It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and hot cocoa, isn’t it?
‘Tis the season for giving – and Santa’s got 12 tips to share with you for the 12 days of Christmas.
1. Finalize your budget or cash flow projections for 2024. Review every single expense, especially those software subscriptions, to see if there are any you’d like to discontinue. Negotiate expenses like insurance, rent, and contractor fees.
2. Conduct a customer survey or call a select number of clients and ask for feedback regarding your products and services over the past year. Ask what they liked, what they didn’t like and what is the greatest challenge they’re facing now that you can potentially support them with.
3. Re-send unpaid invoices to all customers that you expect to receive payment from this month. Call customers that have outstanding unpaid invoices to resolve accounts or establish a payment plan.
4. Renew or sign up for new health insurance benefits before the open enrollment period closes in mid December for coverage starting January 1st OR by January 15th for coverage starting February 1st.
5. Make sure you have correct email addresses, tax ID numbers and signed w-9’s from all 1099 contractors and correct address and SS#s for employees.
6. Discuss 2023 financial performance year to date and 2024 goals with your C.P.A. so they can estimate your 2023 tax liability and formulate a tax plan to minimize your liability.
- If you’re a product based business, do a physical inventory count so your CPA can adjust the value of your assets.
- If you’re a service provider, get a sense of how much in IT expenses to invest in and deduct for this year versus next year.
7. Make a year end contribution to your retirement plan, pension, IRA, Solo 401K, SEP IRA, etc. if applicable and if cash flow permits.
8. Planning to pay employee bonuses? Calculate the bonus amounts, communicate it to employees and set it up with your payroll companies to be paid as part of 2023 or 2024 wages depending on if you need the deduction this year.
9. Want to invest in certain furniture, equipment, hardware or other big assets purchases for the business? Take advantage of year end sales and 12-18 months 0% interest financing options.
10. Download all banking statements, credit card statements and payroll summary reports from 2023.
11. Have a team meeting to celebrate your financial accomplishments – especially if you’ve met financial goals.
12. Buy my book, Dancing with Numbers! I’m excited to announce the audiobook is available on Audible just in time for the holidays! I promise it’s an easy read and you’ll find a chuck full of actionable advice to help you plan for a financially successful 2024.
This book is a culmination of lessons learned as an outsourced CFO advising clients over the past 5 years. It lays out the 6 steps to growing a profitable business so you can afford to hire more talent, reward your current team, give yourself a raise and feel confident in your ability to continue on an upward financial trajectory.
Gift it to a fellow business owner, and enjoy a Christmas cookie knowing you’ve just supported their business finances in a BIG way – just set out some extra cookies for Mrs. Santa for giving you these great tips.
Have a Happy Holiday,
Tricia
Tricia Taitt is the CEO and Chief Financial Choreographer of FinCore. She holds an M.B.A from The Fuqua School of Business of Duke University, and a BS in Economics with a Finance concentration from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. For over 20 years, she’s been a finance professional. Half of the time was spent working on Wall Street while the other half was spent in the trenches side by side with small business owners. As a result of working with FinCore, clients have been able to take control of their numbers and feel more confident in their ability to make decisions, while increasing profits by 10% and building a cash stash to invest in growth. Follow Tricia on LinkedIn and Instagram.