What Should I Send My Bookkeeper Each Month?

Your bookkeeper usually needs bank and credit card statements, receipts for unclear purchases, customer invoices, vendor bills, loan statements, payroll reports, payment processor reports, and quick notes about anything unusual. The cleaner your monthly handoff is, the easier it is to keep your small business bookkeeping accurate, reconciled, and useful.

If your bookkeeper has ever sent you a “quick question” that turned into a scavenger hunt through emails, receipts, bank accounts, and your own memory, this article is for you.

Most bookkeeping delays do not happen because the accounting is impossible. They happen because a transaction shows up with no story attached. QuickBooks may show the charge, but it does not always know what happened, who it was for, or whether it belongs to the business at all.

That is where a simple monthly handoff can save everyone time.

Monthly bookkeeping handoff at a glance

Here is the short version of what to send your bookkeeper each month:

• Bank statements
• Credit card statements
• Receipts for unclear, large, or unusual expenses
• Customer invoices and payment details
• Vendor bills and unpaid bills
• Loan, lease, and financing statements
• Payroll reports
• Payment processor reports
• Notes about owner purchases or reimbursements
• Details about anything unusual that happened that month

You may not need every item every month. A contractor with job materials, subcontractors, progress payments, loans, and multiple credit cards will usually have a more detailed handoff than a simple service business.

The goal is not to bury your bookkeeper in paperwork.

The goal is to give your bookkeeper enough information to keep your books clean without guessing.

Why does my bookkeeper need documents if QuickBooks imports transactions?

QuickBooks can import activity, but it cannot always explain activity.

A bank feed can show that money came in or went out. It does not always show whether the transaction was categorized correctly, whether a payment was applied to the right customer, or whether an expense belongs to the business.

That is why monthly bookkeeping services depend on two things: the software and the story behind the numbers.

For example, QuickBooks may show a charge from Amazon. That could be office supplies, job materials, equipment, a client purchase, or something personal that accidentally hit the business card.

Without the receipt or a quick note, your bookkeeper may have to stop and ask.

One unclear transaction is not a big deal. Twenty unclear transactions every month will slow the whole process down.

What bank records should I send my bookkeeper?

Send statements for every business checking and savings account.

Your bookkeeper needs bank statements for bank reconciliations. Reconciliation means your books are compared against the actual bank statement, not just the activity that imported into QuickBooks.

This helps catch missing transactions, duplicates, timing issues, bank errors, and anything that may have been recorded incorrectly.

If your bookkeeper already has secure access to your bank statements, you may not need to send them manually. But the statements still need to be available each month.

This is one of the biggest differences between books that are “updated” and books that are actually reviewed.

Should I send credit card statements too?

Yes. Send statements for every business credit card.

Credit card bank reconciliation matters just as much as checking account reconciliation. Many business owners use credit cards for software, supplies, fuel, meals, travel, equipment, subscriptions, job materials, and online purchases.

If the statement is missing, the account may look active in QuickBooks, but it may not be fully verified.

That matters because small credit card errors can build up quietly. Duplicate charges, missing payments, personal purchases, and unclear expenses can all affect your reports.

Your bookkeeper cannot cleanly reconcile what they cannot see.

Do I need to send every receipt?

You should keep receipts for business expenses, but your bookkeeper may not need every tiny receipt manually sent every month if you have a good system in place.

What they absolutely need are receipts for purchases that are large, unusual, unclear, or easy to misread.

Send or save receipts for:

• Equipment purchases
• Meals or travel
• Repairs
• Client purchases
• Job materials
• Home office or mixed-use expenses
• Online purchases with vague vendor names
• Anything paid from the wrong card by accident

Receipts help explain what the transaction was for. They also help support your records if your CPA or tax preparer has questions later.

The IRS explains that business records should clearly show income and expenses, and that supporting documents from purchases, sales, payroll, and other transactions contain information needed for the books. You can review the IRS recordkeeping guidance here: IRS recordkeeping guidance.

