Crucial Christmas Holiday Accounting Tips

Summer is upon us! And with it, the December Christmas craziness.


In between parties, December and January are both great opportunities to keep your finances organised, and get a head start on a successful year.

Be nice to you future self and invest a little bit of time now.


Before you shut for the holidays:

Right now is the time to prepare, so you can tackle what’s often a slower time for business with minimum stress:

 

15 Jan is crunch time for tax:

  • Both GST (for Oct/Nov) and Provisional Tax (payment 2) are due.

  • Make sure your accountants have all the necessary paperwork and your files are up to date before you close up for Christmas. (Eg. all invoices/payments will need to be in the system on time).

  • Let your accountant know your away-dates in advance.

  • If you need help figuring out exactly what information you need to prepare, we can help.

 

Holiday Budgeting

  • Factor staffing costs into the budget for Dec and Jan (eg calculating payments you’ll need to make for holidays, annual leave, gifts) and check annual leave accruals against leave applied for.

  • Consider pipeline and workflow for January with a mind to staff (and/or clients) on leave.

  • Let your clients know as soon as possible when you will be away, to enable priority work to be completed (and billed) beforehand.

 

When you return in January:

With your mind refreshed and your calendar clear, January is a great time of year to start looking ahead to next FY! Then once your team are all back on board, you’ll have your goals and plan ready to share.

Jump-start your business vision for 2019/2020 and call us now to book in a budget and forecasting session for the year ahead.

Come with your thoughts on what you want to change, what you’re doing well, and an overview on your personal and business goals for 2019… and we’ll help you work through how to get there.

Hannah Parkman