Caputa & Associates professional accounting services

Bookkeeping Tips & Best Practices

To help keep your books accurate and compliant, please review the following bookkeeping best practices. Following these guidelines ensures your financial records stay organized and tax-ready throughout the year.

Keeping Your Financial Records Accurate

Bank & Credit Card Account Access: Set up view-only online access for us where possible—this eliminates missing statements and speeds up reconciliations.

If your bank does not allow third-party access, upload statements monthly to your client portal. Whenever possible, use the downloaded PDF from your bank's website rather than a scanned copy — this ensures all pages are clear, complete, and easy for us to process accurately.
Cash or Personal Payments: Let us know about any business expenses paid with cash or personal funds so we can record and properly deduct them — you don't want to miss out on those deductions.

When paying vendors or contractors, avoid cash if possible; use checks or electronic payments for an audit trail.
New Bank & Credit Card Accounts: Let us know immediately if you open any new bank or credit card accounts. Please provide us with access and/or statements as soon as possible.
Deposits: All deposits will be recorded as business revenue unless you tell us otherwise (e.g., owner contributions, transfers, or loan proceeds).
New Vendors: Let us know whenever you start using a new vendor. Please include the vendor name and purpose so when we see the transaction on your bank or credit card statement, we can properly code it to the right category.
Contractors & 1099s: For any new contractors, collect a W-9 form before the first payment so we can issue accurate 1099s at year-end.

Upload any W-9s you've collected to your client portal so we can securely store and reference them when preparing year-end 1099 filings.
Large Purchases & Assets: Provide us with purchase agreements or financing documents for any large asset purchases (equipment, vehicles, computers, etc.) so we can properly record and depreciate them.

If the purchase is financed, we need to record the loan and track payments — please provide access to the loan account or send monthly statements so we can correctly record principal and interest and reconcile to the outstanding balance.
Account Usage: If possible, use one dedicated business checking account for all income and expenses. If you use one credit card for all expenses that's also fine.
Avoid using personal accounts for business activity. If you must use a personal card, dedicate it solely for business expenses—never mix in personal purchases.

Do not pay personal expenses from business accounts. This creates accounting and tax complications and should always be avoided.
Avoid transferring funds between accounts unless it's a clear owner contribution, distribution, or loan—and let us know the purpose.
Business Meals: Keep records of business meals with clients, including who attended and the business purpose. Meals that are primarily personal (for example, lunch or coffee without a clear business discussion) are not deductible. Meals or coffee by yourself are never deductible unless you are traveling away from home overnight for business purposes.
Owner Distributions: To keep your books clean and consistent, try to make owner distributions in even, regular amounts so we can easily identify them.
If you must make irregular amounts or use personal funds for business expenses, please let us know so we can correctly record those as either distributions or expense reimbursements.
Mileage Tracking: Track your business mileage using an app or written log, and let us know your total business miles so we can record it as an expense. Note that miles between your home and your regular office are considered commuting and are not deductible.
Home Office Deduction: If you use a portion of your home exclusively for business, please let us know both the square footage used for business and the total square footage of your home. This allows us to calculate and record the proper home office deduction for your tax return.
Inventory: If your business carries inventory, please provide us with the inventory on hand at year-end (or at the end of each month or quarter, if applicable). This helps us properly reflect your balance sheet asset and calculate cost of goods sold (COGS) on your financial statements to calculate the accurate profit & loss.
Year-end documents: Please submit any 1099, 1098, etc tax documents issued to your business.

Other Resources

Account Access & Client Portal

Set up third-party bank access, connect to IL MyTax, and log in to your client portal.

View Guide

Tax Preparation Tips

How to prepare for tax season, what documents to gather, and what to expect from the process.

View Guide

Payroll Onboarding

Everything you need to get your payroll set up correctly from day one.

View Guide