Your accounting is like the back of the truck, or your top desk drawer. It can get messy. It takes discipline to get things cleaned up and keep them that way. And discipline makes all the difference to your success. So, let’s get the financials tight and right by year end 2014. Here are 3 ways to finish strong – fiscally fit! – in 2014…
- Get back to KFP. Operate from a Known Financial Position. Even if you are pretty organized, things drift. Reel it back in. Go line by line, through every account, on your Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss. Work with your CPA and bookkeeper to uncover every weirdness and correct every inaccuracy. Start now, and you can get it done by 12.31.2014. Calculate your tax burden and nail down your strategy. Be ready to submit your tax return on time, no extension. No surprises. No drama. Then, you’ll be off to a clean start for 2015.
- Assess your “Bean Team.” As you move to KFP, is your CPA helping or hindering? Is your bookkeeper embracing the conversation, or fighting you? They should enthusiastically support your KFP efforts. It’s your money and it’s their job to help you account for it, protect it…and grow it. Perhaps you have put rocks in their road by requiring too much detail or making the systems too complicated. Fair enough. Work together to streamline the systems. But too much protectionism or pushback is a bad indicator. Get them working for your, or find people who will.
- Commit to the weekly review. Every week, compare actual to budgeted financial data. That’s the game! How do we get from where we are to where we want to be. Review the disparity between real and idea. Then, what projects could your energize that will move the needle? Work with your team. Show them the score. If you are not looking at solid data each week, while the month is on, you playing the game without looking at the scoreboard. Put on your big kid panties and play the game of business at a higher level. Don’t react…create!
Sometimes a small shift can produce a quantum leap. These 3 Tips pack a big wallop. Raise your standards when it comes to accounting and financial management. Finish strong in 2014 and blast off in 2015.
