The last holiday presents have been unwrapped—now it is time to think about wrapping up 2009. It hasn’t been a banner year for many companies but there are some things you can do to make the most of 2009′s misery and make sure you are prepared for 2010.

Here are a few things that you need to do before the end of the year:

Want cash fast? Get your books in order. If your business sustained a loss in 2009, you want to get your books in order so that you can quickly turn them over to your accountant and get your rebate for any overpayments. To do this, reconcile your bank statements, clean up your chart of accounts and re-categorize anything that made it into the “Uncategorized or Miscellaneous Expenses.” You will save a lot of money by doing this yourself before you turn your books over to your accountant. If you are at a loss on where to begin, book clean-ups are one of our specialties. We can do it at significant cost savings from having your CPA do it, and we pride ourselves in our accurate, quick turnarounds.

Call your accountant—now. There are many attractive tax incentives available that expire after December 31^st. Check with your accountant and share your preliminary results for 2009 and what you expect to happen in 2010. A little proactive planning can save you big bucks.

Put the pencil to the paper and hash out your strategic plan for 2010. These coming weeks are typically slow for most businesses and are a perfect time to reflect on the year and determine what will do differently next year. The pencil and paper (or Word document or Excel spreadsheet) is key. Don’t just think about what you are going to do, create a record of it.

Put numbers to it. Any plan in theory– good. A written plan– better. A plan with numbers in it– best. Having the discipline to set up a plan using numbers (e.g. how many customers will it take to make $X in sales, what kind of marketing expense will that require etc.) will make your plan real—and realistic. We’re big fans of dynamic budgeting—a budget that changes with reality—because we know it is an important discipline to incorporate the numbers while running your business. Ask anyone who has put together an operating budget—not only are they surprised a how much it cost to run day to day operations, but they always have an “ah-ha” moment when they see where they are spending their money. At a loss how to create a plan?

With all hope, 2010 will be a better year than 2009 for most companies. Spend the time now to plan so you can start the new year off on the right foot.

Happy New Year!

We’re growing!

We are happy to announce the addition of bookkeeping, controllership and integrated tax planning to the list of our services. Our clients will have peace of mind knowing they will have business partners handling their finances, from day-to-day transactions to complex financial analysis and modeling.

Feel free to contact us for a no-fee consultation on any of these services:

Beyond Bookkeeping: In addition to having a team handle your day-to-day transactions, you’ll also get business partners who understand how to set up your books to get the best information from your financials, including product line or customer profitability. We’ll manage all the billing, bank reconciliations, A/P and A/R so you can spend your time on doing what you do best– growing your business.

Controllership: With our accounting services you’ll get peace of mind knowing you have an experienced Controller overseeing your books. We’ll proactively help you manage your cash balances and you’ll have frequent updates on any higher-than-usual transactions. We’ll ensure your business assets are protected by putting the proper checks and balances and policies and procedures in place.

Tax: Through our network of accountants we can also integrate tax planning and reviews into our services. If you got a surprise this tax season or if you want a second opinion, our affiliated accountants can offer a different perspective. If you choose, we’ll work directly with your current accountant to provide the year-end information he or she needs for filing your return and periodic forecasts throughout the year so you can proactively manage your tax liability and take advantage new incentives before the year is up.

Sales, Legal, IT, HR, etc. Profit Point is also a member of Standby Executive Team (SET). If you are trying to reduce overhead expenses, SET offers a flexible, cost-effective alternative. Our members can provide executive-level expertise in Legal, Human Resources, Management Coaching, Sales, Information Technology, Marketing and Finance to allow businesses that are downsizing to continue operations with minimal interruption. Whether a you need an advisory board or choose to work with one or more of us to supplement the expertise of your existing staff, Standby Executive Team can help your businesses become more efficient and flexible in this economic environment.

Other services we provide include:
·         Monthly financial reviews
·         Cash flow forecasting
·         Pricing for profitability
·         Customer and product line profitability and segmentation
·         Cost analysis and reduction
·         Financial coaching
· More>>>

One mistake I see business owners make is setting a sales goal and then considering their plan for the year complete. They are, frankly, selling themselves short (pun intended).

A good plan includes sitting down with a pen and paper or (gasp!) Excel spreadsheet and figure out how many widgets you’ll have to sell or how many contracts you’ll have to close, and at what price.

That will give you the baseline for the tactics you’ll have to employ to get there. What do you need to do to get to the sales goal? Does it mean more marketing, if, so how much? Do you need more sales people or distribution channels? Are you going to expand into a new market or go after your competitor’s customers? How?

You see where I am going with this…

Planning is more than a 1 hour process, and is extremely important for setting your course for the upcoming year. Revenue is an important target, but it’s really only a result of how well you outline and execute the rest of your plan.