{"id":11890,"date":"2017-12-26T06:01:17","date_gmt":"2017-12-26T12:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/?p=11890"},"modified":"2018-12-09T12:41:58","modified_gmt":"2018-12-09T18:41:58","slug":"end-year-checklist-small-businesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/2017\/12\/end-year-checklist-small-businesses.html","title":{"rendered":"The end of year checklist for small businesses"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Here’s your year-end checklist of essential to-do items for your small business. Photo by Becky McCray<\/p><\/div>\n

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As you wrap up one year and prepare for the next, your business needs to do the same. You have some accounting tasks to reset and some backups to make.<\/p>\n

Must do Jan 1<\/h1>\n

These are the ones you can’t easily do later, so you don’t want to put them off. The good news: these are the easy ones.<\/p>\n

Count your inventory.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you sell or make products, take an inventory of all products or raw materials on hand at the turn of the year. If you use a cloud-based point of sale system, it\u2019s extra important to write down the end of year inventory total on January 1<\/strong>. Most POS systems only keep a running (current) inventory total. If you forget to write it down now, you\u2019ll have to figure backwards from all purchases and sales (not a fun job.)<\/p>\n

Record end of year mileage.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you use your vehicle for business, write down your mileage at the end of the year. This provides an important baseline for your mileage records all year long. I always put this on my online calendar so I can find it easily.<\/p>\n

Get these done during January<\/h1>\n

These are the tasks that need to be done soon, but don’t have to happen on January 1.\u00a0Right now, commit time on each Friday during January to work through the checklist until you are all finished.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Financial Data<\/h2>\n

Backup accounting data.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, this applies whether you use a program on your computer or if you use a cloud service. Every cloud service is subject to being interrupted at the worst possible time or even close down with no warning. Best to backup now.\u00a0Do an export of the data in your accounting system\u2019s backup format and CSV.<\/p>\n