It’s time for that end of year review

It’s that time of year that we start our end of year review and cleanup our files and contracts to get “our house in order” for the New Year. If you’re not sure where to start, check out our article “Cleaning out the Closet – Getting rid of data you don’t need, keeping what you might need and making the best of the rest”.

As members of the Independent Computer Consultants Association[i], we get really good suggestions and checklists to help us run our business. One of these checklists is an “End of Year” checklist written by John Avellanet of Cerulean Associates LLC that we use to close out the year.[ii]^,[iii]

In this post, we want to share this checklist with you with annotations of what we do to handle our end of year tasks. Our actions are in red:

1.Financial Review

Review your finances, insurance and investments for the year:

Finish recording all invoices, receipts, purchase orders, etc. for the year.
1. During the year, all of our receipts are scanned into SharePoint and placed under the appropriate project folder.
2. Packing slips are scanned and put in project folders upon receipt
3. Invoices are generated in Tiger Paw and imported to QuickBooks
4. Review (or renew) your equipment maintenance contracts. Is your inventory up to date?
  1. We have a SharePoint for all of our warranties that are sorted by expiration date (we have the same for our client contracts too). We go through this every month to see what is up for renewal.
  2. Verify the separation of personal and company finances. Complete all your expense reports.
  3. Review / renew your insurance; consider contacting an independent insurance broker to review your policy versus other options.
  4. Review your investments with your accountant / financial planner.
  5. Draft your budget for next year; consider adding a 5-15% buffer to various spend categories.
  6. Order 90-days’ worth of office supplies to start next year off well.

2. Records Review

Close-out your annual corporate (and personal) records also see our story “Cleaning out the Closet”:

Electronic records.
1. Make a back-up of all records (e-mail, databases, project files, correspondence, etc.). We backup to tape and on-line backup
2. Archive your old e-mail off your mail system. Mark it with the year and the e-mail software version. We backup to tape and on-line backup.
3. Archive all records you have not accessed in at least 12-18 months off your system. We backup to tape.
4. Make sure to mark the year and the software version(s).
  1. Review your software licensing. Is everything current? Are there any demos that you need to remove or purchase the full versions? We remove software we do not use anymore.
  2. Paper records.
    1. Place into storage all reference material (articles, etc.) you haven’t accessed in 12-18 months. After another 12-18 months, if you still haven’t accessed them – toss. We also scan and store these.
    2. Document all corporate resolutions and/or any annual meetings you are required to hold under your operating agreement or state incorporation rules.
      1. Complete any formal company correspondence (e.g., copyright letters and so on).
      2. Review and document any intellectual property you’ve come up with this year.

3. Client & Project File Review

Review your client and project files:

Are documents marked appropriately (e.g., “confidential”)?
Cull out old notes and scribbles; capture them formally if still important or toss them. We store these on our SharePoint site – see our story “Winning the paper chase and organizing chaos with SharePoint – how we fought the good fight (or at least made it less insane).”
Create a “value” page for each client – what you did, what you did beyond scope, what you want the client to consider next year.

4. Marketing & Business Development Review

Review the results of your marketing and business development efforts:

Compare your website against your closest 3 competitors’ websites.
Review your “elevator” speech. Does your neighbor “get it”? We periodically talk with our customers about this.
Review your marketing plan. Did you incorporate client and prospect contact at least monthly? What was your (ballpark) response rate – 0%, 1%, 2%, 5%, 10%?
Review the conferences you attended. What did you get out of them besides some names?
Update your resume / executive biography, LinkedIn profile, etc. What professional development did you complete this year?
Review the industry associations to which you belong. What are you getting out of them?
Do you have some “low hanging fruit” scheduled for January to build good momentum?

PLAN FOR NEXT YEAR

5. Mark Your Catch-Up Time

Block out 1-2 full days during the first week of your return from winter holiday strictly for catching up: voicemails, emails, postal mail, and so on.

6. Plan Your Calendar

Look at next month and next quarter. Capture any items triggered:

Inquiries and phone calls to make
Meetings and appointments to schedule
Project or activity follow-ups to schedule
Time you need each day to yourself to stay organized (block it out on your calendar)

Checking our Posture and Knowing Where to Go When in Trouble

In addition to the above checklist, we also take time to go over our information security posture and contingency planning. Next month, we are going to post an article entitled “Facing the Unimaginable – What happens if I lose everything?” that will go into more detail on how to protect your business in the event of an accident, failure or outright catastrophe. As part of this process we check for changes on how we handle our information and how we keep it. We also:

Update our Business Emergency Plan Outline
Update our Emergency Supply List
Review OSHA’s “How to Plan for Workplace Emergencies and Evacuations”
Review the costs of revising our Disaster Protection/Business Continuity Plans

I’ll admit – all of this work takes a lot of time that I could be spending taking care of our clients and bringing in more business – but, how good will I be able to deliver if I’m not ready or something unexpected happens? The end of year review is time well spent.

Contact Tom Witt at (718) 261-1353 x101 for more information on how to better prepare for next year or to protect your business. Or you can visit our website at http://www.sohosolutionsinc.com.

[i] Independent Computer Consultants Association, 11131 South Towne Square, Suite F, St. Louis, MO 63123

[ii] This document is for informational purposes only. Discuss your specific records management, financial and legal

requirements with your legal counsel and accountant to assure proper compliance.

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