The Fall Financial Reset: 5 Things Every Small Business Owner Should Review Before Year-End
PROBLEM
The end of the year has a way of arriving quickly.
One minute you're managing summer schedules, and the next you're thinking about holiday expenses, tax season, and everything that needs to happen before January.
For small business owners, that can mean putting off the financial review until December—or even until it's time to prepare the tax return.
But fall gives you something valuable:
Time to see where your business stands while there's still time to make adjustments.
DIRECT ANSWER
A fall financial reset is a simple review of your business finances before the year ends.
You don't need to rebuild your entire bookkeeping system.
Start by reviewing five areas:
Your bookkeeping.
Your expenses.
Your cash.
Your taxes.
Your financial records.
The goal is to identify missing information, unusual changes, or unfinished tasks now instead of discovering them during tax season.
HOW-TO: 5 Things to Review This Fall
1. Make Sure Your Bookkeeping Is Current
Start with the basics.
How current are your books?
If transactions haven't been categorized, accounts haven't been reconciled, or several months of bookkeeping still need attention, now is a good time to catch up.
Review:
Bank accounts
Credit cards
Income
Expenses
Loans
Owner transactions
Accounts receivable and payable, if applicable
Your financial reports are much more useful when the information behind them is current and accurate.
2. Review Where Your Money Has Been Going
Business expenses can change throughout the year.
A new subscription gets added.
Insurance increases.
Payroll changes.
Processing fees grow with sales.
Supply costs increase.
By fall, you may be spending very differently than you were at the beginning of the year.
Review your major expense categories and compare them with previous months.
Ask:
What increased?
Why did it increase?
Does this expense still make sense for the business?
The goal isn't to cut every expense.
It's to understand what you're paying for.
3. Check Your Cash Position
Your bank balance tells you how much money is available today.
But you also need to think about what that money needs to cover.
Consider upcoming:
Payroll
Rent
Vendor payments
Debt payments
Insurance
Taxes
Holiday or seasonal expenses
Other recurring obligations
Then consider the money you realistically expect to collect before year-end.
This gives you a better picture of whether your available cash is enough for what's ahead.
4. Review Your Tax Position
Don't wait until tax season to start thinking about taxes.
Review whether you've been setting money aside and whether estimated tax payments or other tax obligations need attention.
This is also a good time to make sure your bookkeeping reflects what actually happened during the year so your tax professional has better information to work with.
Depending on your business and tax situation, year-end planning opportunities may also need to be discussed with your tax professional before December 31.
5. Find the Missing Records Now
Missing receipt?
Unclear transaction?
Business purchase on a personal card?
Payment you're not sure how to categorize?
Now is the time to find it.
Trying to remember the purpose of a transaction from March becomes much harder when you're looking at it the following February.
Look for:
Missing receipts
Unexplained transactions
Uncategorized expenses
Personal and business transactions that need to be separated
Mileage or travel documentation
Contractor information
Asset or equipment purchase records
Cleaning up these items now can make year-end and tax preparation much easier.
COMPARISON: Fall Financial Reset vs. Tax-Season Scramble
FALL FINANCIAL RESET
Books are current.
Expenses have been reviewed.
Cash needs are understood.
Tax questions are identified.
Missing records are addressed.
You know where the business stands.
TAX-SEASON SCRAMBLE
Months of bookkeeping need attention.
Receipts are missing.
Transactions are difficult to remember.
Personal and business expenses are mixed.
Tax questions appear at the last minute.
You're trying to reconstruct an entire year at once.
A little organization now can prevent a lot of unnecessary work later.
REALITY CHECK
A financial reset doesn't mean your books have to be perfect.
You may still have questions.
You may discover something that needs to be corrected.
You may need help getting caught up.
That's exactly why doing the review before year-end can be valuable.
The goal isn't to prove that everything is already right.
It's to find out what needs attention while you still have time to address it.
Set aside time this fall for a simple financial check-in.
Start with these five areas:
01 — Bookkeeping
02 — Expenses
03 — Cash
04 — Taxes
05 — Records
Make a list of anything that needs to be updated, researched, corrected, or discussed with your bookkeeper or tax professional.
Because the best time to find a financial mess isn't during tax season.
It's before tax season gets here.
Emerald Tax & Accounting
This article is for general educational purposes and is not individualized tax or financial advice.