Spring is a great time to declutter, organize, and refresh—and that includes your business finances. If you’ve been putting off reviewing your books, a quick 15-minute tune-up can help you reset, spot minor issues before they grow, and keep your business running smoothly.
You don’t need to overhaul your entire system to see results. By focusing on a few simple checkpoints, you can tighten up your financial practices and head into the next quarter with confidence.
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Start With Your Current Balance Sheet
Begin by pulling your most recent balance sheet. This one-page snapshot shows what your business owns, what it owes, and how much equity is left. It’s one of the easiest ways to assess your financial health quickly.
Take a look at your current assets and liabilities. Are there old balances that haven’t been updated? Any loans or invoices that should be closed out or followed up on? In just a few minutes, this check can reveal trends, errors, or gaps that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Review Outstanding Invoices
Unpaid invoices can quietly drag down your cash flow. Even one or two late payments can make it harder to manage bills, payroll, or future investments. Take a moment to scan your accounts receivable report and flag anything that’s overdue.
If you spot long-outstanding invoices, send polite reminders to clients or customers. Consider whether it’s time to revise your payment terms for future jobs—such as requiring deposits up front or setting shorter due dates.
Keep your outreach brief and professional. A quick email or call often results in payment faster than expected.
Audit Your Expenses by Category
Next, sort your recent expenses into categories, like software, advertising, supplies, and contractor fees. Look for irregular spikes or recurring subscriptions you no longer need.
This is your chance to trim waste and keep your budget lean. You might find that you’re still paying for a service you canceled or you have duplicated tools doing the same job. Even small cuts add up over the course of a year.
Also, review expenses that may have increased since last quarter. If any vendors raised their rates, consider reaching out to negotiate or explore alternatives.
Check Employee Hours and Labor Costs
Labor is one of the largest costs for small businesses, so it’s important to make sure your time records are accurate. This is especially important if you have part-time workers, seasonal help, or shift-based teams.
If you track time manually or with paper logs, double-check for discrepancies. You can simplify this process with a time card calculator with lunch functionality to help you account for hours worked minus break time.
Recalculate Pay Using Actual Hours
If you pay hourly employees, now is a good time to confirm you’re calculating wages correctly. Even small mistakes—like rounding errors or incorrect hourly rates—can add up quickly over time and impact your bottom line.
Use an hourly salary calculator to compare recent payroll runs with actual hours worked. This helps you catch discrepancies and confirm that employees are being paid accurately based on your pay schedule and policies.
Update Mileage and Travel Logs
If you or your team travel for business, make sure mileage records and travel receipts are up to date. Missing mileage logs can reduce your deductions come tax time. Unlogged receipts may lead to missed reimbursements or reporting issues. Make sure to log recent business trips with locations, dates, and purposes. You should also scan and file all receipts related to meals, lodging, and transportation.
This quick check can prevent lost tax deductions and make quarterly reporting far easier.
Clean Up Your Chart of Accounts
Your chart of accounts should reflect how you actually run your business. If it’s cluttered with outdated or unused categories, it can make reports harder to read and bookkeeping more difficult than it needs to be.
Scan your categories and look for any that are redundant, rarely used, or irrelevant. Archive what you don’t need and consider combining similar line items. The goal is to simplify—not complicate—your financial tracking.
Double-Check Tax Withholding
If you’ve added employees, given raises, or hired contractors this year, it’s worth checking that you’re withholding and reporting taxes correctly. Errors here can lead to fines or a surprise bill during filing season.
Review payroll tax rates for your area and confirm you’re applying them accurately. For contractors, make sure you’re tracking total payments and collecting W-9s as needed. Use government resources like the IRS Employment Tax Forms page to confirm you’re using the correct documents.
Organize Digital and Paper Records
Don’t overlook your file system. A messy document folder—or worse, missing files—can slow down audits, tax prep, and client communications.
Take a few minutes to sort your receipts, invoices, and statements into labeled folders. If you store records digitally, use consistent file names and back up your files to the cloud or an external drive.
Good documentation habits now will save you hours later and reduce the risk of errors or oversights. If you’re not sure what to keep, refer to SBA’s recordkeeping guidelines for small businesses.
Reset Your Financial Goals
Once your books are cleaned up, take time to review your financial goals for the quarter ahead. Are your revenue targets still realistic? Do you need to adjust spending or shift your focus?
Use your updated numbers to inform your next steps. This might include setting a sales goal, increasing marketing spend, or preparing for upcoming expenses like equipment upgrades or tax payments.
Refresh and Refocus
You don’t need to spend hours in spreadsheets to get a clearer picture of your business. Just 15 focused minutes on various financial reports can help you catch costly issues, clean up your records, and move into the next quarter with a sense of clarity.
Small habits like these—done regularly—create big results over time. Spring cleaning isn’t just for closets. Give your books the attention they deserve, and your business will thank you for it.