end adjustments, accruals, and deferrals to adhere to the accrual basis of accounting.
Closing the Books: Completing all necessary entries at the end of an accounting period to prepare for the next cycle and finalize financial statements.
Accounting Services Cleveland. These services ensure that a business is compliant, organized, and ready to provide the necessary data for more specialized services like tax preparation or financial audits.