The new year is a natural checkpoint for business owners. It’s a chance to reset habits, tighten the systems that support your day-to-day operations, and start the year with a clearer view of what’s working and what isn’t.
After the New Year’s Eve celebrations are over and you’re ready to get back to business, these eight resolutions will help you clean up your financials and make the business easier to run.
1. Implement a month-end close with a deadline
A month-end close makes your reporting consistent. Without it, categories change retroactively, balances drift, and you can’t confidently compare months. With a simple close process, you get stable numbers you can use for planning and decision-making.
Do this in January:
- Choose a close deadline (example: books closed by the 10th business day).
- Use a checklist: bank and credit card reconciliations, payroll, debt balances, AR/AP review, and key accruals.
- Set a month-end closing date in your accounting system and limit editing permissions after close.
2. Build a small dashboard you review after every close
You don’t need complex reporting to be disciplined. You need a short set of key numbers you can trust, reviewed consistently. A small dashboard builds decision-making rhythm and helps catch issues early.
Do this in January:
- Choose 6–10 metrics that matter most for your business (i.e., cash, revenue, gross margin, operating profit, AR aging, payroll %, net cash flow).
- Review monthly right after close.
- Keep the dashboard consistent for at least a quarter before changing it.
3. Automate transaction coding to save time and reduce errors
Most accounting systems let you create bank rules, but few owners take the time to build a real rule set. Done right, you can auto-code a big chunk of spend and reduce uncategorized expenses.
Do this in January:
- Build rules for your top 20 vendors (subscriptions, rent, utilities, processors).
- Create a “Needs Review” rule for anything over a threshold or in certain categories (travel, meals, contractors).
- Add a monthly rule audit to catch miscodes and new vendors.
4. Clean up your Chart of Accounts for readability
Your Chart of Accounts should support decisions, not create noise. Too many overlapping categories and catch-all buckets make trends harder to see and reduce the usefulness of your P&L.
Do this in January:
- Merge duplicate categories where possible.
- Reduce reliance on “Misc” and “Ask My Accountant.”
- Align categories with how you manage the business (labor, marketing, rent, software, fulfillment, etc.).
5. Add basic spending controls to prevent subscription creep
Without clear controls, subscriptions multiply, renewals slide by unnoticed, and you end up paying another year for a tool that was only needed for that one project. One of the simplest fixes is also the most effective: assign every recurring tool a named owner, a renewal date, and a monthly cost. If no one owns it, it gets canceled by default.
Do this in January:
- Update your business policies to require approval for any new subscription or recurring vendor.
- Create a “subscription owner” rule: every tool must have an owner, renewal date, and monthly cost logged.
- Schedule a quarterly subscription review focused on renewals and cancellations.
6. Make payroll reconciliation part of your standard process
Payroll is often one of the largest expense lines and one of the easiest to misstate if it isn’t reconciled regularly. Clean payroll bookkeeping improves reporting accuracy and reduces compliance risk.
Do this in January:
- Reconcile payroll to your books monthly (wages, taxes, benefits, reimbursements).
- Review contractor vs employee classifications quarterly.
- Collect W-9s up front for all new vendors and contractors.
7. Run a quarterly tax exposure review
Tax issues are easier to prevent than fix. A quarterly review reduces surprises and helps you stay proactive on estimates, compliance, and documentation, especially as your business changes across the year.
Do this in January:
- Put quarterly tax check-ins on the calendar now.
- Review profit trends and estimated payments.
- Check for sales tax exposure, payroll filing accuracy, and major one-time events.
8. Track profitability by service line, product, or location
A single company-wide P&L can hide what’s truly profitable. Adding simple segmentation helps you see which lines of business drive margin and which ones absorb time without producing returns.
Do this in January:
- Pick one tracking dimension that’s most relevant to your business (i.e., service line, location, job type, customer segment).
- Use classes/projects/tags in your accounting system.
- Start with accurate revenue and direct cost tracking before allocating overhead.
If you run two service lines, tag revenue and contractor hours to each line first. You’ll quickly see which one has stronger gross margin. Later, you can decide how (or whether) to allocate rent and admin salaries across the two lines for a fuller profitability view.
Start with the changes that remove the most friction in your business, then build from there. Each of these resolutions gets easier once the foundation is set.
If you want 2026 to start with cleaner numbers and fewer financial loose ends, Burkland can help. Our professional bookkeeping team builds a consistent close process, keeps your accounts reconciled, and delivers clean, reliable reporting you can trust when you’re making decisions. If you’d like, we can review your current setup and show you exactly where a few process upgrades (and the right automation) can save time and improve accuracy. Reach out to Burkland to get started with reliable monthly bookkeeping and reporting.