Looking Back: How to Use Your Books to Reflect on Your Year
By the time we hit the end of the year, most business owners are doing one of two things with their books:
Scrambling to get “caught up enough” for taxes
Avoiding their numbers altogether because it feels overwhelming
But your books aren’t just a tax chore. They’re a story about:
What worked
What didn’t
Where your time and money actually went
What might be ready to change in the new year
In this post, I’ll walk you through how to use your bookkeeping as a reflection tool — not just a compliance task — so you can walk into next year with more clarity and less guesswork.
Step 1: Pull a Few Simple Reports (No Fancy Setup Required)
You don’t need a huge dashboard or a complicated system to do a meaningful year-end review. Start with the basics from your bookkeeping software (or spreadsheet):
Profit & Loss (Income Statement) for the full year
Balance Sheet (a snapshot as of year-end)
Cash Flow or at least a simple look at cash-in vs. cash-out over the year
If you’re using something like QuickBooks Online, you can:
Run a Profit & Loss for “This Year”
Set it to show by month to see trends
Export to Excel/Google Sheets if that’s easier for your brain
We’re not trying to create perfect reports right now. We’re trying to see patterns.
Step 2: Ask Better Questions About Your Revenue
Instead of just asking, “How much did I make?” try digging a little deeper.
Some questions to walk through:
Where did most of your revenue actually come from?
Which services, packages, or products brought in the bulk of your income?
Are there offers that barely moved the needle but took a ton of energy?
Did your revenue grow, shrink, or stay flat compared to last year?
If it changed, do you know why?
New offers? More clients? Higher prices? Or fewer of those?
What does seasonality look like for you?
Were there months that always dip or spike?
Do those line up with your busy seasons, vacations, or launch cycles?
Did your pricing support your reality?
Were there projects you’d never take again at that price?
Did any client or type of work feel like “too much for what they’re paying”?
Write down what you notice — especially the surprises. Those surprises are clues.
Step 3: Get Honest About Expenses (Without Shaming Yourself)
Now, let’s talk about the other side: where the money went.
On your Profit & Loss, look at your expense categories and ask:
What categories grew the most?
Software, contractors, rent, advertising, supplies, travel, etc.
Did those increases feel intentional or accidental?
What actually earned its keep?
Which expenses clearly helped you make more money, save time, or reduce stress?
Which ones make you think, “Why am I still paying for that?”
Are any “temporary” expenses still hanging around?
Trials you never canceled
One-time tools that quietly turned into subscriptions
Things you meant to review… and didn’t
Where did you invest in yourself or your team?
Courses, coaching, training, conferences, systems
Did you use them? Did they help?
This is not the moment to beat yourself up. It’s simply data.
Circle or highlight:
The keepers you’re happy to keep paying for
The wobbly ones you’re unsure about
The easy cuts you already know you can let go of in the new year
Step 4: Check In on Profit and Owner Pay
Revenue is exciting, but profit and owner pay are what actually impact your life.
Ask yourself:
Was your business consistently profitable?
Did you end the year in the black overall?
Were there months where profit dipped or went negative?
Did you pay yourself enough?
How much did you actually take home from the business this year?
Does that feel aligned with the amount of work and responsibility you carry?
Did profit feel steady or like a rollercoaster?
Are there patterns (e.g., always tight in certain months)?
Are there specific decisions that improved or hurt your profit?
If the answers are a little uncomfortable, that’s okay. This is how you spot opportunities:
Maybe it’s time to adjust pricing
Maybe certain services need to be restructured or retired
Maybe your owner pay system needs more structure (like a regular “pay yourself” rhythm instead of random transfers)
Step 5: Look at Your Client Mix (Who Drained You, Who Lit You Up)
Your books can also tell you a lot about who you’re working with.
Pull a report of Sales by Customer (or the closest equivalent):
Ask:
Who were your most profitable clients?
Not just biggest revenue — who paid on time and needed reasonable amounts of your energy?
Who would you clone if you could?
Who felt heavy or misaligned?
Chronic late payers
Scope creep
Interactions that left you drained or anxious
Does your client mix reflect the kind of business you want to run?
Are you over-reliant on one or two large clients?
Are you spread too thin across too many small ones?
This is where numbers and gut feelings come together. Your books might confirm what you already suspected: it’s time to:
Raise rates
Tighten boundaries
Reduce or exit certain relationships
Make space for more of the “right fit” people
Step 6: Notice Your Systems (or Lack of Systems)
Some of the most powerful insights are quietly hiding in timing and patterns, like:
How long it takes clients to pay you
How often you fell behind on your own bookkeeping
How last-minute everything felt around deadlines
Look at:
Accounts Receivable (A/R) – unpaid invoices
How often you reconciled your accounts
Times when you had to rush, guess, or dig through emails to figure out what happened
Ask:
Did I have a consistent routine for my books, or was it “do it when I’m already stressed”?
Where did things fall through the cracks?
What would make this smoother next year — recurring reminders, better templates, different software, outsourcing?
You don’t need 27 new systems. You might just need:
A weekly money check-in
A clearer invoicing/payment process
A bookkeeper to partner with so you’re not doing it all yourself
Step 7: Turn Your Reflections into 3–5 Clear Priorities
This is the most important part: don’t stop at “interesting observations.”
From everything you just looked at, choose 3–5 concrete priorities for the new year. For example:
“Raise rates on XYZ service by March 1.”
“Drop two subscriptions that I’m not using and redirect that money toward savings or support.”
“Move late-paying client off my plate and focus on marketing to better-fit clients.”
“Start a weekly 30-minute money date every Friday to stay on top of my books.”
“Set a consistent owner pay amount and schedule instead of random transfers.”
Write them down somewhere you’ll actually see them: planner, project management tool, or taped to the wall above your desk.
Your books told you what’s working. Your priorities are how you respond.
You Don’t Have to Do This Alone
If reading through this made you think, “This sounds great… but my books are not actually ready for that kind of review,” that’s okay.
You’re not behind. You’re just ready for support.
A good bookkeeper can help you:
Get caught up and cleaned up
Build simple reports you actually understand
Walk through this kind of year-end reflection with you
Turn it into a practical, step-by-step plan for the year ahead
If you’d like help turning your numbers into a clearer story (and a calmer new year), you can grab a spot on my calendar here: https://calendly.com/sara-dunhambookkeepingservices
