Year end

Year end is the typical time most business owners see their accountants. Your accountant will make adjustments to your trial balance, prepare your financial statements, and calculate your cor­porate income tax returns.

At this meeting, discuss the upcoming year as well. Review the financials with your accountant and get him or her to explain any trends you see in your business but can't explain. Map out next year, looking at your budget and cash flow projection. Your accountant will give you tax planning advice that should include you as the owner of the business as well as the business itself. It's important to look at the taxation issues from a holistic perspective to make sure that the total tax is minimized and your compensation is maximized.

Employee evaluation and compensation

Your accountant can certainly help you with this task. It can be very difficult for a small-business owner to know how to evaluate company employees and how to remunerate them for their efforts.

Your accountant can help you design a performance evaluation system, including measurable targets, and can help set up a variable bonus or compensation system to reward employees for doing their jobs well. A compensation system motivates employees to do the things you need them to do to make the company profitable, which, ultimately, can be a great benefit to you.

Internal controls

Setting up appropriate financial controls in a small business is critical. You do not want to be left vulnerable to employee theft or asset mismanagement. Your accountant can help you structure employees' duties to minimize this risk. Your accountant can also make you aware of the warning signs of employee theft so that you can manage more effectively.

Management operating plan

Your budget and cash flow projections are a part of a larger financial management plan that you should maintain. I call it the management operating plan. Financial Management 101: Get a Grip on Your Business Numbers, discusses this plan in detail. For now, it's enough to mention that your accountant can help you tailor the management operating plan to your needs and get it functioning for you.