It’s been a mild winter so far in Pennsylvania. I haven’t found myself up early shoveling my car out of a giant snow pile, and honestly, it’s been nice.
But, winter has finally arrived! Temperatures have been below freezing when you factor in the wind chill and the snow has started to fall. Rumors are flying about our next SNOWMEGGEDON!!! It’s really the perfect time to start doing all those dreaded inside tasks we’ve been holding off on for so long. As a money gal, I’m here to remind you about all those wonderful obligatory end of year tasks dealing with your finances.

Use this handy Top 10 List to get those books in order and get ready for 2016. You can even print this out and cross off the tasks as you complete them. It’s a great way to keep track and hold yourself accountable.

1. Get all of your transactions into your system up through 12-31-15: all your expenses, all your cash spending, and all your deposits.
2. Reconcile your bank accounts, including your checking and savings account. If you are a lawyer, be sure to include the trust account.
3. Look at your receivables and make sure all payments are reconciled against the proper invoice. Does anyone owe you money? Call and get paid now!
4. Reconcile your inventory. This often means performing a detailed inventory count and validation that the system and the physical inventory are equal. Write-off any slow movers or obsolete inventory.
5. Reconcile your credit cards, loans and lines of credit. Each of the ending balances on the balance sheet should agree to the statement from the financial institution.
6. Run a Profit & Loss statement and look at each category. Make sure the way you entered everything is consistent. If you put your phone under utilities one month and cell phone the next, you’re going to have a hard time keeping accurate records. Look at business expenses you had from your personal accounts and get them recorded into your system.
7. Talk to your accountant about how to identify certain tax deductions based on your situation. For instance, if you work at home, are there home office expenses you should include in your system for the business? Are you able to deduct automobile expenses? If you haven’t done a great job of logging miles, start now.
8. Be sure that you have tracked parking and tolls spent while conducting business, as these are fully deductible.
9. Send out W-2’s to your employees, the state and the IRS. New this year, send any healthcare forms that may be necessary.
10. Send out 1099s to any individual or company that did work for you and that you paid over $600. You will need their EIN number or Social Security Number and you must send it to them by January 31^st. Here is a site to request the forms be mailed to you and it’s free.

If just looking at this list overwhelms you, it’s okay! You are having the same emotional response as 90% of business owners. Feel free to contact me and we can schedule a time to chat and I will break this all down.