For many businesses, January is one of the busiest periods of the year. Reopening the doors after the Christmas break can bring about an influx of new challenges and obstacles. Here are our 5 tips to ensure a smooth start to the year!
Tie up loose ends
As the New Year swings around it’s always a good idea to chase the clients you need things from, giving them a little nudge in the right direction to start the ball rolling again. Time is of the essence here, you should aim to do this as early as possible before everyone’s workloads inevitably begin to mount up.
Spread the workload
Don’t make your life more difficult than it needs to be. Be efficient in the way that work is shared out, this helps immensely when attempting to ease congested work schedules. Due to January traditionally being a manic month, this is the perfect time to begin efficiently scheduling work.
Be prepared
Throughout the hectic first few weeks of the year, it’s a good idea to be ready to deal with common problems and/or questions that frequently crop up from clients. Although it can be challenging to find the time to prepare yourself for these issues, it can save time later down the line when issues do arise. Taking the time to do so could well be in your best interest.
Invest in time-saving systems
In a month where time is at its most valuable, it’s a good idea to maximise the usage of any new systems which speed up traditionally lengthy processes. Although it’s an indisputable fact that these sorts of things take time to implement; as accountants in a sector which is becoming increasingly digitalised, we can confirm that any new systems you incorporate will more often than not save more time in operation than they cost in implementation.
Don’t rely on the unreliable
As the month progresses and your workload begins to rise, so too does the reliance you put on the systems your business uses. There’s nothing worse than seeing proceedings brought to a halt at the worst possible time by something which could have been easily prevented by some simple forward planning. Checking and ensuring the software you use are up-to-date, secure, and most importantly used to their full advantage, can save you a great deal of time.
