Tomorrow marks the start of the fourth quarter. For many business owners, that means shifting attention to year-end goals, holiday schedules, upcoming expenses, and everything that needs to happen before December is over.
Before you get too far into those plans, take a moment to answer a simpler question: Where does your business stand today?
Your bank balance might be the first place you look, but it’s only one piece of the picture. To make useful decisions for the months ahead, you also need to know what customers owe you, which bills are coming due, whether expenses have changed, and whether your financial reports are up to date.
At J. Zollo & Associates, we believe good bookkeeping should help you understand your business throughout the year—not leave you waiting until tax season to find out what happened.
Start With Numbers You Can Trust
If your books are behind, even a familiar report can be misleading. Transactions may be missing or categorized incorrectly. A customer payment may not have been applied to the right invoice. An account that hasn’t been reconciled may include errors you haven’t spotted yet.
That doesn’t mean every discrepancy is a crisis. It does mean you should make sure your numbers are current before using them to make a major decision.
Review your bank and credit card accounts, clear up uncategorized transactions, and look into anything that seems unusual. Once those pieces are in place, your reports become much more useful. You can see where your money has gone, how the business has performed so far, and what may need attention before year-end.
Look Beyond Your Bank Balance
Seeing money in the bank can provide peace of mind. But that balance doesn’t account for every obligation or opportunity ahead.
You may have unpaid invoices that haven’t turned into cash yet. You may also have vendor bills, payroll, insurance, or other expenses coming due soon. A large customer payment might arrive next week—or later than expected.
Looking at those items together can help you avoid making plans based on a single number. It gives you a better sense of the cash you may need in the coming weeks and how much flexibility you have for new spending.
Give Outstanding Invoices a Fresh Look
The start of Q4 is a good time to review what customers still owe your business.
Are any invoices overdue? Were any completed projects never invoiced? Have payments come in that still need to be recorded? If customers are consistently paying late, is there an opportunity to improve your follow-up process?
Money you’ve earned but haven’t collected can affect your ability to cover expenses and plan ahead. A timely, professional reminder may be all that’s needed for some invoices. Others may reveal a larger pattern worth addressing.
The point isn’t to wait until December and hope everything comes in. Knowing what’s outstanding now gives you time to follow up.
Pay Attention to What Has Changed
As you review the year so far, compare your recent expenses with earlier months. Have software costs increased? Are supplies, processing fees, or other operating costs higher than expected? Has a profitable service become more expensive to deliver?
The same goes for revenue. A strong month is encouraging, but it helps to know why it was strong. Did you gain more customers, take on a large one-time project, or see growth you can reasonably expect to continue?
These details matter when you’re planning for Q4. They can help you set realistic goals and identify where a small change might make a meaningful difference.
Make a Practical Plan for the Months Ahead
You don’t need a complicated year-end strategy to benefit from reviewing your books. Start with a short list of decisions you need to make.
You might need to follow up on overdue payments, prepare for a seasonal change in business, review upcoming expenses, or decide whether a planned purchase still makes sense. If you have tax questions, current records can also make a conversation with your tax professional more productive.
Try to give each item a next step. “Review expenses” is easy to put off. “Look at recurring software charges this week and identify anything we no longer use” is much easier to act on.
A little clarity now can prevent a rush to piece everything together at the end of the year.
A Payroll Calendar Note for 2026
There’s one more date-related item worth checking if your business runs weekly or biweekly payroll: your remaining pay dates for 2026.
Depending on your payroll schedule, you may have an additional payday within this calendar year. That could affect how you budget for payroll and handle certain benefit deductions. PayMaster breaks down the issue in the following newsletter: Preparing Your Business for the 2026 “Leap Payroll” Year.
Take a look at your payroll calendar and check with your payroll provider about whether the extra payday applies to your business and what, if anything, needs to be adjusted.
Go Into Q4 With a Clearer Picture
The final quarter of the year can move quickly. You may not be able to predict every expense, payment, or opportunity that comes your way, but you can make sure you’re starting with reliable information.
Accurate, organized books help you spot issues sooner, ask better questions, and make decisions with a clearer understanding of your business. That’s valuable on September 30, and it remains valuable long after the year ends.
At J. Zollo & Associates, we help business owners make sense of their numbers through professional bookkeeping and QuickBooks support. If your books aren’t giving you a clear picture of where your business stands, contact us to learn how we can help.