4 Things Business Owners Should Do at the Beginning of a New Quarter

Have you ever wondered if there were things you should be doing on a quarterly basis that maybe you were missing?  Here are 4 things you should be doing within the first few weeks of a new quarter to make sure your business and books won’t get behind and you are ready for whatever the next quarter brings.

1.    Reconcile ALL your accounts: Not just your bank accounts, but also your credit card accounts, loan accounts, petty cash accounts, and all other liability accounts. Banks are staffed by humans and humans make mistakes. If you have your accounts linked to your accounting software, there can be glitches, where transactions were never downloaded, or downloaded more than once. By reconciling all your accounts, you can find and correct these errors, spot any fraudulent activity on your accounts, and discover where there may be inefficiencies or duplication of services.

2.    Compare your Quarterly Financial Reports to last quarter’s reports, and the same quarter in the previous fiscal year. This will give you a good idea of where the business is going, are you doing better than you thought? Worse? Are revenues up or down? Are expenses up or down? Are Revenue & Expenses the same or is one up and one down? Do you need to adjust what the business is spending, can you hire, is your marketing plan working? We can get so focused on the day to day that we assume we know how healthy our business is, but by taking time and really evaluating what has changed from quarter to quarter, or from this year to last year, we are better able to make decisions that will help us reach our goals.

3.    Review your Payables, Receivables, & Sales Numbers. Take some time and look at who owes you money and how long have they owed it, who do you owe money too, and are you late on those Payables? Staying on top of both Receivables and Payables will help keep your business strong. Run a report on Sales by Customer and Sales by Product or Service. Which customers are purchasing the most, what product or service has been the most popular in the last quarter? These can help you determine trends, marketing strategy, and possibly what products/services to discontinue, or add in as a regular offering.

4.    Pay your taxes. If you have employees, make sure you remit payroll tax returns and pay any quarterly payroll taxes due to both federal and state governments. Pay your own estimated taxes for the quarter. Pay any sales or meals taxes dues.  Getting behind on tax payments is a difficult hole to get out of. If you have difficulty with keeping enough cash in your accounts to be able to pay your taxes when they come due, open a business savings account specifically for taxes. Transfer funds regularly based on what type of taxes you are saving for: per transaction, weekly, monthly, etc. If you think that still won’t be enough, open the account at different bank than the one your business accounts are with, that way by needing to physically go to the bank to transfer funds it won’t be a tempting to use those savings for other expenses.

Accounting & Bookkeeping Services in NH

If you need support with your accounting and bookkeeping the experts at Fournier Accounting and Bookkeeping Services are here to help. We serve small businesses throughout New Hampshire and the U.S. Contact us today!