There are a few tell-tale signs that the year is coming to a close: fireworks are selling out, people are making hopeful resolutions, and you have a seemingly insurmountable pile of bookkeeping tasks to complete. With a million things already on your plate year-round, it’s understandable that you struggle with staying on top of your accounting projects without bookkeeping services in Mesa.
Small business bookkeeping in Mesa doesn’t have to be as hard as it seems, though.
We’ve curated an easy-to-follow checklist that walks you through everything you need to do as you prepare for what the next year brings. Follow these easy steps, and you’ll be able to approach this year’s bookkeeping issues with confidence.
1. Get All Your Documents in Order
Successfully running a company often means shuffling between endless spreadsheets of financial information. The end of the year is the perfect opportunity for you to wrap your head around all your tax documents.
There are three documents that you’ll want to especially focus on managing and understanding:
- Your balance sheet. This document will give you a good overview of your total assets, equity, and other critical information.
- Cash flow statement. See where your money is going by carefully analyzing your cash flow statements, including itemized inflow and outflow.
- Income statement. Your income statement provides core information about how you’re managing your money, including your total expenses, revenues, and perhaps most importantly, profits.
As you gather these documents and look over them, ensure that the information you find in them lines up with your economic goals and objectives for the year. Use a keen eye to look through the numbers to spot anything that looks out of place.
If you catch any problematic sections, contacting bookkeeping services in Mesa will help you manage the situation.
2. File Your Forms for the Year
If you have any employees working for you, small business bookkeeping in Mesa can file several important forms on behalf of your staff. These documents include:
- W-2s. After reviewing your other financial information and finalizing your payroll, issue W-2s for your employees. Remember to send two copies of each form – one to the employee and the other to the Social Security Administration (SSA).
- 940s and 941s. These forms are used to report your staff’s wages, so at the end of the year, review them for accuracy.
- W9s. You can’t complete your vendors’ 1099s without critical details from their W9s, so be sure to have one on file for each contractor/vendor.
- 1099s. Like W-2s, you must issue 1099s for your contractors each year.
3. Review Your Financial Activity for the Year
The end of the year is a perfect opportunity for reflection on the past 365, and your finances are no exception from this rule. As you gear up for all that the next year has in store, take this time to think back on your expenses, your budget, and financial planning for the year. What worked, and what didn’t? Did you meet your goals, or did you identify areas for growth?
After your initial review, use your answers to develop a concrete plan to either improve or keep going strong in the next year.
4. Work With Bookkeeping Services in Mesa
Bookkeeping can be a monumental task if you’re going it alone, so take advantage of the help that’s available to you. M&M Accounting has years of experience delivering exemplary solutions for small business bookkeeping in Mesa, so contact us for expert assistance & enter the next year strong.