If you're a small business owner, being proactive is essential for growth. With the end of the year upon us, there are quite a few things to consider and take inventory of before the New Year. That said, let's take a look at the year-end checklist for small business owners.

☑ Update Financial Statements

The end of the year is the perfect time to make sure all your financial statements have been updated. Here is a list of items to check for and why they are important:

• Updating bank reconciliations is important to ensure you can account for any missing funds. Moreover, reconciling other accounts will help you ensure that you are aware of the true value of all accounts moving forward. By reviewing income, you will know how much money you have to work with going into the New Year.
• Review your expense classifications to ensure that all expenses are covered and accounted for.
• You will also want to review accounts receivable in order to determine how much money is owed to your company, as well as accounts payable to determine how much is owed to others.
• For those who deal with physical inventory, updating your inventory balances will help you determine how much inventory you have available, how much has been damaged, stolen, etc.
• Lastly, updating fixed asset listings will help you to take into account the value of the long-term assets you have acquired for your business.

☑ Payroll and Taxes

Before the new year, it’s also best to prepare your business for tax season. First, be sure to collect/organize information for payroll tax filings. That is, be sure that you have obtained all the necessary information from each employee in order to prepare and send the necessary tax forms.

From there, you will want to ensure all W-2s and 1099s have been prepared properly and are ready for delivery to avoid unnecessary delays that could result in costly penalties.

☑ New Year, New Goals

The goal of every business owner should be to do better than the previous year. Setting preliminary budgets and ambitious new goals with regard to revenue and profits will help you stay on the right track for the coming year.

☑ Benefits and Human Resources

If you are considering making changes to benefit packages or within HR, now is the time to make them. Employees seem to be more accepting of changes at the end of the year as the end of the year is a time in which many people are also making changes to their personal and professional lives. Therefore, they may be more accepting of new policies and other updates within the workplace.

☑ Meet Your CPA

Lastly, one of the most important steps you can take at the end of the year is to meet with your accountant to review financials and finalize planning. Now that you have everything else in order, your CPA can help you solidify your plans and make any necessary changes as needed.

Overall, the end of the year is a great time to take inventory of various aspects of your business in order to make changes and plan for the coming year. Be proactive. Following this checklist will help you stay ahead of the competition and keep you on track to have one of your most successful years in business to date. If you have any questions, please contact us.