Your Small Business Monthly Checklist [Free Download]
Each month review your business to see how well you’re managing it and where you can improve. Use this monthly checklist to ensure you’re on track.
Review your finances
Check your payroll records to ensure your staff records are updated and that you’ve withheld the correct taxes from each paycheck. You’ll also want to make sure you’ve filed any tax forms and paid your tax obligations.
Read also: Tax Due Dates
Take this time to review your balance sheet. Compare it to earlier sheets to get a picture of how well you’re managing your assets and liabilities.
Review accounts payable
Review your accounts payable to make sure you know what’s due soon and to double-check that you haven’t missed any payments. Try to pay your bills early as often as possible to build goodwill. That way, if you have a hard month and can’t make a full payment, your suppliers and lenders might be more willing to work with you.
This is also an excellent time to review your relationships with suppliers. Make sure they’re still charging a fair price and that you’re still getting a good deal and value for money.
Review accounts receivable
Review your accounts receivable to track down late payers and send reminder invoices to customers. Learn more about how to get paid on time.
Review sales
Compare your monthly sales to your forecasted sales in your business plan and adjust next month’s goals as needed. You can also use this time to determine whether your costs and profits are where they should be. Compare your year-over-year sales to decide whether you’re doing better than this time last year.
Check inventory
Make sure your inventory levels match your forecasted sales for the next month. If they don’t, determine when you need to order more.
Check in with your customers
Make sure you’re regularly engaging with your customers. Consider sending personalized emails or postcards to customers who haven’t shopped with you in a while. You can also use this opportunity to inform customers about upcoming events and sales or to ask them to leave a review.
Read also: 6 Ways to Effectively Use Email Marketing
Backup your data
If you have any data stored on your company’s computers, make sure to back it up to the cloud, so you don’t have to worry about data loss.
Read also: Does Your Small Business Need the Cloud?
