Spring is the perfect time to clean up your wholesaler finances and make ready for the summer selling season.
In this post, we’ll share 3 Spring Cleaning Tips to Make your Finances Sparkle:
- Organize your corporate documents: Use this checklist to scrub your important papers
- Count your inventory: Borrow this process to keep your inventory records nice and tidy
- Review the balance sheet: Download this White Paper and learn how to keep your financial statements squeaky clean
Spring Clean Tip #1: Organize Wholesaler Corporate Docs
If you’re like most wholesalers, you have corporate records stashed everywhere. Some are tacked to the wall, others are in your desk drawer or saved on your laptop.
Corporate records are important because they show that you have the proper licenses, filings and legal standing to operate your wholesaler business.
Corporate records are critical to maintain your ‘corporate’ status and the liability protections this provides.
Examples of corporate records include:
- Articles of Incorporation
- Bylaws
- Stock certificates
- Stock ledger recording each stock issuance or transfer
- Minutes of meetings of the directors
- Corporate seal
If you don’t have the time or patience to locate and organize your corporate records consider hiring an attorney to do it for you. They won’t be cheap, but they will make sure all the necessary docs exist and are properly filled out.
Corporate docs are super important to preserve the ‘corporate veil’ and protect you from liability. If you plan on borrowing money, banks need to see this information. If you plan on bringing on an investor, or eventually selling, investors / buyers will insist on complete and accurate corporate docs.
If you want to do it yourself, use the Corporate Docs Checklist as a guide to get started. Spring is a great time to locate, organize and clean up those corporate documents.
Spring Clean Tip #2: Count your Inventory
Counting inventory can be difficult, time-consuming and un-productive. But these things only happen when you do it the wrong way.
Use this Inventory Counting Checklist to count the right way. You’ll find it takes less time and will get you the results you want: accurate inventory on the books. Everyone wins.
Spring is a great time to clean up your inventory. Use the process, and make it count.
Spring Clean Tip #3: Reconcile the Balance Sheet
Your balance sheet reports on your assets, liabilities and equity. It shows what you own, what you owe, and the net worth of your business.
Unfortunately, the balance sheet is often filled with financial mistakes.
Assets may be listed on the balance sheet that don’t exist any longer. Lost kegs anyone? How about that old inventory you haven’t written off yet?
Prepaid expense is another hiding spot for balance sheet errors. Items get booked here and never removed. Prepaid hops or prepaid insurance are common items that get stuck in here.
Need some guidance on how to get started with the balance sheet clean-up? Check out this post and podcast: How to Fix These Common Wholesaler Financial Problems
Wrap Up + Action Items
Spring is the perfect time for a financial clean-up. Start with a purge of your old financial records. Throwing things away feels good. Use the document retention guide to identify what can be tossed out. Hire a shredding company to do the dirty work.
Next, do a full physical count of your inventory. You wouldn’t dream of delivering inaccurate customer orders, don’t operate your business with incorrect inventory records.
Finish the spring clean-up with a review of your balance sheet. Lots of financial mistakes get stuck here and need to be scrubbed clean.
Warm weather, sunshine, and increased sales are on the way. Now is the perfect time to make ready with a financial spring clean-up.
Yours in Financial Spring Cleaning,
Kary
P.S. Take advantage of the Spring Special and save 33% off the Beer Business Finance Subscription. Use Discount Code SPRINGCLEAN at checkout. Your subscription includes access to the library of online courses, back issues of the Beer Wholesaler Financial Newsletter, webinars, podcasts, tools and resources to help you drive sales and profits in your beer business.