Tips to having a smooth corporate year end
Posted onOur clients tell us that they enjoy the experience of getting a year end completed with us and yet often times when I hear business owners that come into our office for first time, they speak of year end as if it is about as enjoyable as a root canal! The process of having a corporate year end can be easy, painless, enjoyable, and fruitful for your business.
Here 3 simple tips to help you make the most of your next corporate year end and streamlining the process of getting ready.
1. Don’t wait until year end to get your documents ready, start on day one.
Your accountant generally asks for the same things every year. Pulling out your insurance policies and bill of sales for equipment at the end of the year can be a pain. Why not make copies/scans and save them in a folder labeled “20xx year end” this way when the year end comes, all you have to do is back up your accounting file and you are good to go!
2. Attack bookkeeping issues as they arise.
It may seem like the most efficient way to clean up your books would be to note all the issues and then reach out once to get them all solved at year end. In fact, this process may make the errors harder to fix. Everything in bookkeeping is fixable at any time, however fixing an issue is much easier when your bookkeeper knows how the issue was created. What source document, what the intention of the transaction when the error was made, etc. All of this I much easier to remember when it happens than months and months after to the fact. In addition, it stops the error from compounding into additional errors creating working around the first error.
3. Keep in touch with your accountant and other advisors
We at Colby Steckly think that this tip is so important that we reach out to our clients proactively throughout the year to make sure that we get a chance to touch base. Just as bookkeeping issues are easier dealt with in real time, so are complex transactions and the tax implications of those transactions. Selling to a new jurisdiction? Reach out to your accountant there may be sales tax implications. Adding a new product line? Reach out to your accountant to make you have your books set up in a way that will allow you to track the profitability of this product separately from your other operations. Having a child or buying a house? Reach out to your accountant, you may need more or less income in the year and we want to make sure that you take income in a tax efficient manner. Knowing what is new in your business and personal life as it happens allows us to anticipate potential profitability and tax opportunities and identify additional steps and information that may be needed prior to your year end. Reach out so that you and your accountant can both be ahead of the game.
Want to experience a seamless and profitable year end process yourself? Reach out to the team at Colby Steckly, we are happy to help you implement these tips, so you enjoy your 2020 corporate year end.