I just read a good post at YoungEntrepreneur about year end tax tips for small business owners. I would highly suggest reading it. The angle is very American, so my Canadian readers will have to just have to filter out the aspects that relate specifically to the US.
Preparing your small business for year-end.
One thing I would add to that list would be to make decisions about any major changes to the way you track your business.
If you're going to change the software you run, or the way you track inventory, for example, you'll want to start that at the beginning of the year. Trying to setup new accounting software is hard enough, don't make it worse by trying to do it midstream. Once your year end is done, you can transfer your closing balances into the new program, and make a clean start.
This also applies to the way you track your information. If you decide that in 2011, you want to track profits by employee, start doing that from Day 1. Trying to do so in April will skew your results. Maybe Employee 1 had 3 great months in a row, but a rough April. All you would know is that the only month you tracked was bad.
What else should we all do be better prepared for the New Year?
4 Year-End Tax Tips for Small Business Owners. (YoungEntrepreneur)