What customer invoice details should I send?

If your business invoices customers, your bookkeeper may need to know which invoices were sent, paid, partially paid, written off, or still outstanding.

This is especially important if you use accounts receivable automation, payment links, QuickBooks Payments, Stripe, Square, PayPal, Shopify, or another processor.

A bank deposit does not always tell the whole story.

Your bookkeeper may need to know:

• Which customer paid
• Which invoice the payment belongs to
• Whether fees were taken out
• Whether a payment was partial
• Whether a deposit included more than one customer
• Whether a refund, chargeback, or credit was issued

This keeps accounts receivable cleaner and helps your reports show what customers still owe.

It also helps you avoid one of the most frustrating small business problems: money came in, but no one is completely sure what it paid for.

What vendor bills should I provide?

If you track bills in QuickBooks, send or upload vendor bills as they come in.

This helps your bookkeeper understand what has been paid, what is still owed, and whether something was entered twice by accident.

For accounts payable, your bookkeeper may need:

• Vendor bills
• Due dates
• Payment confirmations
• Vendor credits
• Notes about disputed charges
• Details about recurring bills

Accounts payable automation solutions can help, but they still need good information behind them.

Automation can move faster than a person. It cannot always tell whether the bill is correct, whether the vendor credit was applied, or whether something needs a second look.

Why do loan and financing statements matter?

Loan payments can be tricky because one payment may include principal, interest, fees, or escrow.

If the full payment is posted to one expense category, your reports may be wrong.

Send statements for:

• Business loans
• Vehicle loans
• Equipment financing
• Lines of credit
• Leases
• Merchant cash advances
• Any new financing agreement

This helps your bookkeeper separate the payment correctly so your Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss make more sense.

This is also why accurate accounting services matter. Some transactions are not just “money out.” They affect more than one part of your books.

What payroll records should I send?

If you run payroll, your bookkeeper may need payroll reports each month, especially if payroll does not fully connect to QuickBooks or if adjustments are needed.

Payroll can affect wages, employer taxes, benefits, reimbursements, liabilities, contractor payments, and job costing.

Send reports that show:

• Gross wages
• Employer taxes
• Employee deductions
• Benefits
• Reimbursements
• Payroll tax payments
• Contractor payments, if applicable

Payroll is one of those areas where “close enough” can get messy quickly.

If your bookkeeper does not have the right payroll reports, your books may show payroll activity without fully explaining what happened.

What about Stripe, Square, PayPal, Shopify, or QuickBooks Payments?

If you accept payments through a merchant processor, your bookkeeper may need processor reports.

The bank may only show the net deposit. The processor report shows what happened before the money hit the bank.

That may include:

• Gross sales
• Processing fees
• Refunds
• Tips
• Sales tax collected
• Chargebacks
• Transfers
• Timing differences

Without this information, income may be understated, fees may be missed, or customer payments may not apply correctly.

This is where a lot of business owners get tripped up. The deposit looks simple. The story behind the deposit is not always simple.

What should I tell my bookkeeper about owner purchases?

Tell your bookkeeper when personal and business money cross paths.

If you use a personal card for a business expense, your bookkeeper needs to know. If you use the business card for something personal, your bookkeeper needs to know that too. These expenses should be kept separate.

Keep a simple note for:

• Business purchases made personally
• Personal expenses paid from the business account (not recommended)
• Owner reimbursements
• Owner draws or distributions
• Money transferred between personal and business accounts

The faster these are identified, the easier they are to record correctly.

If no one explains them, your books can quietly drift away from reality.

What should I not send my bookkeeper?

You do not need to send a mountain of random screenshots with no explanation.

Helpful is good. Chaotic is not.

Try not to send:

• Blurry receipt photos
• Partial screenshots with missing dates
• Personal records mixed into business records
• Unlabeled deposits
• One giant folder called “bookkeeping stuff”
• Late answers to last month’s questions

Your bookkeeper does not need perfection. They need clarity.

