We all know that balancing work and your personal life towards the end of the year can get a little tricky. Even more so if you’re a business owner! As you prepare to close out your books and get your business ready for the new year, there are a number of tasks you may want to consider focusing on. Set yourself, AND your business up to start the new year in a good position with these Year-End Tasks for Business Owners.
Finances:
Managing different financial records is critical during the entire year, but even more so at year-end. This will help you predict what the new year has in store for you and you’ll be well-prepared for when tax time rolls around. Make sure you take care of these finance tasks before year-end.
1. Create a Budget For Next Year
It will help to create your future plans and goals by creating a budget for the coming year. You can start by reviewing last year’s budget and comparing it to the actual numbers your business accomplished.
Make adjustments as needed and think about goals or steps your business will be taking in the coming year that may affect your ability to achieve them. Make sure you revisit your budget every month so you can make any adjustments you need as you move into 2023.
2. Ensure All Accounts Are Reconciled
Make sure all of your bookkeeping records and accounts (bank accounts, accounts receivable and accounts payable) are all up-to-date and reconciled. You’ll want to make sure these are reviewed regularly throughout the year, but before you can run reliable financial reports, you need to make sure they are completed and reconciled at year-end.
3. Run Standard Financial Reports
Now is the time to assess where your business stands financially and how it has compared to previous years. You’ll want to ensure you have an up-to-date income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement.
Perhaps your profits are higher than expected? Now may be the time to make a larger purchase that you can record future depreciation for.
You’ll want to set up time with your accountant sooner rather than later so they can help you evaluate anything on your financial records you may need further explanation on. This will help you make informed decisions for next year and work towards success.
4. Make Sure Tax Planning Is Addressed
When you focus on taxes and where your business stands in regards to your income and expenses, your accountant can help you make last-minute decisions to lower your taxable income. You can work to improve your business’ tax position before the year ends and financials are set in stone.
Human Resources:
You’ll want to take a good look at your team when year-end approaches. After all, they are what makes your business run!
1. Double Check Payroll and Benefits
Make sure you stay on top of any issues or corrections that need to be made before the year is over. Are your taxable fringe benefits like third-party sick pay or a company car accounted for? Also, don’t forget about educational reimbursements, health and life insurance and other things you may not think of daily.
2. Staffing Needs
Are you going to need to hire more employees in the new year? Have you budgeted for new staff? Or, are you overstaffed and need to consider reducing hours or rearranging business schedules? This is a great time to review your business needs when it comes to staff.
3. Year-End Incentives
The end of the year is a great excuse to reward your team for the work they’ve done in 2022! Whether it’s paid time off, flexible schedules or monetary incentives, this is a great way to boost morale and increase worker satisfaction.
4. Update Employee and Payroll Information
Make sure to do an audit of all of the information you have on your employees. Are phone numbers, addresses, and payroll information all correct? It’s also a great time to update your computer system with the status of new hires or former employees.
5. Assess Leadership
That’s right. Take some time to reflect on your own leadership and as your leadership team to do the same. Are you evaluating yourself objectively? Make sure to implement a self-improvement plan for the coming year to continue to learn and improve your business leadership skills, as well.
Administrative:
Don’t forget the day-to-day things that you may not think of that are an important part of your business running smoothly all year.
1. Verify Vendor Information
Verify that all of the contact information for the vendors you use is up-to-date and correct. It’s also a great time to purge the system of any inactive vendors or inaccurate information. Also, are there opportunities to negotiate better deals in the new year with certain vendors? Now is the time to review!
2. Backup Computers and Contacts
It is always a best practice to keep backups of important information. Make sure that important files such as accounting documents, client information and valuable emails are backed up and secure. Ensure your employees have a way to do this as well, whether it is through external hard drives or a cloud-based storage system.
You also want to make sure you have an updated backup of all of your contacts, as well.
3. Audit Your Website and Social Media
First impressions are huge and for many of your potential customers and clients, your website is the gateway for your business. Make sure you check every link on your website and send yourself emails from your “contact us” area. Make sure any phone numbers on your website work and everything is in working order.
Also ensure all of your social media handles are working and everything is up-to-date. Are all of the images and headlines for your online business presence correct? It’s a great way to make sure your sites are looking up-to-date.
4. Conduct a Physical Inventory
This is an important step for tax purposes, but it’s also a great way to evaluate what you are selling and what may not be selling well.
5. Create A Marketing Plan
What do you want to focus on for the new year? It’s the perfect time to plan your marketing campaigns and see if you want to outsource items or if you need to hire staff to help. Are you keeping things consistent or is it time to change it up? Now is when you can look over what you want do.
Personal:
While you are focusing on year-end business goals, it’s the perfect time to think about how you have developed over the previous year, as well. What do you want to focus on in the new year?
1. Celebrate Business Accomplishments
Give yourself a pat on the back for everything that you accomplished in your business this year. Take into account all of the goals you achieved and the expectations you either met or exceeded. Document your wins and share them! What are you most proud of? What were your biggest wins in your business this year?
2. Reflect On Last Year’s Goals
Pull up your previous years’ goals and go over it. Did you achieve your goals? Why or why not? What are the next steps you want to ensure you include on the coming year’s goals? It’s the perfect time to consider your next steps and identify any shortcomings that may have occurred so you can figure out how to make it work moving forward.
Hopefully these Year-End Tasks for Business Owners will help to ensure that you take care of business tasks before year-end. With these tasks off your plate, you can turn your attention to the things that matter most. Even better, we have a checklist you can download to have next to you at all times, which you can download for free HERE. And now… take some time off and enjoy a well-deserved vacation to recharge and relax!