This is the time that many of us set​ goals/aspirations/resolutions/intentions for the New Year. (If you’re feeling overwhelmed with this process, read up here on how to calm this overwhelm.)

But – have you considered this important piece of your business planning for the new year: your financial plan? Chances are you’ve created sales goals for the year. Have you considered how you’ll spend your business funds in 2018? Do you have an expense budget? How will you spend your money in the New Year?

Here’s a quick and easy way to plan for your business expenses:

  • ​review where you spent money in 2017
  • which expenses will continue in 2017? which will you cut out?
  • now lay out your plan for 2018, defining what you’ll spend on all your expense categories

Catching up on your Accounting from 2017

Reviewing where you spent funds in 2017 is usually where people get stuck. If you haven’t been good about tracking your spending, you aren’t alone. 🙂 Here’s a quick catchup tip:

  • ​download your bank transactions into a csv or xls file. You can do this from your online login.
  • instead of using your receipts to see where you spent money, use the csv/xls file to sort thru the amounts and payees
  • now categorize all the expenses
  • do one month at a time
  • create totals for each spending category

If you’d like to feel more in control of your finances, check out our Accounting 101 and Quickbooks 101 online courses.