Well the end of the year is here. Over the next few weeks  I am going to give you several tasks that must be done before the end of the year to get your business ready for the upcoming year and not forget the important steps of closing out this year.

  1. Do you know what your net profit for the year is? If not this is the first step. Get your books caught up, all receipts entered, checkbooks and credit cards reconciled and cash payment entered.
  2. Evaluate your net profit. Do you need to do distributions, bonuses or buy new equipment before the end of the year for tax or business purposes? Talk to your tax advisor about ways to minimize your taxes. This cannot be done after the 1st of the year so don’t put this off.
  3. Make sure your retirement plan is set up and ready to go. These often do not need to be funded until your tax deadline but the plan itself has to be in place.
  4. Are there any investments you need to sell before the end of the year, either to offset gains already realized or losses already on the books?