Every year, we say: “Next year will be different! More organized! More streamlined!” Here are five steps you can take today to actually make that happen.

1. Plan around due dates — This time of year, it seems like there’s a different deadline every day. It’s a good idea to have one central calendar that shows all the deadlines for each area of Accounting. That way, you can see at a glance if there are competing deadlines that will require a little advance planning. Plus, if one department is particularly crunched, a central schedule can show when others might be available to pitch in with some help.
2. Make sure everyone knows the deadlines– You can’t get your work done if you don’t have the information you need — and your desk cleared of everything else. Now’s the time to remind other departments of a few key dates: The last day to get in expense reports and approved invoices, when the last payroll will go out, etc.  And when you set those deadlines, make sure you give yourself a few days of wiggle room so that you’re not left scrambling to take care of the paperwork from Last-Minute Larrys.
3. Do a test run — Misaligned forms that print off-center, a technical glitch that “loses” all your payment data from last March — anything can happen at year-end. And when it does, it takes twice as long to fix it and re-do your work. Try a mini-test run to make sure the basics are taken care of. Spot a problem? Start fixing it now so you don’t lose any time in Dec. and Jan.
4. Check your info– The last thing you want is to find on Jan. 28 that you never got TINs for a dozen vendors, or that you don’t have valid mailing addresses for the last 10 new hires. The time to make sure your records are up-to-date is now.
5. Get ahead of ’09 changes — A lot of changes take place on Jan. 1, both internal policies and rates, and state or IRS-imposed limits and values. Wherever possible, have those changes programmed in long before 1/1/09. Otherwise, that first week of the year will have you dealing with last year’s close and the new year’s hassles.  Another key: Send word to affected employees early so you can get any questions out of the way before the worst time-crunch of year-end is here.

Have any other tips on how to make year-end go more smoothly? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Tags: A/P, Best practices, IRS, Payroll, Resoource, Saving time, Year-end