New Year Tasks

The new year is upon us! If your agency’s fiscal year follows the calendar year, this time can get hectic. Here are a few annual tasks that may not always be top of mind during this busy season, but should be considered if you haven’t already checked them off your to-do list:

Operations

• Start the new year on a clean (or at least not as messy) slate – In your agency’s project management software, coordinate with your team’s department managers to purge unimportant, or no longer relevant tasks, and archive completed project files in a safe, accessible place on your company server.
• Setup hold mail requests – If your agency will be on holiday break for three or more consecutive business days (excluding bank holidays), you can submit your hold mail request on your local post office’s website.
• Perform preventive maintenance for the office – Take a quick walk around the office to check the fire extinguishers, smoke detectors and other not-often-checked items to make sure they are in good working condition.

Accounting & Financials

• Review the new year budget – Review the overall company budget for the new fiscal year, and ensure that your department managers know their department budgets as well.
• Gather contractor W-9s and send out 1099s – If you’ve been keeping track of your contractors’ W-9s, life will be easier come 1099 time. If not, start gathering those W-9s from contractors you’ve paid throughout last year, and be sure to send them a 1099 before the January 31st deadline.
• Organize your chart of accounts – Your chart of accounts may have gotten a little unruly throughout the last year, so it’s good to skim through it to merge any duplicate accounts, or you can completely revamp it once you’ve decided your internal reporting goals for the new year.
• Save all financial forms from last year – Download all financial forms such as tax forms, bank statements, credit card statements, paid invoices, and receipts to keep on file for future reference.

Human Resources & Payroll

• Post the 2019 payroll schedule – Create and share the new year payroll schedule with your team. Keeping this schedule handy throughout the year saves time when running payroll and also gives employees a reminder of which pay periods correspond to which payroll dates.
• Post the 2019 holiday schedule – Create and share the new year holiday schedule with your team. Posting it in an accessible area, such as the break room fridge, makes it easy for your team to check on office holidays. If your agency uses a shared calendar system, don’t forget to include the office holidays in there as well.
• Revisit your employee handbook and policies – Reviewing your employee handbook at least once a year helps to ensure that your current policies are still in accordance with company culture and big-picture goals.
• Update your labor law poster(s) – This is usually provided as a free service from your local employment security commission, so call them to check if your current poster is outdated, and you can pick up a new poster at their office or have them mail it to you. The free poster includes most required federal and state posters, but there are paid options that include additional posters if needed by your company policies.

A useful tip in remembering your agency’s annual housekeeping tasks is to gather them all into one digital checklist to use each year. You can reference these tasks above as a supplement to your general end-of-year systems. Here’s to a great start this new year!