Summer is a great time of year in Wisconsin. Because of the warm weather and longer days, we have more opportunities to spend time on the beach, on the water or at the campground or ballpark. Now that the kids are out of school, it’s the perfect time for road trips and summer vacations. Unless your small business is super-busy in the summer, business owners can use summer downtime to relax and recharge. Everyone needs a break once in a while. Vacations help business owners lower their stress, resulting in a more positive outlook and renewed energy for their work.

For many Wisconsin companies, business demands decrease in the summertime. Here are some ways to take advantage of the summer slowdown to propel your business forward.

Catch Up on Your Bookkeeping

Summer is a good time to tackle the tasks that you have been putting off. Busy business owners often let their bookkeeping slide. Maybe it’s been a few months since you reconciled your accounts. By keeping your accounts up to date, you won’t have the stress of recreating the past 12 months for year-end reports. QuickBooks makes it easy to reconcile accounts. You can set up your books so multiple accounts, like a savings account, checking account, and line of credit, automatically feed into QuickBooks. Reconciling the books is easier when you can see all of your accounts, current balances and the most recent transactions.

Dig Into Your Business Financials

We’re half-way through the year, so take some time to evaluate your finances. With a few clicks, you can view QuickBooks Online reports to compare the current financial year against the previous year. Have profits grown? QuickBooks enables you to create custom reports to evaluate key financial benchmarks. To do so, select a period, like a month, quarter, or year, and compare it with the matching time period from the past. For example, if your receivables are significantly lower, try to determine the cause. Are you behind on billing for the period? Did you lose a primary customer or experience weather delays? You won’t necessarily know these things unless you have a report system in place.

Explore Technology and Automation

Summer is a good time to assess your current bookkeeping systems and research technology and automation to streamline your business-finance tasks. Look for products that will speed up and improve the bookkeeping process. Test out the latest in artificial intelligence: Chat GPT, Bing Chat or Google Bard. AI can assist you with industry research, brainstorming, marketing content, and data entry. An AI virtual assistant can understand voice commands and perform tasks that make the business run more efficiently.

Declutter Your Office

Reinvigorate your work space by deep cleaning your desk and office. Sort through the papers that have piled up. Discard any that no longer provide value, and scan and file the important documents before recycling or shredding. Organize your desk drawers by weeding out the extra pens, notecards, and office supplies. Place the most-used office supplies within easy reach. Discard or find a new home for anything that doesn’t belong in your office. Wipe down all surfaces, including the phones and computers. Cleaning and decluttering your office will make your workspace a more pleasant, welcoming place to spend your time.

Let Prosperity Bookkeeping Handle Your Finances

Summer gives us a golden opportunity to slow down and recharge, yet tackle some side projects, too. All of us at Prosperity Bookkeeping wish you a summer filled with rest, fun, and family time. Wisconsin summers are short, so enjoy!

If you want to free up your summer, our staff is here to handle your bookkeeping. Contact us to manage your financial statements, payroll, and business advisory needs.

About the Author: Once a mild-mannered reporter and editor, Joan Koehne took on the persona of her alter ego, Wonder Writer, to launch Writer to the Rescue, the content writing division of Packerland Websites. Wonder Writer is “saving the world one word at a time” with power-packed content marketing for digital and traditional media outlets.