Austin Business CPA AlternativeWhen December was never written

A shape, not a client

Picture a company that closed January through November and then stopped. December's bank statement is in a folder. Deposits are uncategorized. A credit card is unreconciled. The owner still wants a return, because April is close. That picture is a composite we see in the shape of files. No single company is named, and the page is not advertising a result.

December still gets its own statement, even when the earlier months already match the bank.

The missing month does three kinds of damage. It hides the cash the year actually ended with. It leaves personal deposits inside sales. And it makes every estimate after it a guess, including the one someone may already have paid.

We do not spread December backward across the quiet months to make a chart look smooth. November does not absorb a holiday week it did not have. December gets its own close, even if that close happens in February.

What we do first

We tie December to the bank. Then we look at the card that paid for the personal trip and the card that paid the vendor. Then we ask whether a bonus or a distribution was called revenue. Only then do we talk about the return, the franchise report, and whether an October estimate now needs a true-up.

An underpayment is less frightening when the number is known in a month you can still plan around. It is louder when it arrives as a surprise with the envelope. The work is to move the number forward, not to decorate it.

Texans can name the city pool that started as a swimming hole on the river and is still the oldest pool in the state. Cold water does not cool a year whose last month was never closed. We like the fact. We do not pretend a landmark finishes a reconciliation.

What we will not do with the blank

We will not file as if the blank were zero. We will not invent a round number so a form can be submitted. We will not sign an assurance report on statements that include an open month. If the year is too far gone for the deadline you have, we say which deadline is real and which month has to be tied before it.

If your December is the open one, send that. If a different month is the open one, send that instead. The name of the month matters more than a polished story.