The clean books checklist.

Once, at the start. Half an hour at most.

• Enter your business detailsRegistered name, business type, state and your Tax ID if you have one. This decides which returns apply to you.
• Record your annual turnover bandTurnover drives whether VAT registration applies, which company tax rate you fall under, and whether your annual return needs an auditor.
• Set your currenciesNaira by default. Add dollars, pounds or euros if you sell or buy in them — the rate is kept on each record.
• Add your staff and rolesStaff can enter sales and expenses; only the owner can delete. Invite your own accountant as a bookkeeper or accountant if you use one.

The habit that makes everything else easy.

• Record every sale the day it happensTwo taps offline is enough. A sale you remember at month end is a sale you record wrongly.
• Capture expenses with the receiptSnap the receipt and let it fill the entry. The photo is compressed on your phone before it syncs.
• Catch up on a backlog with the bulk sheetBehind by a few weeks? Type a whole period into one sheet, or import a CSV, rather than one entry at a time.
• Issue invoices from the appSo what you are owed, what was paid, and the receipt that follows payment all sit on the same record.
• Keep business money out of personal spendingMixed accounts are the single biggest reason books stop being usable. Separate accounts if you can; tag clearly if you cannot.

One sitting, once a month.

• Import your bank statement and match itCSV, Excel or PDF. Anything unmatched is flagged rather than quietly absorbed.
• Clear every flagged itemDuplicates, missing records, wrong categories. A flagged item left alone becomes a wrong return.
• Read your profit and loss for the monthIf a figure surprises you, the record behind it is one tap away. This is the point of clean books.
• Chase what is overdueCheck the aged receivables list and send a reminder before it gets older.

Your books already hold the answer — this is just not missing the date.

• Know your VAT position and the 21st deadlineIf you are VAT registered, the return and payment for a month are due by the 21st of the following month. VAT you collect is money held for the government, not your profit.
• Check withholding tax deducted and dueWhat you withheld from suppliers has to be remitted, and what customers withheld from you is a credit you should not lose.
• Keep the staff register current for PAYENames, pay and reliefs. This feeds monthly PAYE and the annual return.
• Diarise your annual return earlyIf your turnover means an auditor has to sign off, start about 30 days ahead. Late is a penalty, not a warning.
• Decide who files: you, your accountant, or HandledSelf-file from the figures in the app, invite your own accountant, or add Handled and have a licensed professional review and file for you.