3-Step Business Checklist Year-End Guide

December 4, 2020
Yeater Associates CPAs
Accounting, Business Tips, small business tips, Taxes

While December has been called the most wonderful time of the year, it often feels the opposite for many small business owners. Amidst the stress of holiday hustle & bustle lies the never-ending responsibility of financial reporting. We’ve created this 3-step business checklist year-end guide to help!

If you have not hired an outsourced controller or CPA service in Greeley, this guide is for you.

Here’s your business checklist year-end guide…

Step 1: Summarize Your Year-End Finances

First things first! You’ll need to pull several reports at the end of the year to determine your current financial position. Make sure you include the following:

Profit and Loss Statement: Reveals if your business is profitable over a given period of time.

Cash Flow Statement: Shows exactly where your money has gone in the last year.

Accounts Receivable/Payable Report: Determines how efficiently your business collects revenue.

Balance Sheet: Gives you a closer look at your business’ assets, liabilities, and equity at any point in time.

Once you have all of this important documentation organized and finalized, file it away in a safe place. We recommend printing hard copies for reference and saving online copies as a backup.

Step 2: Get Ready for Tax Season

As you pull your end-of-year reports, you’ll start to develop a better understanding of how your business is run behind the scenes. Our goal in creating this business checklist year-end guide is to help you get ahead of schedule, including tax schedules.

While you’re filling out the tax preparation paperwork, run through your vendor information and records, verifying contact information as you go. It’s considered best practice to start sending out 1099 tax forms before the year is over.

If you’re struggling with the end of the year tax preparation, you should consider hiring an outsourced controller or bookkeeping service in Greeley. After all, this business checklist year-end guide is not meant to replace professional accounting services in Greeley.

Step 3: Review and Plan for the Future

After all your business reports have been pulled and your tax papers have been prepared, you can focus on the fun part of this business checklist year-end guide: the future forecast!

You have spent a good amount of time accumulating numbers and charts, and now you get to decide what to do about them. Consider the goals you set last year —

Did you accomplish them in the way you thought you would?
Do you see room for improvement in certain business practices?
How would you like to see your company grow?

By asking these questions, you analyze the overall health of your company and determine what you’d like to see in the future. With some ideas in the works, you can create an informed and strategic financial plan for the following year.

If you continue to keep a detailed record system and a regular review process, your company will start to grow. While the end-of-year financial reporting is essential, it’s not always fun for everyone.

If you would rather spend your time focusing on other aspects of your company, Yeater & Associates would be happy to help you manage the finances.

As one of the best accounting firms in Greeley, CO, Yeater & Associates has years of experience working in all kinds of bookkeeping services including CPOs, CFOs, accounting, and financial controllers. Give us a call at (970) 378-4830 or schedule a consultation to learn more.