Making the Most of the Fourth Quarter

October 27, 2022

Businesses must make the most of the final quarter of the fiscal year because it is their last opportunity to meet their projected earnings. It is also a critical time for making budgetary decisions about the fiscal year ahead. Here are some things your commercial clients should do to optimize their fourth-quarter results and position themselves for growth.

Enhance Operations

As companies close out the year on a high note and work towards expanding, they need to ensure that their internal quality control measures are effective. Managers should look to their senior staff members and customers for insight on what they can do to make meaningful improvements.

Quality assurance protocols can help ensure that the work they do will meet customers’ expectations and that growth initiatives can yield good results. Moreover, making day-to-day activities more efficient enables businesses to strengthen their operating capacity, remain competitive with other businesses in their industry, and raise net profit margins.

Identify and Address Risk Exposure

Companies should examine what led to their greatest losses over the previous three quarters and establish a plan to mitigate similar issues over the final quarter and the coming year. In particular, they need to review their commercial insurance packages to assess whether their coverage limits are sufficient. They must also consider whether the policies they have built into their policies meet the full scope of their risk exposure.

A comprehensive risk management plan may include professional liability coverage in many sectors. They must recognize the difference between general liability and professional liability coverage, so it may be helpful for them to get some input from their insurance providers.

Review Compliance Practices

Before the new year, managers should review any changes in applicable laws regulating their activities. Federal and statutory law changes will periodically affect various elements of companies’ activities, so they must ensure that their internal policies and practices are consistent with regulatory standards.

Failing to meet critical standards could result in professional liability claims. Furthermore, severe oversights in a business’ policies or procedures may hinder professional liability insurance carriers’ willingness to offer endorsements.

Evaluate Tax Liabilities

As the year gets closer to ending, managers need to work on compiling information about their business expenses to prepare for taxes. If a business has reserves that it has not yet spent on deductible expenses, the fourth quarter is its last chance to do so.

Ultimately, the fourth quarter is when managers should be taking stock of what has transpired over past quarters, both financially and operationally. They should draw from their own performance and industry-wide trends to generate strong fourth-quarter results, gear up for the year ahead, and take strategic measures to safeguard their development plans. ◼