December 31st is the fiscal year end for many businesses. It’s time to finalize your bookkeeping, hand in the missing receipts and documents, and get ready to hand it over to your accountant. You will have the opportunity to look at a full year of Income and Expenses and ponder new strategies to increase the former and decrease the latter. Whether you are a brand-new, small business owner and this was your exciting first year in business or you have been in business for a decade or more, time for reflection on the business year can help you grow.
Identify the highs and lows of the year, good feedback, and not-so-good feedback.
When looking at your Balance Sheet and your Income statement, the numbers you see allow you insights into what is or is not working. There were decisions made before these numbers became reality. Your Revenues are the reflection on how well you market your business, how well you sell, and how much in demand your goods or services are.
Are your revenues higher than last years? Lower? Too low?
Have you lost clients? Why?
Are you doing your best for yourself and your customers? Where could you improve?
Have you had any positive or negative feedback from your clients?
Take a realistic look at your expenses.
Maybe your payroll costs are unusually high for your industry and, although you need to pay your staff fair wages, they also need to contribute fair work. Talking to other business owners can be helpful. Surround yourself with those who have similar aspirations to yours as a small business owner and work through some of these questions with them, especially those who may be slightly more mature than you in the business realm.
Are you overpaying for some of your goods and services?
Is it time to explore different suppliers?
How much are you paying in monthly rent for your business? Is a different location feasible?
Is there an area of your business where staff wages eat up all the profit? Is that area profitable?
What about your company’s debts?
Are you keeping up with payments or getting further into debt with more loans and credit cards? Maybe you are getting carried away with a Purchase Now-Pay Later attitude.
Did you notice similar changes during the last year of covid?
In your first year of business, what worked or did not work?
How did you gather feedback from your clients successfully?
Determine your level of enjoyment as a business owner.
The questions provided above may assist you in reflecting on the last year of business but it will also help to ask yourself how you are feeling in general as a business owner. While being an entrepreneur or self-employed can be stressful and all-consuming, it should still give you some pleasure and satisfaction.
What is your general satisfaction level for running your business this last year?
What have you enjoyed? What have you not enjoyed?
Did you try something different this last year? Did it work? Is there something you have considered trying differently?
I encourage you to ask yourself the above questions and not necessarily alone. Consider them first and then contact us at Profitline Bookkeeping. We can help you answer from a numbers-perspective if an area of your business was profitable or not, where changes could benefit your business, and identify future dates to re-examine these changes.
For bookkeeping services in Sherwood Park, Edmonton, Fort Saskatchewan, and area – contact Profitline Bookkeeping.
We are here for all your bookkeeping services!