Here we are again, at the end year. A long, tough, and scary year for business owners. QuickBooks is often the last thing people want to look at during a down year. But it is the navigator. The GPS business tracker. It tells us where we were, and where our business is going. If, by chance, it is set on auto-pilot, watch out!! It could be heading straight for a large coral reef. Looking up and seeing the picture clearly may make us feel worse. But it gives a better chance get a grip on where we are heading. Seeing clearly is 80% of the battle.
How do we see clearly? The first thing is to straighten out QuickBooks®. As you are going through the numbers, stories start to unfold. As the pieces of the puzzle are put in its rightful place, we receive feedback from this year. The winners and loser often surprise us. Like the old TV show "Dragnet", we need to know the facts. Blind faith cannot get us through these times. Maybe in previous years, but not these coming year.
Things to check and clean up in QuickBooks are the loan balances at year end, make sure expensive equipment are on the balance sheet report under equipment and flagged for year end. Check the Account Receivable and Account Payable balances and clean them up for year end. There could be some bad debts to write off and duplicate bills or invoices that need to be handled properly. It may have been a better year than expected. But how could it be if the checkbook is so low? Maybe customers are paying a lot slower than last year. Cash Flow can create many problems.
Make a commitment to get QuickBooks right and dig deeper into your business's numbers. Read the story so you can write the future chapters with clarity and conviction. If you get hung up on some issues, call in a Pro Advisor.
