At year-end, the offshore bookkeeping team should hand the tax preparer a pack, not just access to the books. That pack is a closed and locked trial balance, every balance sheet account supported by a reconciliation or schedule, the adjustments made during the year-end close, and a written list of what is still open. With that, the preparer reviews and decides. Without it, the preparer has to rebuild the year-end from the ledger and ask questions that should have been answered months earlier.
This post sets out what the pack should contain and how to produce it across the time difference.
Why a pack, not a login
A tax preparer looking at a ledger for the first time has three questions: is the cash right, are the balances real, and what has changed since last year? A login answers none of them directly. The preparer has to run reports, find reconciliations, trace unusual balances and email questions, possibly to someone in a different time zone.
A pack answers those questions in advance. It also makes the division of work clear. The bookkeeping team proves the numbers. The preparer applies tax judgement to them. The tax rules, elections and filing positions remain the preparer's responsibility, and the pack is designed to support them, not replace them.
What the pack should contain
1. Closed trial balance
- The year-end trial balance, final for bookkeeping purposes.
- The same trial balance as at the prior year-end, for comparison.
- Confirmation that the books are locked at the year-end date, with a closing date in QuickBooks protected by the warning-and-password option, or transaction locking in Zoho Books.
2. Cash
- Bank, card and loan account reconciliations for the final month, with the reconciliation reports and the closing statements.
- A note of any reconciling items outstanding at year-end and how they cleared after it.
- Confirmation that clearing and holding accounts, such as Undeposited Funds and payment-platform clearing accounts, are cleared or fully explained.
3. Receivables and payables
- Ageing reports that agree to the trial balance.
- A list of balances that may need judgement: old receivables, disputed items, credits, related-party balances.
- Unapplied payments and credits resolved, or listed.
4. Fixed assets
- Additions for the year, with invoices.
- Disposals, with proceeds and dates.
- The book depreciation recorded, and the fixed asset register agreed to the ledger.
Tax depreciation and any elections are the preparer's decision. The pack provides the facts they need.
5. Liabilities and financing
- Loan schedules agreed to lender statements, with interest for the year.
- Accruals and deferred income schedules, each with support.
- Payroll liabilities agreed to payroll reports and the payroll filings for the year.
- Sales tax or VAT liabilities agreed to the returns filed, with any differences explained.
6. Equity and owner transactions
- A summary of owner or shareholder contributions, distributions or drawings for the year.
- Any personal items paid by the business and how they were recorded.
- Opening Balance Equity, or any equivalent account, at zero or explained.
7. Payments that may need information returns
In some jurisdictions, certain payments to contractors and vendors must be reported to the tax authority. Examples are Form 1099 reporting in the US and the Construction Industry Scheme in the UK. Whether, how and when reporting applies is for the preparer to decide. The bookkeeping team can provide:
- a vendor payment summary for the year, by vendor and by account;
- the vendor's tax identification status as held on file;
- a note of payments made by card or through payment platforms, which US rules exclude from Form 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC reporting.
8. Adjustments and open items
- Year-end adjustments, listed with the reason and the effect on profit.
- Open items: anything unresolved, with the amount and what is needed to resolve it.
- Judgement items: anything the bookkeeping team recorded on an assumption the preparer should confirm.
The open-items list tells the preparer where their review time is needed.
How to produce it across the time difference
- Start the pack at the last month-end before year-end, not after. Schedules kept up to date each month then only need rolling forward to the year-end date.
- Agree the format with the preparer in advance. Use the same structure every year, so the preparer knows where to find each item.
- Use one shared folder per client, with a fixed numbering that matches the sections above.
- Send the open-items list early. Some items may be resolved on the preparer's side, through prior-year knowledge or contact with the client, while the bookkeeping team finishes the rest.
- Hold one review call, once the pack is complete, inside the working-hours overlap. Everything else can be handled in writing.
Quality checks before sending
- Every balance sheet account on the trial balance has a schedule or reconciliation behind it.
- Every schedule agrees to the trial balance, to the cent.
- The trial balance has not changed since the schedules were prepared, and the period is locked.
- The open-items list is honest. A pack with nothing open on a complicated file deserves a second look.
Where this fits
The year-end pack is the annual version of the monthly close. See month-end close when your bookkeeper is ten hours ahead. For the onboarding that comes first, see what your offshore bookkeeper needs from you before day one.
Wissen Solutions prepares year-end handoff packs for accounting firms and their tax teams through our QuickBooks Online and offshore accounting services.
Sources (checked 26 October 2026)
- Intuit: Close your books in QuickBooks Online: closing date and password
- Zoho Books: Transaction Locking
- IRS: Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC: card and third-party network payments reported on Form 1099-K, not Form 1099-MISC or 1099-NEC
- GOV.UK: What you must do as a Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) contractor: monthly returns of payments to subcontractors