We’ll get to the tax deadlines in a moment, but February’s a great month to avoid financial surprises. For instance, take a look at the covenants in your bank loan or line of credit agreements: do you have to submit financial reports to your banker or meet certain financial ratios? Is your company obligated to send numbers to its equity investors? What key contracts expire or come up for renewal this year? Think about office/warehouse space, equipment leases, insurance policies, etc.

Plan ahead to avoid a mini-crisis later in the year, one that diverts your attention from executing your business plan.

Tax-wise on Feburary 28th your 1099/1096’s are due to the IRS, but the bigger deadline is to send your business’ books to your tax preparer before the queue gets too long. Remember that the corporate filing deadline approaches (March 15th) and owners of pass-through tax entities need the business returns to complete their personal returns. Speaking of which, did you get an organizer from your CPA? Time to get to work on that annual paperwork compilation madness.

Closing the books should have a little extra spice if you put your 2007 budget into QuickBooks — you’ll be able to pull a January actual vs. budget report in a matter of seconds. This is where the hours of prep really pay off. What do you see from January that suggests corrective action for the remaining 11 months of the year?