A short note can be better than five confusing attachments.

When should I send monthly bookkeeping records?

The best time to send monthly bookkeeping records is shortly after the month closes and your bank and credit card statements are available.

For many small businesses, that means the first week of the following month.

A simple monthly habit can look like this:

1. Confirm bank and credit card statements are available.
2. Upload receipts and documents.
3. Send payroll, loan, and payment processor reports if needed.
4. Answer open questions from the prior month.
5. Tell your bookkeeper about anything unusual.
6. Review your reports when the month is complete.

This does not need to take all day. Once the process is clean, it should become a normal monthly routine.

Glenn’s perspective

After 23+ years working with small business owners, Glenn has seen one thing repeatedly: most bookkeeping delays are not caused by complicated accounting.

They are caused by missing context.

A transaction comes through, but no one knows what it was for. A deposit appears, but it does not match one customer invoice. A loan payment clears, but there is no statement showing principal and interest. A business card has personal charges mixed in, but no one flagged them.

None of that means the owner did anything wrong.

It means the bookkeeper needs the right information before the books can be accurate.

Good bookkeeping is not just about entering numbers. It is about making sure those numbers tell the truth.

That is what gives business owners confidence.

What if I am already behind?

If you are behind, start with what you have.

Do not wait until every receipt, note, and statement is perfectly organized. That usually turns into another month of delay.

Start with the basics:

• Bank statements
• Credit card statements
• Payroll reports
• Loan statements
• Payment processor reports
• Any receipts you can find for large or unclear expenses
• A short list of anything you know is missing

Then let the next step be a review.

A good bookkeeper can help you work through the gaps. The important thing is to stop letting “not perfect” become the reason nothing moves forward.

How can Perlinger Consulting help?

Perlinger Consulting provides bookkeeping services for small business owners who need clean monthly books, accurate accounting, bank and credit card reconciliations, and practical QuickBooks support.

If your monthly handoff feels messy, we can help you create a cleaner process so you are not answering the same questions every month.

Sometimes the right next step is monthly bookkeeping. Sometimes it is cleanup. Sometimes it is QuickBooks training so you understand what is happening and what your bookkeeper needs from you.

The goal is simple: fewer mysteries, cleaner records, and numbers you can actually use.

Learn more about our bookkeeping services for small business or contact Perlinger Consulting to ask about the best next step.

Quick FAQ

What should I send my bookkeeper each month?

Send bank statements, credit card statements, receipts for unclear purchases, customer invoices, vendor bills, payroll reports, loan statements, payment processor reports, and notes about unusual transactions.

Do bank feeds replace bank statements?

No. Bank feeds help import activity, but bank statements are still needed for bank and credit card reconciliations. Reconciliation confirms that your books match the actual statement.

Do I need to send receipts every month?

You should keep receipts for business expenses, especially large, unusual, or unclear purchases. Your bookkeeper may not need every receipt manually sent each month if you have a secure system, but the records should be available.

What if I do not know how to categorize something?

Do not guess if you are unsure. Send a short note to your bookkeeper explaining what the transaction was for. A quick explanation now can prevent cleanup later.

Can QuickBooks training help with the monthly handoff?

Yes. QuickBooks training can help you understand what your bookkeeper needs, how transactions flow through QuickBooks, and how to avoid small mistakes that create bigger cleanup issues later.

Serving small business owners in Littleton, Centennial, the Denver Metro, and beyond with remote bookkeeping, accurate accounting, and hands-on QuickBooks support.

Disclaimer: Perlinger Consulting, Inc. is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Intuit Inc. QuickBooks is a registered trademark of Intuit Inc. This article is for general educational purposes only and should not be considered tax, legal, or financial advice. Please consult your CPA, tax preparer, or attorney for guidance specific to your business.