The short answer
For most small businesses, yes. A bank or card statement lists every movement of money in and out of the account. For a business that runs through the bank, that is enough to build a ledger, a profit and loss and a balance sheet. What a statement cannot tell you is a short, known list, and each item on it has a way to be filled.
What a statement shows well
- The date and the amount of every payment and deposit, to the cent.
- Which way the money went, in or out.
- Usually who. Card and ACH lines carry the merchant or payer's name, and most lines can be posted from that name alone.
- The balance at the start and end of each month, which is what proves no month is missing.
What a statement cannot show
What a check was for. The statement shows a check number and an amount, not who was paid. A check register, or the check images many banks provide, answers it. Until then the checks sit on a named holding line, so the books say how much is still open instead of guessing.
Cash that never reached the bank. Sales taken in cash and spent in cash leave no line at all. Only the owner can say what they were.
One deposit that is several things. A single deposit can be sales, a loan, and the owner's own money put back in. The statement shows one number.
The split of a loan payment. The payment is one line; how much was interest and how much was principal is on the lender's statement, not the bank's.
What was bought at a store that sells everything. A warehouse club or an online marketplace could be stock, supplies, or groceries for home.
How the gaps get filled
By asking the owner, in plain words, with the answers as choices: was this deposit a sale or money you put in; who was this check to. A lender's statement settles a loan split. Nothing is invented. A line nobody can answer stays open, by name, on the review page your accountant sees.
What about receipts?
A statement proves you paid. A receipt proves what for. For most everyday expenses a preparer works from the statement and the business purpose, but keep receipts for travel, meals and anything large, and ask your CPA what they would want to see if the return were ever examined. Books from statements are a way to get the year written up, not a reason to throw receipts away.
A worked example
The figures here are made up, to show the shape. A restaurant with one checking account and one card, one year behind, about 2,400 lines across the two. Most lines are posted from the name on them: the food distributor, the payroll service, the utility, the card processor's deposits. A few dozen become questions: checks with no payee, a handful of cash deposits, transfers to the owner. The owner answers them in one sitting, and the checks wait for the register.
What you get back
A profit and loss, a balance sheet, a trial balance and a general ledger, reviewed by an accountant before they go out, plus a QuickBooks import file and an Excel workbook. It costs $699 per business per year of books. We do not file the return; your CPA does, from these. See pricing and how it works, or read what to do if you are behind and what your CPA needs.
Questions people ask
- Can I do bookkeeping without receipts?
- The books themselves can be built from statements. Whether a deduction holds up without a receipt is a separate question, and one for your CPA; keep receipts for travel, meals and large purchases.
- Will my CPA accept books built from statements?
- A preparer works from a trial balance and a general ledger, and that is what comes back, with every figure traceable to a line on a statement. Ask yours; most are glad not to type the year themselves.
- What if I closed the account?
- Banks keep statements for closed accounts. Ask the bank for them; they can usually be sent as PDFs.
- Is a CSV better than a PDF?
- Either works. If the bank offers OFX or QFX downloads, those are the cleanest.