New year, new goals

By Emily Zuver, Senior Assistant Accountant, Holbrook & Manter

As the new year begins, I encourage you to take a moment to reflect on 2025. Celebrate your business accomplishments, learn from the challenges you faced, and recognize the growth within your organization. Now is the perfect time to set purposeful goals for this year.  These goals can be big or small, professional or personal. Make sure they inspire you, keep you focused, and move you forward throughout the year.

A handful of our team members at Holbrook & Manter were asked to share tips from the following prompt. I thought I would share them with you.  A goal all business owners should have going into the new year is:

“To identify a bottleneck or weakness in your day-to-day operations. By focusing your time and effort on improving this key area, you can quicklyturn a liability into an operational strength for the entire business.” – Trent

“Do you come across certain projects you only have to do once or twice within the year (maybe taking inventory at the end of the year or the BWC True Up that’s due in August)?  Since you don’t do these often, it may take a lot of time to remember how to accomplish these specific activities.  Be sure to take notes on what was done: what worked, what didn’t work, what can you do differently next year to better accomplish the project? “  -Julie       

“Enjoy your holiday season and encourage your team to do the same. Proper rest and a period of reflection are essential to hitting a new year with renewed energy and focus. Putting forward a calm, focused, and energized demeanor can really help to put your team at ease and motivate them as a new year ramps up. As a collective team, exhale the staleness of 2025 and inhale the fresh possibilities of 2026.” -Megan

“A goal for business owners entering the new year is to establish and maintain accurate, timely financial records that reflect the company’s true performance and financial position. This allows for informed decision-making, effective budget analysis, and compliance with tax and other regulatory requirements.” -Danielle

“A goal any business owner should set is just to always be working on overall organization. Also, making an effort to always get your accountant’s input before making any financial decisions is always good to do.” -Amy

As for me, my goal is for all business owners should have going into the new year is to separate their personal expenses from their business expenses. Keeping these separate will provide financial clarity of your company’s cash flow and financial health.

Agribusiness owners stand at the intersection of tradition and innovation. We encourage you to set clear goals that will position your agribusiness for turning challenges into opportunities and ensure operations thrive in the year ahead. As always, your accountant is there to help you establish clear financial goals. Don’t hesitate to seek their guidance on how to position your agribusiness for success in the year ahead. If you don’t have an accountant to help, reach out to Holbrook & Manter.