Third-quarter bookkeeping is about investing time to set yourself up for future success. By looking ahead one full quarter (or more), you’re better able to plan and implement things that will positively impact your business.

Third quarter bookkeeping tasks

The third quarter is a critical point for many businesses. You’ve crossed the mid-year mark and know how your business is doing compared to last year. It’s also the time that businesses naturally start thinking about next year.

Take some time to review your processes, verify important business data, and make any adjustments necessary. A few key questions to ask include:

• Are you caught up on taxes?
• Is your payroll data complete?
• Is your vendor data complete?
• Are any adjustments needed in your business plan?

You may also want to survey your clients and employees to help identify gaps in your services or processes. A quick online survey can help provide important information as you plan for the future.

Third quarter bookkeeping helps you plan ahead

Now is the time to be thinking about the holidays and end-of-year. Do you know when employees will be taking time off? Do you have a schedule that ensures you can adequately cover client needs during that time? Are any sales or special projects requiring additional attention during the holidays?

Gather information to start planning for next year, including your financials, client and employee feedback, your evaluation of processes, and other helpful information. Don’t leave this until later in the year, as you need adequate time to review the information and determine your next steps. Start thinking about your budget for next year, too. You don’t have to finalize it until fourth quarter, but it’s good to get a head start on a draft version.

The third quarter is also a great time to make an end-of-year appointment with your CPA. Meeting to discuss your financials and taxes before the end of the year ensures you have time to adjust if needed. It also allows you to ask any important questions of your CPA before they get flooded with tax season responsibilities.

Now you can hire the right people

As a business owner or executive, you can’t do it all. Sometimes you have to say no to things, so you have time in your schedule to focus on business growth. Do you have the right team to sustain your business and encourage growth?

Once you’ve completed your third quarter bookkeeping tasks, you may realize you need to hire another employee or contract an expert to help you with bookkeeping, marketing, or administrative tasks.

Keep in mind that it takes three to six months to train a new employee or get up to speed with a contracted expert. Spend some time analyzing how you spend your time in the third quarter and where you need additional support.

Is it time to improve your skills?

As you analyze your numbers and review processes, also think about your skills and where you may need to improve. Do you have funds in your training budget to develop specific skills for you or your team? Are there tasks you can shift to another team member to free up time to focus on improving your skills?

Third-quarter bookkeeping is about much more than just your third-quarter numbers. It’s also about looking ahead to the fourth quarter and the new year to strengthen your business, team, and skills. Investing time to review your numbers and processes, plan, hire the right people, and improve your skills will set your business up for success in the fourth quarter and beyond.

Want to talk specifics over with a pro? I’m happy to spend 30 minutes with you chatting about the best path forward for your business bookkeeping. It’s all part of my complimentary consult calls.

Contact me and set up a time to talk.