Three systems have to agree before a month is closed. Work through this QuickBooks month-end close checklist in order, from the register to PDI to QuickBooks Online to the bank, and you will find the errors now instead of at tax time.
Works with your POS, back-office & accounting stack
A month is not closed when the reports look right. It is closed when every number has been checked against something outside the report: the register against PDI, PDI against QuickBooks Online, and QuickBooks against the bank. This checklist follows that path, in the order that makes each check easier. It works as an end of month accounting checklist for gas stations, whether you close the books yourself or hand them to a bookkeeper.
Start at the register and finish at the bank. An error found at the register shows up again in PDI, QuickBooks and the bank, so fixing it first saves you from chasing the same difference three times.
An item either ties or it does not. If it ties, tick it. If it does not, write down the day, the amount and the system it differs in. That note is the start of the fix.
Cash is deposited a day or two after the sale, and card and fleet card money arrives later, net of fees. A difference that clears on its own within a few days is timing. One that never clears is an error.
A journal entry can make two numbers agree without fixing why they differed. Correct the mapping or the posting instead, so the gap does not come back next month.
When every item ties, lock the period in QuickBooks Online so later changes cannot quietly alter a closed month.
Is every day closed and counted?
Do PDI's totals match the register?
Was each total posted once and to the right place?
Does the money match the books?
Do deliveries, tanks and bills agree?
Is everything owed accounted for, and does it look right?
We work through all six areas every month, in order, and record a pass or a fail for each item.
A difference gets a named cause: timing, mapping, a pass-through, a duplicate or a missing day.
We correct the mapping or posting so the same item does not fail again next month.
You get the books, plus a short list of what we found and what to change at the store.
Confirm every day is closed and counted.
Confirm its totals match the register for every day.
Confirm each day was posted once, to the right accounts.
Reconcile every account and match deposits and settlements.
Tie deliveries, bills and liabilities, then review and lock the month.
Report names and layouts vary with how your register and PDI are set up. These are the categories we compare.
A missing register day leaves PDI, QuickBooks and the bank permanently apart.
An import is repeated or skipped, so QuickBooks does not equal PDI for that day.
Sales tax and lottery inflate revenue and understate what is owed.
A cash shortage hides inside a total that looks right.
Card fees leave the bank unrecorded, and clearing accounts keep old balances.
Cents per gallon is read from the sales report, not from delivered and sold gallons.
A clear order to work in, with a pass or fail for every item.
A list of what to have ready before the books are closed.
A way to check that the month was actually closed, not just posted.
Missing a document is an open item, not a reason to guess.
A 30-minute call, then about 48 hours while we review your books. You get our findings and a plain explanation of how we would fix them.
If months were never closed, we start with the oldest and work forward.
From then on, every month is run against this checklist and reported on a schedule.
Fuel inventory, daily POS reconciliation, jobber statements and fuel versus store margin.
5 services →Car wash, lottery and ATM, vendor and DSD invoices, prepared food, shrinkage and more.
9 services →Fuel excise and motor fuel tax, multi-category sales tax, BSA/AML-aware books and entity tax.
4 services →Multi-location consolidation, store acquisitions and disposals, and loan and financing packages.
3 services →FAQ
Follow one day of sales from the register to PDI to QuickBooks Online, see where the numbers go missing, and how to check that all three agree.
Read more →The usual causes when PDI and QuickBooks Online disagree, how to find the gap, and how we reconcile the two.
Read more →Monthly bookkeeping for stores that run PDI: daily reconciliation, month-end close and PDI totals posted into QuickBooks Online.
Read more →Send us a day or a month and we'll show you where the three systems disagree.
Get started →FinTruction · Construction Clients
Real US-based contractors. Same team, same operational discipline that we now bring to gas stations. Construction is a different vertical - but the muscle (multi-stream books, cost reconciliation, niche specialization) is the same one stations need.
"They didn't just record transactions and call it a day. They built a custom chart of accounts around how a remodeling company actually runs, did a full catch-up on years of bookkeeping inside QuickBooks Online, and now stay on top of my monthly bookkeeping and payroll."
Oniel Campbell
"Sahil and his team have been handling the bookkeeping and job costing for my painting business. They've done a great job cleaning up my books, using integrations to give me accurate, timely job costing and solid weekly data. Reliable, and the team is very detailed."
Dalton Mayberry
"They rebuilt the whole thing from the ground up, with real job costing, WIP, and retainage."
Carl Moore
Owner, Hearth & Haus
"They set the accounts up properly first, then cleaned up everything I never entered."
Rolian
"When I came to them I had no financial structure in place at all. No job costing, no WIP tracking, books were behind, no real way to tell if any job was actually making money. They came in, did a full cleanup, and set up job costing and WIP tracking inside QuickBooks."
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