Who's supposed to tell the CPA about the new truck loan?
If you just thought "the bookkeeper," and your bookkeeper would say "the owner," and the owner would say "I assumed the CPA saw it in the books," congratulations. You've found the gap where most year-end problems live.
A bookkeeper and a CPA are both on your team, but they often work in separate rooms and talk to each other once a year, by email, in March. Here's how the handoff between them should work: who owns what, what gets passed along, and the one step almost everybody forgets.
Who does what: bookkeeper and CPA
The roles are different, and they're supposed to be.
The bookkeeper (or accounting team) records transactions all year, reconciles accounts, runs payroll, closes each month and produces financial statements. The work is about getting the numbers right.
The CPA prepares and files tax returns, advises on tax decisions (entity elections, depreciation methods, estimated payments) and may do other attest or advisory work. The work is about what those numbers mean for your taxes.
If those roles are fuzzy in your head, you're in good company. Our guide to bookkeeper vs accountant sorts out who does what and who you call when the numbers look weird.
ABFI sits firmly on the bookkeeping and accounting side. We don't prepare or file taxes, and we're not a CPA firm. We keep the books accurate and hand your independent CPA an organized package.
What the year-end handoff package should include
A handoff is only as good as what's in the box. A solid package has:
- Final year-end reports: profit and loss, balance sheet and trial balance.
- December statements for every bank, card and loan account, matching the reconciled balances.
- Payroll year-end reports from the provider.
- A contractor list with totals and W-9 status.
- A list of fixed asset purchases and disposals.
- Loan summaries showing interest paid and year-end balances.
- A short memo on anything unusual: new entities, ownership changes, large one-time items, open questions.
The memo is the part most often skipped and the part CPAs appreciate most. It's the difference between handing someone a box of puzzle pieces and handing them the box with the picture on the front. What goes into the books themselves is covered in tax-ready books: what your CPA wishes you knew.
The step almost everybody forgets: booking the CPA's adjustments
Here's where many handoffs fail. While preparing the return, the CPA often makes adjusting journal entries (corrections or year-end entries such as depreciation, reclassifications or accrual changes). Those entries change the numbers on the return.
If nobody records those same entries back in your accounting software, your books and your tax return now disagree. Next year, the opening balances won't match the prior return, and the CPA spends time figuring out why.
The fix is simple. Ask the CPA for their adjusting entries once the return is done, and have your bookkeeper record them, dated December 31 of the tax year. Then confirm that ending equity in the books matches the return.
A worked example: the $9,400 that wouldn't go away
Say you own a hypothetical landscaping company. For 2025, the bookkeeper hands over closed books showing net income of $212,000. While preparing the return, the CPA records $9,400 of depreciation on a new mower and trailer and reclassifies a $2,600 personal expense to owner draws.
The return uses adjusted numbers. Nobody records the adjustments in QuickBooks.
In 2026, the bookkeeper's balance sheet shows retained earnings (the accumulated profit kept in the business) that don't match the prior-year return, and fixed assets have no accumulated depreciation. The CPA's first email of the new tax season is a question about a mismatch from the year before. Everyone loses a few hours, and the books carry a small error all year that affects every balance sheet you hand a lender.
Had the bookkeeper recorded those two entries in, say, April, the books and the return would agree, and 2026 would start clean.
Working with a CPA all year, not just in March
Year-end isn't the only time a bookkeeper and CPA should connect. A few other natural touchpoints:
- Mid-year, when the CPA wants year-to-date numbers to help you plan estimated tax payments. The CPA makes that call; the books just need to be current and closed.
- When something big happens: a new entity, a large equipment purchase, a sale of assets, a new owner. A quick note to the CPA at the time beats a surprise in March.
- When you change bookkeepers. The new team needs the CPA's contact information, the prior-year adjustments and the last return. Our guide to switching bookkeepers mid-year covers what else to hand off.
Who should own CPA coordination?
One person. It can be the owner, but it's usually better as the person closest to the books. At ABFI, the Client Accounting Manager owns that handoff: assembling the package, answering the CPA's follow-up questions and recording the CPA's adjustments back in the books. You can see what's included on our CPA coordination page.
What matters most is that someone's name is next to the job, so it doesn't fall into the gap between two professionals who each assumed the other had it.
Questions owners ask
Should my bookkeeper talk directly to my CPA?
Yes, ideally, with your permission. Direct contact speeds up follow-up questions and makes it far easier to get the CPA's adjusting entries recorded in the books after the return is done.
What are CPA adjusting entries, and why do they matter?
They're entries the CPA makes while preparing the return, such as depreciation or reclassifications. If they aren't recorded in your books, your books and your return won't match, and next year starts from the wrong balances.
Can my bookkeeper do my taxes?
Some bookkeepers also prepare returns, but many don't. At ABFI, the tax work stays with your independent CPA, and we focus on accurate books and a clean handoff.
Want the handoff handled, start to finish?
If your bookkeeper and CPA mostly communicate through you, forwarding emails in March, we can take that off your plate. Request a consultation and we'll walk through how we'd build the year-end package, coordinate with your CPA and make sure their adjustments land back in your books.