The Checklist You Need To Close-Out Your Business Year In Style
The Checklist
- A Thorough business review
- Fulfil Tax obligations
- A Plan for the next year
- “Thank you notes” to Customers and Employees
- Reward yourself with a break!
1. A Thorough Business Review
The outcome of a business review is what informs your plan for the next year. For an easier and thorough review, you may split this process into four parts – Finance, Process/Operations, People and Legal
At the minimum, your review should point out:
- Below are some sources that will help with your reviews –
- Bank Statements
- Balance Sheet
- Petty Cashbook
- Statement of Cashflow
- Profit and Loss statements
- Inventory
- Invoices and Receipts
- Contract copies
- Emails, DMs and other correspondence
2. Fulfil Your Tax obligations
As a business in Nigeria, your turnover and profits are liable to tax. Turnover here refers to your total sales for a period of time while Profits are what is left after your business expenses (paid and unpaid) have been deducted.
Taxation largely affects your financial projections for the new year. You need to know how much your business is worth and the portion of your earnings eligible for tax.
If you need to understand more on taxation in Nigeria, please refer to the Federal Inland Revenue Service website at firs.gov.ng for guidance. Other useful complementary sites to look up additional information are Invoice.ng, Nairametrics and the Taxaide website
3. A Plan For The Next Year
Obviously, what would the fuss be about if not this!
Again, a thorough review is your foundation. Your plan will be built on the outcome of this review. It should contain at the least;
- action points that reflect lessons learnt from the current year
- practical steps to address lapses within the business
- a contingency plan should errors occur
- options to increase sales and reach a new portion of customers
- Strategy to improve your business processes
4. “Thank You Notes” to Customers and Employees
Remember what we said about customer appreciation?. Now is the perfect time to apply some of those tips. You could send a personalized gift, compose an SMS, produce a cutely branded “thank you” card, deliver hampers, and much more.
Your employees are not to be left out either. The simple but thoughtful gifts that say a sincere thank you will motivate them into doing more to support your business.
5. Reward Yourself With A Break!
Take time out to do something nice for yourself, you deserve it!
We suppose that you have been working all year to keep things running and while we applaud your efforts, even Atlas needs a shrug. A break will help you release stress and top up your energy so that you can continue into the year with renewed energy.
So go on, take that trip, buy that sentimental gift, make family time more special. Overall, just do things that help you relax!
