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• By Jill Wyatt
• Dec 10, 2019
• 4 mins read

Get 2020 Ready With Our Year-End Small Business Checklist

A year-end small business checklist can get long. But taking the time to work through year-end tasks can put you on solid footing for the coming year. It also gives you some visibility into how the past year went. The better you know your business, the better you can decide where to go next. Following this year-end small business checklist can help you evaluate your past year and plan for the future.

Year-End Small Business Tax Checklist

Managing data related to taxes is key at the end of the year. Careful planning helps you minimize tax costs and simplify reporting when it comes time to file next year. Here are some tasks you’ll need to complete:

• • Total payroll. Incorporate full-time employees, part-time staff, and contractors – and calculate tax for W2 and 1099 forms.
  • Organize your files and documents for receipt filing. This advice comes from Business2Community, which recommended a cohesive file scheme to make it easier to access data come tax time.
  • Calculate income and consider deferring invoices. USA Today explained that businesses over-performing expectations may want to hold off on invoicing December projects to push income into the next tax year, reducing immediate tax expenses.
  • Update your accounting capabilities. This is another recommendation from Business2Community, which pointed to the importance of purchasing accounting software and hiring an accountant for your team.
  • Tally assets. Include inventory and insurance to ensure you can report correctly come tax time, Accounting Prose explained.
  • Balance the books. Ensure you are able to file accurately and properly represent your year.

Managing tax-related processes is a key part of any year-end small business checklist. The effort can help you save money on taxes in the coming year.

Year-End Small Business Reporting Checklist

The end of the year is a natural time to reflect on the past and prepare for the future. A year-end small business checklist would be incomplete if it doesn’t help you do so. So, here are a few reporting tasks to prioritize as the year comes to a close:

• • Financial reporting: Gather data to assess your income, expenses, revenues, and profits. Use this data to identify where you are generating income efficiently and where you need to invest to improve operations.
  • Employee reporting: Collect reports on your workforce to assess performance, identify where teams need support, and start planning for how to add workers moving ahead. Use reports to evaluate hours worked relative to productivity metrics and look at staffing costs relative to value created.
  • KPI reporting: Key performance indicators are major metrics used to measure your business’ success. Reporting on KPIs as part of your year-end small business checklist lets you pause to focus on critical performance metrics for the year. Common KPIs to think about include customer lifetime value, marketing cost per lead generated, and sales costs per conversion.

Reporting is essential in a year-end small business checklist. Neglecting annual reports for varied parts of your businesses creates the transparency you need to plan.

Year-End Small Business Planning Checklist

Your year-end small business checklist should also include some planning tasks to help you move into the new year. Here are some issues to think about:

• • Hiring plans: How do you need to add to your staff next year?
  • Equipment/technology plans: What investments do you need to make in specialized equipment or IT systems next year?
  • Strategic planning: What business model, culture, or revenue goals do you need to prioritize next year?
  • Marketing planning: How do you need to build your brand next year?
  • Finance planning: How can small business financing help you achieve your goals?

This isn’t an exhaustive year-end small business checklist. Each business will have unique needs to consider. But following it can lay the groundwork for wrapping up the year well and planning ahead. As you make those plans, QuickBridge can help you enact the financing plans needed to truly be 2020 ready.