Working document
The month end document chase checklist
The four stages that get statements, receipts and forms in before your cutoff, written for a book of 10 to 60 monthly clients.
Free resources
Resources for the paperwork side of a bookkeeping practice
Free tools, a working checklist and fair comparisons for practices that run on other people's documents.
Everything on this page is built for one specific worker: the bookkeeper who can close a set of books quickly and still finishes the month late because four clients did not send a statement. The calculators price that problem, the checklist gives you a sequence to run against it, and the comparisons help you decide which kind of software to buy.
Nothing here requires an account, and none of it is a sales pitch dressed as advice. Where a comparison names another product, we describe its scope and its approach and send you to their own site for current details. If the checklist alone fixes your close, use it and skip the rest with our blessing.
Free tools
Free calculators for the paperwork side of bookkeeping
Two small tools that put a number on the part of the month you never invoice for.
Comparisons
ReceiptChase compared with the tools bookkeepers evaluate
Three honest comparisons for a practice that spends more time asking for bank statements and W-9s than it does posting them.
Main guide
Two Weeks Before March 15: Inside the Client Document Chase
It settles what to request, when to send it, and how many nudges a missing client document actually takes before a filing deadline forces your hand.
Magazine
The Ledger Tape
Reporting on the daily craft, pricing, and compliance of US bookkeeping practices that run on other people's paperwork.
About
Who writes all of this
The author page covers who writes The Ledger Tape and why missing statements, W-9 gaps and the month end document chase are the only subjects this site spends time on.
When the spreadsheet stops holding your book
The calculators and the month end checklist need nothing but your vendor ledger and a disciplined Thursday, and plenty of bookkeepers run them that way for years. If you get through stage one and would rather not rebuild the open item list by hand every month across forty clients, ask for a demo. We will start from whichever resource you just read.