December in Business: Three Money Conversations You Should Not Skip
December can feel strange in business.
Some teams are sprinting to hit year end targets. Others are quiet, waiting for January to start again. You might feel pulled between wanting to slow down and feeling pressure to push harder.
In all of that noise, it is very easy to miss what December is actually good for.
December is a natural pause in the year. It is one of the few times when you can look at the business with a bit of distance. Used well, it is not just about tax moves or holiday promotions. It is about three simple money conversations:
What really happened in the business this year?
What do we want to be different next year?
What are we actually willing to commit to?
You do not need a retreat or a thick planning binder to do this. You do need a bit of honesty, a calendar, and your numbers.
Conversation 1: What really happened this year?
Most owners see their numbers in fragments. A bit from their accountant, a bit from their bookkeeping software, a bit from the bank app.
December is the moment to pull the story together and ask one simple question:
What actually happened in this business this year?
You can look at three areas.
Revenue and mix
Where did revenue really come from?
Which services, products, or locations carried the year?
Did anything quietly shrink while you were busy elsewhere?
This is less about celebrating a high level revenue number and more about seeing the shape of the year. Sometimes the business ended up more concentrated in one client, one service, or one channel than you realised.
Profit and margin
After paying your team and your overhead, did the business truly pay you for the risk you took?
Were there months that were consistently thin, even when revenue looked good?
If you look at the year and realise that profit is not where it should be for the effort involved, that is an important data point. December is the time to acknowledge that, not to gloss over it.
Cash and personal pay
Did cash feel tighter or calmer than last year?
Did you pay yourself in a way that felt stable, or did you live on what was left?
Profit and cash often tell different stories. December is your chance to ask whether the way money moved this year actually worked for your life, not just for the business.
The goal of this conversation is not to beat yourself up. It is to get an honest picture before you decide what comes next.
Conversation 2: What has to be different next year?
Once you have a clearer sense of what happened, the next conversation is about direction.
Not every year needs aggressive growth. Sometimes the right move is to stabilise, clean up, or prepare for a bigger shift later. December is the time to decide which season you are in.
You can ask:
Do we need a growth year, a consolidation year, or a repair year?
If we could only change three things about how money works in this business, what would they be?
Often the answers fall into familiar categories:
Pricing and margin
Team structure and payroll
Client mix and dependency on a few relationships
Owner pay and boundaries
Systems, such as forecasting, reporting, and cash management
You do not need to solve these in one sitting. What matters is naming them clearly.
For example:
“We grew revenue, but margin suffered. Next year needs to focus on profitable growth.”
“Cash felt too tight. We need better buffers and a clearer view of upcoming obligations.”
“I cannot keep being the bottleneck. We need to hire or redesign roles.”
December is the right time to say that out loud, in writing, with your numbers in front of you.
Conversation 3: What will we actually commit to?
Ideas are easy in December. Commitments are harder.
It is easy to say “next year will be different” without changing anything concrete. That is how January fills up with the same problems.
This third conversation is about turning reflection into a small set of promises that you are willing to keep.
Ask:
What are one or two financial habits we will put in place?
What is one decision we will make in the first quarter, rather than postponing again?
A few examples of commitments that actually move the needle:
A monthly finance meeting where you review profit, cash, and runway for 45 minutes.
A clear decision on whether to adjust pricing in the first half of the year.
A plan for how and when you will hire, rather than reacting in a rush.
A rule for owner pay, so you are not constantly guessing what you can take.
The point is not to plan every detail of the year. It is to choose a small number of moves that align with what you learned from the year you just lived.
Write these down. Put them in your calendar. Decide who is responsible. If there is no name beside an item, it will not happen.
December is not a test. It is a checkpoint.
There is a lot of pressure at year end.
Hit the number. Close the year strong. Make the tax move. Finish the plan.
It helps to remember that December is not a final exam. It is a checkpoint in a business you hope will last for many years.
Used well, it is a moment to:
Tell the truth about how the year really felt, not just what the statements say.
Decide whether you are happy to repeat this year, or whether something important needs to change.
Choose a few clear commitments so that next December does not feel exactly the same.
You do not need to do this alone and you do not need to turn it into a massive project.
How I help
At Twentysix Consulting, I help owners turn this kind of December reflection into specific financial plans and habits.
That often looks like:
Reviewing the year together through the lenses of profit, cash, and owner pay.
Identifying the one or two financial priorities that will matter most next year.
Designing simple, recurring finance rhythms so you have fewer surprises and better decisions throughout the year.
If you would like your December to result in a practical, grounded plan rather than another set of notes you never look at again, we can talk about what that could look like for your business.