The End of Year Transition Is such a Process

Here we are heading towards the end of another year, this month marked three years of me blogging. I started this blog in December 2008 and it has come a long way. Each New Year I tell myself that I will keep my spreadsheet up to date for product reviews so that when end of year comes all I have to do is run some totals using formulas in MS Excel, and just like every year I do not keep up with the spreadsheet which means I find myself going through my blog product reviews category to document what I received this year. Yes, we pay taxes on our products as a blogger — so really they are not “free” products, but rather an asset/income total for our Schedule C each year. *sigh*

Not only do I need to run totals for products, but income totals must be done. I have to run reports from two places I use to keep track of my revenue and match them up. I love accounting, but never finished my accounting degree in college so I will hire an accountant to handle my filing portion of the end of year process. I do ensure that I have all of my totals and reports ready for an accountant to review and file, because I prefer to be in charge of my own totals to ensure that I never have to question if someone else is doing it correctly or not. I just can’t file all the necessary documents on my own nor do I know what write offs count in a work at home environment so that’s where the accountant comes in handy.

As I gear up for 2012 and wrap up 2011 it also means revamping my policies, determining limits on product review totals for 2012 and so much more. I have to look up various monthly holidays and focus my editorial calendar around what’s hot each month. I love end of year because it’s a great time for me to see where I am at with my business goals and I have big plans if my totals doubled last year.

How do you handle end of year? Any big plans for your blog or business in 2012?