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This
year's economic challenges make timely and accurate
financial data all the more critical to help you make
sound decisions for your company.
By setting a schedule in place to finalize your
statements for the year, you can get a head start on tax
planning so you can take pro-active steps before the end
of this month and avoid the tax season rush.
Here's a checklist:
| 1. |
Call
your bookkeeper, accountant, and/or CPA today
and schedule a meeting by January 31. |
| 2. |
Set
a date that you expect your year-end numbers to
be finalized. Communicate this date with them
and get their commitment to achieve it.
Suggestion? Valentine's Day is February 14. What
better gift to give yourself? |
| 3. |
Review
with your investment advisor and/or retirement
plan administrator plan funding for the current
year retirement contribution. |
| 4. |
Ask
your CPA what issues need to be resolved to
make this deadline. Most likely they will
include: |
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- Depreciation
schedules (start getting capital purchases
and sales to your CPA now so s/he can start
updating your depreciation schedule)
- Payroll
Reconciliation
- Compare
current year-to-date expenses to prior year
for any unusual/unexpected variations and
investigate
- Have
your CPA come up with an initial tax
liability estimate for the year by
forecasting remaining revenues and profits
- Work
with your CPA to come up with a strategy to
minimize your tax liability for the coming
year
- Review
needs for working capital for the coming
year, including anticipated capital
expenditures
- Review
current financing and bank relationships,
including line of credit and term loan
balances and potential financing needs.
- Is
the existing accounting system adequate to
meet management's information needs? If not,
what's the plan to upgrade?
|
Assign
a date and a person(s) responsible for resolving each of
these issues. Put these dates into your scheduler and
have weekly progress meetings. Establishing a written
year-end closing procedures checklist for accounting
staff and management personnel will help you to achieve
your goals of a timely, accurate and cost efficient
financial close for 2008 and all future years.
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Complimentary
QuickBooks
Webinars
"How
to Measure the Impact of
Changing Prices"
Wed,
Jan 28, 1pm PST
and
"How
to Measure the Impact of
Cutting Costs"
Wed,
Feb 4, 1pm PST
Hosted
by
Steve LeFever
SIGNUP
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IFA
Webinar Series
dates,
info & signup
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Profit
Mastery for Jewelers
2008
Schedule is Finalized!
Workshops
& Plus Days
Online
Registration
Registration
Form
Read/Print
Brochure
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Workshops
for Business Owners
Over
97% of the people attending our workshops say they've
substantially increased their under- standing of the health,
strengths and weaknesses of their companies. Change the way
you manage your business, increase your cash flow, and find
profits you never knew existed.
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