It’s that time of year again when financial reviews are a must for every company.
With the financial review comes a lot of paperwork and documentation to fill out, but it can also be an opportunity to reflect on your progress over the past year. You’ll want to make sure that you’re on track and moving in the right financial direction for your business.
Reviewing financial goals is a great way to set yourself up for success over the next year, and financial planning is a large part of that.
Use this annual planning checklist to get your financial house in order, and make sure you’re ready for what’s ahead:
1. Review Financial Goals for the Year
Review financial goals from your prior annual review to see how you’ve progressed for this past year. Suppose you haven’t moved forward on any financial targets or have missed some key milestones. In that case, it may be time to re-evaluate business strategies and figure out why these financial objectives are being pushed aside so often.
On the other hand, if things are going well with your financial plan, then take a moment to celebrate! Recognize what’s working well to build momentum throughout the next fiscal period.
You’ll also want to consider new financial goals that can help propel your company into an even better future. You could do this by growing revenue through increased sales figures, attracting more clients through enhanced marketing efforts, and more.
2. Analyze Cash Flow
The year-end financial review is also an excellent time to look at your company’s cash flow situation. This review will help you get an idea of where there might be problems in the future so that you can address them before things become too overwhelming or unmanageable.
If revenue isn’t meeting expenses and causing shortfalls month after month, it may be time to figure out why this is happening. Look for ways to cut costs throughout your business, especially if current financial performance cannot justify increasing prices on products or services offered by your organization. This way, any changes made during the financial review won’t severely impact overall sales numbers moving forward into next year.
Recognizing these types of issues early on can help you avoid financial difficulties down the road.
3. Set Financial Goals for the Year
You’ve taken a closer look at financial goals from past years and financial performance throughout this current year. Now is the time to set some financial targets moving forward into next year.
How much revenue do you want your company to bring in? What types of expenses need to be reduced or eliminated? Who is going to help achieve these financial objectives (and how)?
Setting financial goals can seem like an overwhelming task if not approached correctly. But breaking down big picture items into smaller chunks that are easier to manage will make things less complicated.
The financial review is the perfect time to make sure you’re on track with your financial goals for this year. Look back at what has worked well and try some new strategies to help achieve financial success next year.
4. Review Insurance Policies
Reviewing your insurance policies is also a great way to make sure you’re adequately covered in all areas of business.
It’s easy to overlook this part of the review. However, changes may need to be made to protect employees and company assets from financial loss due to accidents or other unplanned incidents. This review will ensure that adverse events don’t have lasting effects on either department moving forward into next year.
Often, asset protection and employee benefit plans are not given enough attention when it comes time for an annual review. But they play such essential roles within businesses today. Ignoring them could be costly later if anything were ever to happen unexpectedly without these types of coverage in place.
5. Review Investment Outcomes
It’s not always about the bottom line regarding the financial review. Sometimes making sure you’re being responsible with asset allocation is just as crucial for safeguarding company assets.
Reviewing investment outcomes throughout this year can help determine whether or not your asset allocations are working out in favor of business owners and employees. This type of information will also give valuable insight into how well investments have performed so far within various accounts. Such accounts include retirement funds, regular brokerage portfolios, trust/estate funds, etc.
6. Review Income Changes
Some income changes can significantly impact the bottom line of any business.
However, it’s not always easy to manage or predict these types of events in advance. That being said, reviewing income sources throughout this year is essential. You’ll know what areas are strong and where some adjustments might need to be made moving forward into next year.
7. Get Help with Your Financial Review
How long has it been since you completed a financial review? If you’re not sure, now is the perfect time to get some help.
Working with an outside company or organization can make financial planning much easier for businesses of any size. You will have access to financial experts who know what they are doing and how best to achieve positive results in all areas of finance. Some include revenue growth, increased profit margins, cost reduction initiatives, and more.
This type of professional assistance can give your business a considerable boost by helping guide financial strategies that you might otherwise miss if left on your own.
CPAs are some of the best financial experts to work with because of their extensive knowledge and experience in all areas related to finance. They can help you set achievable but challenging financial goals for the year ahead. And this will only serve to benefit your organization as a whole moving forward.
If you’re looking to outsource accounting and finance tasks, check out https://www.taxfyle.com/tax-preparation-outsourcing.
End-of-Year Financial Review Is Necessary
An end-of-year financial review is necessary because it gives you a snapshot of where your money has been going successfully and which areas need some work. This type of financial review can also help you determine which financial goals are worth pursuing for the new year ahead.
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