How CPA firms request an investment statement from clients
By Arthur Teboul, DokuTrak · Published
In short
If the business holds cash outside its bank, in a brokerage account, Treasury bills or a money market fund, ask for the December statement of each account and the custodian’s year-end tax statement. You need the year-end value and cost basis for the balance sheet, and the interest, dividends and sales for the business return.
Why CPA firms need an investment statement
Businesses that park surplus cash in a brokerage or TreasuryDirect account earn interest, dividends and sometimes gains that belong on the business return. On a partnership or S corporation return, those items are generally reported separately on the owners’ K-1s rather than mixed with operating income. The December statement gives the balance and holdings to record at year-end; the tax statement gives the income and the cost basis of anything sold. An account opened in the business’s name and never mentioned to you leaves a gap in both.
What exactly to ask for
For each brokerage, Treasury or money market account in the business’s name: the December monthly or quarterly statement, and the year-end tax statement, which is the consolidated 1099 where the custodian issues one, or its annual summary of income and realized gains where it does not. Ask for the corrected version if the custodian reissues it.
What to check when it arrives
- The account is titled to the business and its EIN, not the owner, so the income goes on the right return.
- The December ending value and cash balance agree with the investment and cash accounts in the books.
- Sales during the year show cost basis, so gains and losses can be computed and kept apart from operating income.
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: Statements for the business’s investment accounts
Hi [Client name],
For the business’s year-end close, I need the statements for any account where the company keeps money outside its bank: a brokerage account, Treasury bills or a money market fund.
For each account, please send the December statement and the year-end tax statement the firm provides, as PDFs from the online account. If the firm sends a corrected tax statement later, please forward that too.
If you moved some of the business’s cash into an account in your own name, tell me as well; it changes where the income is reported.
Could you send them by [date]? If you are not sure where a document is, tell me the firm and I will point you to it.
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 an investment 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.