Here are our 5 tips for end of year financial planning. Ranging from budgeting to tech, now is the time to consider the financial position you want to be in as you end the year and begin the new one.

Reconciliation of Accounts

1) Reconciling your accounts is easier if you have already established an automated process to pull your sales data. Depending on your systems, you can also transfer inventory, staff hours and other transactional information from your Point of Sale system (POS). Integrating with QuickBooks now can save time (and money) later as you go through the stages of financial planning.

How many returns or refunds did you process?
Is there any bad debt to write off?
What is the outstanding A/R balance that you need to resolve?
Should you set up automated, recurring payments to help clients pay down their bill?

Going through Q1, Q2 and Q3 reconciliation now will help you forecast your end of year position and make tax planning with your accountant more effective. Knowing more now means that you can plan for upcoming tax changes, end of year investments that will no longer be tax deductible, or waiting until new ones are available to you in the coming year.

Get ready now. Avoid surprises later.

Health Care and Flexible Spending Accounts

2) Meet with your health care broker to plan for changes in benefits, costs and new programs that might be worthwhile for your business as part of your financial planning this year (and ever year.)

Do you think the health care program you are on will still be the best one for your business, and for your team?
Are there new options out there?
What are the deadlines for enrollment?
Are there new programs that you can implement to entice employees to join your team, or stay on your team?

Schedule now to work with your health care advisors and evaluate the newest plans and benefits that you can take advantage of in the new year.

Best Technology Platforms

3) Check with your tech team to make sure you are on the best technology platforms that you can afford.

Is all technology – hardware and especially software – up to date?
When was the last time you ran the latest software updates?
Are you in need of any patches for your security?
Does your team need training on systems to make better use of what you have in place?
What new tools are out there that you can implement now?
Is the POS system you have the right one for your business today?

We admit that technology is advancing faster than we can sometimes keep up. Now is a great time to spend time evaluating software, reading up on the newest trends, investigating apps that might work for your business to keep you most relevant with your customers and meet the needs (or wants) they have from you.

End of Year Team Planning

4) Brainstorm with your team!

Your employees, and even your consultants and advisors can be a great resource to help you innovate. Now more than ever it is important to maintain a competitive edge.

Did you plan your strategic session yet?
Are you willing to write ALL ideas down?
Even more important, are you willing to discuss them all?

Be open minded to the changes they suggest, while they won’t all be able to be implemented “as pitched” some may be great in that they inspire other ideas that can be out into practice. Some may be low or no cost, better yet some may reduce expenses and help to bring in new revenues.

Set Realistic Goals

5) Set your sales and financial targets with ranges of “expectations”.

Start with what you need to do just to break-even. Then, consider what you can reasonably expect to attain in terms of growth. Finally, look at all the factors that will help you to achieve your stretch goals.

Are you considering your staffing needs – what positions do you need to fill, who can you add to the team to help you accomplish these goals?
Address the “what ifs” that could impact your industry and your business.
As you “back into” your budget from there – what else might you have forgotten to include?

Again, brainstorming with the team is always a good idea to make sure you have cross functional input and open field ideas to consider that can make 2023 a great year.

Whether you use all five of these ideas or add to the list is up to you. Either way, bring in the consultations earlier than you think and be ready for a terrific new year.

Have questions for our team? Let us know when would be a good time to connect or simply schedule time with us here.