The promise of New Year promises new opportunities, changes, excitement and of course the chance to make resolutions. This time of year is also the perfect opportunity to reflect on the progress your small business has made in the last 12 months and plan for the next 12.

If you are starting a new business you can check out our comprehensive checklist for new businesses.

Here are some ideas to help you plan for the new year and get the best start to 2016.

1. Follow the money

Give your business every opportunity to thrive and grow by getting a handle on where money is going into and out of your business. This is the first step to effective financial management.
A simple small business accounting system can help you match up planned expenditures with incoming money to pay for them. Chances are you’ll find this useful as Christmas approaches!

2. Hit the books

Take advantage of one of the quietest times of the year for businesses and catch up on some reading. Now’s a good time to get up to speed with the latest business books, magazines and industry blogs.

3. Update your business plan

Your business plan should guide everything you do in your business, from the big picture down to the day-to-day. If your business plan has been kept in a drawer, it can’t possibly be doing its job.

Not only do you need to take out and read your business plan, you need to update it to reflect the current state of your business and the market. These things change regularly, and your business plan should be flexible enough to change with them.

4. Have an office clean-up

Symbolically, starting the New Year with a clean office lets you get a fresh start on your new priorities and jettison any leftover baggage from the previous year.

But more than that, taking the opportunity to dispose of anything you no longer need and properly file away things you will need later on puts you in a better and more organised position to find important information quickly going forward.

5. Hold onto the season’s spirit of giving

Chances are that one of the reasons you started a small business was because you saw an opportunity to improve the lives of your customers in some way. Harness some of that philanthropic energy in the New Year with some charitable giving.

Many, many charities and organisations exist to make a difference all around the world. One resolution this year could be to find a cause that matters to you, and contribute to it.

Cashflow Manager proudly works with Buy1Give1 (B1G1), a non-profit whose mission is to create a world full of giving. Through B1G1, we have embedded giving into our regular business practices to achieve greater social impact. Through B1G1, a portion of every Cashflow Manager sale helps provide people around the world access to clean water, and education to disadvantaged women and children.