Although the financial year may not yet be over, it\u2019s most probably getting close to the end. And what happens in the end is a complete chaos and overtime. It all comes with the expense of family, your own time and sanity more or less. The closer the finalizing the annual report to the year end is, the worse it gets. You have to close the year, make all the yearend procedures, communicate and be part of audit if applicable and needed, and as if this wasn\u2019t enough, you need to prepare, amend and present the management board with an annual report for the financial year. And all this needs to be done in a very limited timeframe.<\/p>\n
Now to focus a bit more on the annual report \u2013 in most parts it stays the same every year. The numbers change, and all respective text alongside with them, but the structure stays the same more or less over the years. To avoid some of this mentioned above and make your life easier, we suggest starting with the preparation of the annual report already in autumn \u2013 a couple of months before the financial year ends. You may go over bits of it with your auditor to ensure there are no major amendments coming later on, put in all prior year figures, add in texts applicable to this year, make all design changes if possible and suitable and so on. Basically take the report to the stage that it only needs financial year end numbers and an update (and if needed, some new) to the texts already prepared earlier.
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\nAs mentioned before, the structure stays the same more or less, so it gets easier over the years when you just use the prior year annual report and make changes and adjustments to this. First off mark (for an example use highlight function) all areas that need to be updated (like prior year figures etc) and then start off with the most pervasive changes like any style changes which affect the whole report. The make sure all prior year comparative figures represent the correct figures, mark areas from principles that may need some review and possible updates etc.<\/p>\n
With all this you can already start prior to year end when you should have more free time. If not free time, than we still suggest spreading the workload to ensure quality.<\/p>\n