Year-end can feel overwhelming for small and medium-sized businesses across Canada. Between vendor payments, payroll adjustments, inventory updates, and tax deadlines, it’s easy for financial operations to fall behind. But the businesses that close their month — and their year — cleanly and consistently tend to follow one core principle:
A predictable workflow beats a heroic sprint.
At Transcounts, we use a Day-5 ⇒ Day-15month-end approach to help Canadian businesses stay organized, aligned, and ready for year-end — without last-minute chaos. Below is a practical checklist you can use to wrap up your financial year with clarity and confidence.
1. Get Your Books Caught Up Before December 31st
Every strong year-end close starts with having every month before December fully completed. That means all:
- Bank and credit-card accounts are reconciled
- Vendor bills are entered and matched
- Customer invoices are posted and collected where possible
- Payroll entries are reflected accurately
- Adjustments and corrections are finalized
If you’re starting December with old months still open, year-end will be slower, costlier, and more error-prone.
2. Confirm Outstanding Receivables and Payables
Before closing the year, review:
- Open customer invoices (follow up on anything over 30 days)
- Unpaid vendor bills
- Unmatched deposits
- Prepayments and credits
This ensures accurate cash-flow, working-capital reporting, and tax preparation.
3. Prepare for Payroll Year-End (T4/T4A)
January and February move quickly — and CRA deadlines don’t shift. Make sure:
- Employee information is up to date
- All taxable benefits are recorded
- Bonuses and commissions are processed
- ROEs are completed where needed
- T4/T4A mapping is correct in payroll software
A clean December makes for a smooth February.
4. Review Vendor Contracts, Subscriptions & Renewals
Many Canadian businesses lose money to:
- Auto-renewing SaaS tools
- Overlapping software subscriptions
- Outdated vendor agreements
- Incorrect recurring billing
Year-end is the perfect time to audit recurring expenses and cancel anything that no longer aligns with your operations.
5. Validate Your Tax Liabilities
Confirm balances for:
- GST/HST
- PST (if applicable)
- Employer remittances
- Installments (corporate tax)
We document GST/HST recovery opportunities; filings happen when engaged.
Under- or over-reporting here can create penalties or unnecessary cash drag.
6. Organize Digital Documents & Audit Trail
CRA audits often hinge on whether documentation is easy to produce.
Your year-end folder should include:
- Bank statements
- Credit-card statements
- Payroll summaries
- Vendor statements
- Loan/lease statements
- Government correspondence
- Corporate minute book updates
Cloud-based storage makes future audits far easier.
7. Use a Day-5 ⇒ Day-15 Cadence for January & Beyond
Instead of “catching up” all year, lock in a consistent workflow:
- By Day 5:All inputs from your team
- By Day 15:A complete month-end package (P&L, balance sheet, cash-flow, KPIs)
This offers better planning, fewer surprises, and less stress for owners and managers.
Final Thoughts
A well-executed year-end close sets the tone for a stronger, more predictable financial year. It eliminates uncertainty, reduces tax risk, and gives leaders the clarity they need to make better decisions.
If you want help implementing a cleaner, faster, more reliable monthly close, our team is here to support you with bookkeeping, payroll, AP/AR, controller services, and year-end coordination across Canada.
