How CPA firms request a credit card statement from clients
By Arthur Teboul, DokuTrak · Published
In short
Ask for the statements of every credit card the business used during the year, including the owner’s personal cards that carried business charges, covering everything through December 31. Card cycles often close mid-month, so also ask for the statement that closes in January. Ask for the issuer’s PDF statements rather than a transaction export.
Why CPA firms need a credit card statement
Card balances are a liability on the balance sheet, and the charges are expenses that need to land in the right year and the right account. At year-end you reconcile each card’s balance at December 31 to the books, pick up charges posted in late December, and separate business charges on personal cards so the business can reimburse them or record them as owner contributions. A card nobody mentioned means expenses missing from the return.
What exactly to ask for
Monthly statements for each business card, and for any personal card used for business, from the first statement of the tax year through the one that closes after December 31. Ask the owner to list every card, including employee cards on the business account, with the last four digits, so you can match statements to the books.
What to check when it arrives
- The balance at December 31, worked out from the statement that spans year-end, agrees with the card liability in the books.
- Charges on personal cards are marked business or personal by the owner, not guessed by you.
- Card payments on each statement match transfers out of the business bank account, so none is booked twice as an expense.
Email to send your client
Replace the bracketed parts. The same text fits in the message of a DokuTrak request (up to 1,000 characters).
Subject: Credit card statements for the year-end close
Hi [Client name],
Next on my list for the year-end close: statements for every credit card the business used last year, from January through the statement that closes in January this year.
If you put business purchases on a personal card, please send those statements too, and mark which charges were for the business. Employee cards on the company account count as well.
The PDF statements from the card issuer’s website are ideal. Could you send them by [date]? If a card was closed during the year and you cannot find the statements, tell me the bank and I will help you request them.
Thank you, [Your name]
Ask once. DokuTrak does the chasing.
- Your client uploads from one link, with no account and no password.
- Reminders go out on a schedule, by default 2, 5, 10 and 14 days after the request, until the file arrives.
- With AI review switched on in your workspace (it is off by default), each upload gets a first pass that flags a file that is not a credit card statement or an unreadable or blurry scan. It says so when it is not sure.
- You accept every file or mark it for re-upload, and your client gets the note by email. The AI never accepts a file.