I have always thought that the month of February is the most important month in the year; and not just because it contains my birthday, my wife's birthday and my wedding anniversary!

It's because the most popular accounting year end for many organisations is 31st March and the last months of an accounting year are a good time to review your governance and strategic planning both for the coming year and beyond.

Remember also to distinguish between a Strategic Plan which considers the medium and long term goals of your business or charity compared the the short term aims of a business plan containing profit forecasts and cash flow projections for the next 12-24 months.

Too often when strategy is being considered (and believe me too many entitities seem to think about their strategy as an afterthought) people are already in the early throws of the following year and by the time those responsible for governance do something about it, we have already reached past the first quarter of the financial year which is far too late.

These timings will alter depending on your accounting year end but why is the penultimate month the best time? Firstly you should already be thinking short term planning to impact on the results of the current year. For example, an OMB might seek to accelerate major repairs, pension payments or capital spending in the last month of the year to accelerate the tax relief available. For a charity, it might be the need to monitor the progress of a time specific grant or the potential end of a contract. In either event you should have a clear idea by this time about the likely outturn for the financial year.

That in turn has to make you think about what that means for your strategy in the next 12 months, either by reviewing it against the current 3 or 5 year plan (and whether changes in direction are needed) or the need to prepare a new plan based on where you are now and where you would like to go in the future. Long term planning is an essential part of any financial entity and that is even more essential whilst we have the current economic uncertainty as your strategy has to be flexible enough to change direction depending on outcomes.

So whether it is February, November for a December year end, May for a June year end etc, make the last accounting months your Strategy and Planning period.