Your End-of-Year Small Business Checklist

Most people spend the last month of the year planning for the holidays. But for entrepreneurs, this is the best time to take stock of this year's results and plan for a successful new year.

If you're wondering where to start, try this year-end business checklist.

1. Catch up on bookkeeping.

Bookkeeping tends to take a back seat to all the other day-to-day responsibilities of running a business. If you've fallen behind on your bookkeeping, take some time now to get caught up.

Make sure you've accurately tracked all your income and expenses. This will give you a more accurate idea of your profit for the year and ensure you can write off all eligible expenses.1

2. Meet with your accountant.

The end of the year is also a good time to sit down with your accountant or tax professional to discuss year-end business planning.

Many people wait until tax time to meet with their accountant, but that can be a mistake. By meeting with your accountant before the year ends, you can estimate your taxes for the year, make moves in the current tax year to reduce your tax bill, and start planning for next year.

3. Prepare for year-end financial reporting.

Even if your bookkeeping gives you a good sense of how your business is doing, you may need to complete more formal year-end financial reports for creditors, financial institutions, investors, shareholders, and government agencies.

Get a head start now on your balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cashflows.2 This will help ensure everything is running smoothly and give you time to address issues.

4. Create next year's budget.

Developing a budget is essential for planning and executing business goals in the upcoming year. But doing it right takes time. You need to gather information, set shortand long-term goals, crunch numbers, make projections, get feedback, and finalize your plan.

Waiting until January to start this process puts you behind schedule. Getting started now gives you more leeway to create a budget that will sustain your business in the year ahead.

5. Plan to renew essential licenses.

Depending on your business structure, industry, and location, you may have several licenses to renew each year: operating licenses, fire department permits, health licenses, tax registrations, and occupational or professional licenses -- just to name a few.

Don't risk license renewals getting lost in the mail or forgotten in a stack of paperwork. This can result in hefty fines and penalties. Plan for them now by adding a reminder to your calendar or setting them up to renew automatically.

6. Plan your year-end inventory count.

Even if you use an inventory management system throughout the year, only a physical inventory count can assess what you actually have on hand and ensure it matches what's in your system.

Year-end is a great time to perform a physical inventory count so you can detect shrinkage3 (i.e., a reduction in inventory due to damage, miscounts, or theft). It can also help you project your inventory needs for next year and identify unwanted merchandise to sell at a discount or donate.

7. Assess your cybersecurity.

It might not show up on a balance sheet, but data is one of the most valuable assets your business owns. And hackers, viruses, physical disasters, and malfunctions can cause it to be lost forever. Educate yourself and your employees on common cybersecurity threats like phishing, malware, viruses, and ransomware and take steps to protect your business' data from them.

If you don't already have an efficient and effective process for regularly backing up your data,4 now is a great time to create one.

8. Reassess your business plan.

Things change. Customers have different needs, new trends and technologies emerge, and your business plan needs to change with them. The end of the year is the perfect time to take a fresh look at your existing plan to review your value proposition and look for new opportunities. This ensures your business keeps up with the times -- a necessary ingredient for long-term success.

By working through this checklist, you can finish the year strong while laying a foundation for a profitable year ahead.

Looking for other ways to grow your business? Synovus is here to help. Visit your local branch to ask about business loans and lines of credit designed to help you grow.