With the beginning of the new year, there arises a perfect opportunity to review and refine your
business strategies. You must not rush into making business decisions in the excitement of a new
year. Rather, you must carefully evaluate your existing business strategies, which will help you to
succeed and grow in the new year. Read on to know the 5 tips that will help ensure that your
business is financially strong for the coming year.
1. Assess the previous year’s performance
The first and foremost tip is to review your business’s performance in the last year. This will
give you a 360o view of your current financial scenario and effectiveness of your existing
business strategies. Below are a few things that you can consider reviewing:
A. Evaluate your cash flow statement to get an idea of expenditure and income
patterns.
B. Check your balance sheet to know your current liabilities, assets, and overall
financial standing.
C. Analyse how apt and effective your last year’s business or financial strategies were.
D. Compare your actual performance with the financial goals you had set in the last
year.
2. Define financial goals
Based on your last year’s performance and future plans, create financial benchmarks for this
year. A few things you must consider while setting financial goals:
A. Identify all of your debts, including loans and outstanding amounts.
B. Ensure that your goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and
Time-bound (SMART).
C. Keep track of all revenue channels, fixed expenses, and variable expenses to assess
where to spend and where to cut back.
3. Do proper tax planning
Another important aspect you need to consider while planning for the new year is ensuring
that your business follows all the tax laws and takes advantage of all applicable claims and
deductions. A few considerations while planning for taxes are:
A. Get professional help to understand the nuances of tax regulations applicable to
your business.
B. Plan your tax calendar to ensure all payments are made accurately and in a timely
manner.
C. Stay updated on any tax law changes to make sure that you don’t attract any penalty.
4. Streamline your operations
Reviewing your business strategies gives you an idea as to what strategies are still optimal
and valid for your business. Based on your analysis and future forecast, streamline your
system and operations to help save time, money, and effort. A few tips that can help
streamline are:
A. Integrate new technologies like point-of-sale systems, automated invoicing, or other
relevant tools.
B. Figure out the bottlenecks or challenges you faced last year that could be eliminated.
C. Automate repetitive tasks such as inventory management, payroll, and
end-of-the-day reporting.
5. Build emergency funds
If you already don’t have one, make creating an emergency fund your next priority, or if you
have an existing emergency fund, ensure that it has sufficient funds to help your business
stay afloat for at least 6 months. It will help you when unexpected expenses arise or you
need to repay an unplanned debt. A few things to keep in mind while creating an emergency
corpus:
A. It should be separate from your day-to-day cash.
B. Set up automatic transfers every month to this fund.
C. Tap the account in case of actual emergencies only.
D. In case you use funds, replenish them in priority.
By incorporating these tips, you can ensure your business is set for a prosperous future. Regularly
monitoring and reviewing your business strategies and finances helps you stay ahead of challenges,
take advantage of opportunities, and proactively deal with unforeseen circumstances. Taking the
time to get your finances in check at the beginning of the year can help you in the following year.
