8 Tips for preparing your year-end financial statement

To help you get more out of your financial statement than just columns of numbers, here are 8 practical tips for preparing your annual report securely, efficiently and with strategic value.

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1. Consolidate financial data early

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Don’t wait until the end of the year to sort receipts.
Your key data sources:
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• PMS & POS
  
  
• Accounting & banking
  
  
• Payroll / HR
  
  
• Energy and supplier costs

A common mistake: looking at data in isolation. This leads to a lack of overall visibility and increases the risk of misinterpretation.

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2. Analyze budget vs. actuals

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A budget only becomes useful when you compare it to actual results.
Check:

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• What were your expectations at the start of the year?
  
  
• Where did positive or negative deviations occur?
  
  
• Which measures had which effects?
  
  

These insights help not only with the year-end closing but also with planning for the coming year.

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3. Make costs visible per department

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Rooms, F&B, spa, events — each area operates differently. A year-end statement viewed only as a total sum offers little value.

Tip: Analyze costs and revenues on a departmental level:

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• Personnel costs per department
  
  
• Cost of goods for F&B vs. revenue
  
  
• Overhead costs vs. occupancy
  
  

This lets you identify optimization potential precisely — without making blanket cuts.

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4. Give cash flow more weight

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A common misconception: profit ≠ liquidity. Even a profitable year can lead to cash shortages if, for example, receivables remain outstanding or large prepayments are due.

Therefore:

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• Analyze your cash flow over time
  
  
• Consider provisions & depreciation
  
  
• Keep an eye on your equity ratio
  
  

5. Plan investments & provisions

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Not all expenses appear immediately in the P&L.
Consider:

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• Investments (e.g., new software, renovations)
  
  
• Provisions for taxes, bonuses, vacation entitlements
  
  

These items directly affect your final statement — and your rating with banks or investors.

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6. Actively involve your tax advisor

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The annual financial statement is not a solo project.
Prepare well for your meeting:

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• Provide clear documentation
  
  
• Explain developments, not just record them
  
  
• Ask questions about strategic direction
  
  

The better your preparation, the more value your tax advisor can provide — beyond the financial statement itself.

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7. Use the financial statement as a strategic tool

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Use this moment to reflect on your business strategically:

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• Which cost blocks were hardest to control?
  
  
• What worked well, and why?
  
  
• Where do you want to stand financially in 2026, and what do you need to get there?
  
  

The annual statement isn’t just a retrospective — it’s a compass for the year ahead.

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8. Use profitize as your financial co-pilot for the year-end closing

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With profitize, hoteliers keep an overview throughout the entire year — not just shortly before the year-end closing. The platform automatically integrates data from PMS, POS, bank, accounting, HR and energy providers, and prepares it so that all relevant financial KPIs are available at any time.

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Concretely, this means:

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• A real-time P&L overview - no manual calculations required
  
  
• A cashflow-tool that continuously shows the true liquidity of your business
  
  
• An early-warning system that automatically detects deviations in costs or revenues
  
  
• AI-powered forecasts and budget comparisons at the push of a button
  
  
• Department-level analyses to evaluate cost of goods, personnel costs or overheads in detail
  
  
• Benchmark comparisons with previous years and targets
  
  
• And: individual consulting sessions specifically for preparing the year-end financial statement
  
  

With profitize, you don’t start your year-end preparation with a blank page, but with a solid overview, clear insights and the ability to use the financial statement as a true management tool.

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Use the year-end closing as a lever — not just an obligation

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Those who see the annual statement as merely bureaucratic miss out on potential. But those who understand it as a strategic anchor throughout the year can make better decisions, minimize risks and achieve targeted growth.

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With the right tools and the right questions, the year-end financial statement becomes a growth driver -not just a look back.

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