Wrap Up Your Year in Time for Christmas

Christmas is coming. Yes, again! Already!

For many businesses, this means a close-down period or reduced working hours for the summer.

In the past, have you been one of the many business owners who wait until the end of December to begin preparing for year-end closing?

It feels like you have to deal with everything in one frantic rush: getting in extra stock needed, sending and chasing invoices due, sorting staff leave and staff working through the holiday, running Christmas promos and sending Christmas greetings… depending on the nature of your business, the list goes on (and on)!

This year, why not prepare earlier and reduce your stress?

Here’s how you can wrap things up in time for Christmas without any frantic rushing.

Wrap Up Your Year in Time for Christmas

Start Preparing Now

In the lead up to Christmas, it’s easy to get swept along with everything that needs to be done. You tend to focus on the day-to-day aspects of your business and make plans for your time outside of work. But by taking some time to get ready to close your books and doing all those other year-end necessities now, you might have just a bit less pre-Christmas stress.

As bookkeepers, being organised and thorough is the name of the game. Preparing ahead of time will make the process of taking a break smoother, and you can ensure all your information is current for the start of next year. Keeping your information up-to-date, clean, and concise is extremely important.

Here are some of our best tips to help you prepare early for year-end closing:

Make A Plan

Before you can start making too many preparations, you need to know what you are preparing for! So, that means making a plan for your Christmas close down.

Ask yourself these questions:

-        when will you close?

-        how long will you close for?

-        when you reopen, will you be on reduced summer hours?

-        will you need extra staff to cover busy periods?

Once you have these details locked in, you will have a definite timeframe to work to and will know what you need to prepare.

Your Year-End Checklist:

Now, you have the details locked in, it’s time to ae the preparations for a stress-free summer break. Here are some of the things to get sorted now:

√      Order Christmas stock

√      Roster and organise staff

√      Arrange leave around public holidays or annual closure

√      Sort your payroll

√      Wrap up 2022 invoicing

√      Collect outstanding payments

Christmas Stock: Get What You Need, Now!

If you’re expecting a rush of business prior to or during the Christmas-New Year holidays, ensure you’re all sorted with the stock you need. That way, you can take full advantage and reap the benefits of keen customers in silly season spending mode. Look at previous years, plan for what you need – and get your order in earlier than you think you need to!

More Manpower Required?

Are you in an industry that gets explosively busy around Christmas and New Year? (Who isn’t!?) Book in those extra hours from your team or additional temp staff now. Staff and temps will appreciate the certainty and clarity and will already be able to plan their festive season around their hours.

Arrange Leave Or Plan For Your Annual Closure

Something to look forward to: a well-earned break for you and your team! Get your people to put in their leave requests early. With plenty of time still to jig things around, you should be able to give everyone a fair break – and your team will have enough time to plan events and travel.

If your business has an annual closure for the holiday period and you require staff to take annual holidays (or unpaid time off) this is referred to as an ‘annual closedown'. It can occur:

●      Across your entire workplace, or

●      For part of your business (such as where a factory closes for maintenance while the office, dispatch and sales departments stay open)

You’re legally able to do this once a year and require employees to take annual holidays during the period of the closedown, as long as you give your team 14 days’ notice. Let them know now, and everyone can better plan their holiday!

Sort The Wages

Payroll can be really complicated around the end of the year with everyone taking annual leave and a whole bunch f public holidays to account for. Stay on top of it by being proactive. Get the details in your system now so that you aren’t scrambling on December 24th!

And if you aren’t sure how to get all those details right in your system, reach out for expert help now!

Pay, And Be Paid

When was the last time you reached out to clients who owe you money? Make accounts receivable a priority right now. And double-check your own accounts payable. Have you missed paying any of your vendors?

Paying bills in a timely manner saves you from paying interest and creates a stronger relationship with your suppliers. We recommend asking for monthly statements from at least your main vendors to ensure that you have captured everything that you owe.

Do It Early, Do It Right

Phew! Year-end organisation can be a real handful. But it’s worth doing it early – and doing it right.

Maybe it’s time to evaluate your financial processes? At CornerStone Bookkeeping, we’re organised, friendly, approachable Xero experts – and we love to help small and mid-sized businesses get sorted financially.

Need help with all this year-end stuff? Get in touch today!