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As we wind down our summer vacation schedules (and for those of us with children not a minute too soon!) it’s time to look ahead into Fall and down the road to 4th quarter. A little time spent now planning for the rest of the year will most assuredly spare your company stress and anxiety when the year-end scramble begins.
From big items to small and those obscure items that somehow get left off the checklist every year, Fahrenheit has got you covered (because let’s face it, that annual employee Holiday party isn’t going to throw itself!).
Let’s take a look at 5 things that could be looming on your horizon come September.
- The Taxman Cometh. Tax planning requires a lot of time and resources. Updating your Q4 forecasts will give you both management insight and a low-stress opportunity to assess and adjust estimated tax payments. Additionally, tax avoidance strategies (purchase of large fixed assets before year-end, etc.) should be formalized for the remainder of 2015.
- Don’t forget the cash! Third quarter is traditionally budgeting time for most companies but before you pat yourself on the back for getting those 2016 revenue and expenses forecasted, carefully consider the need for a cash budget as well. Small and mid-cap companies, even those with promising income growth, can get tripped up if cash or credit availability is not sufficient for inventory investment and other mission-critical expenditures.
- Be OBAMACARE-ful! The ACA requires companies with 40 employees to keep track of their full time equivalent number of employees by month. If you report anywhere close to 50 employees you may be called upon to justify how you calculated you FTE number. You can’t wing it…there are very specific calculations required under the ACA. Also, if you have a fair amount of turnover and issue more than 50 W-2’s you could be a target for inquiry as well.
- Avoid the Q1 slump. Don’t let your focus on Q4 ’15 revenue allow the pipeline for Q1 ’16 to suffer.
- Remember your top performers!! It’s been said millions of times that the average manager spends 99% of his time tending to the bottom 1% of the team. So plan NOW to reward your best employee(s) for not bogging you down but rather making you look good. Year end bonuses are the perfect way to engender loyalty and reward stellar performance but they often times require big cash outlays. Plan accordingly and you can avoid any need for stingy-ness later.
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