2015 is upon us. While you may be slowing down as the holiday season approaches, there are a few must-dos to tackle before the New Year.
Clean up accounting
You’ll want to tie up any loose ends. Make sure that all expenses are entered and that things are recorded and classified properly. You will need accurate financial statements to prepare tax returns and to assess your company’s performance.
Review performance
Review revenue. Break it down in whatever way is appropriate for your business. You might look at it by product line, by job, by client, by geography or by salesperson. Assess gross margin and profit in a similar way. Look at expenses by line item. There should be one person and only one person responsible for each line item.
Review external relationships
You likely have important relationships with vendors, partners and/or customers. The end of the year is an excellent time to review the relationships that are critical to your success. Is your company getting what it needs from the relationship? What changes can you make to improve the benefit that your company is getting or should you end the relationship?
Review employees
The year’s end is a traditional time for employee-performance evaluations. Although we feel strongly that employees should receive feedback much more frequently than annually, it is nevertheless appropriate to assess each person’s performance at the end of the year. You should be measuring their accomplishments against specific, quantifiable goals. However, if you did not set these, you can still make a qualitative assessment of performance.
Review yourself
Finally, you’ll want to take a step back and assess your own performance. How did you do vs. your goals? What would you need to do to take your personal performance to the next level? Is there a book that you have been meaning to read? Do you want to attend a training course? Should you hire an executive coach? Reaching out for help when you need it is not a sign of weakness. It’s a sign of intelligence and self-awareness.
[Original:entrepreneur]
