As anyone who has ever worked in finance knows well, January is one of the crucial – if not the crucial – months of the year. Not only is there a danger of operational mistakes from the previous year rolling over, but the choices you make in the first two or three weeks can have a major impact on how the rest of Q1 plays out.
In other words, January is hardly the time to rely on luck, guesses, or improvisational fixes. It sets the tone. It’s about defining your systems and getting them up and running properly.
So here’s a checklist designed to help you do exactly that. It covers practical, simple – if often overlooked – tasks that create clarity, reduce risk, and prevent problems from popping up later.
Close the Books and Close Them Properly
Before starting to do anything else, it’s crucial to confirm that last year’s spend data is fully closed and reconciled. That means several things. First of all, every transaction should be accounted for and correctly categorised. Then, make sure that all receipts are collected and matched. When it comes to outstanding reimbursements, ensure they’re all processed. Finally, check that prepaid tools and subscriptions are tagged to the right cost centre and period.
More than just accounting steps, checking these boxes ensures clean data – meaning Q1 reporting can start on a stable foundation.
Reset Budgets and Limits
It’s very rare for budgets to stay static year over year. And yet many businesses simply forget to update their internal spend structures. Old rules end up staying in place too long, leading to overspending, confusion – or, most often, both.
Just review team budgets, card limits, roles, and approval settings. You may have made some temporary exceptions in Q4, so make sure to roll those back as well.
It’s about making sure every team knows what their budget is from the start – and that your spend systems reflect that fact.
Clean Up Card Access
Shared cards and outdated users are one of the most common reasons businesses lose control over spend – so do some auditing.
Check who has access to which cards. Then check which cards are active, unused, or linked to expired services. Also look for any recurring charges that need to be reassigned or cancelled.
Ideally, each team, project, and user should have their own card with clearly defined budgets and limits. That’s what makes spend easier to track and control. It also holds people accountable.
Re-Align the Expense Policy
Reminding people about the expense policy is not exactly the most exciting task. But take the opportunity – January is the right moment to remind everyone what’s allowed, what’s not, and what needs approval.
If your policy is buried in some long PDF no one really reads, think about simplifying it and communicating key points clearly. Even better, try to enforce as much of it as possible by design through your expense management tool.
All of this saves time and, obviously, money. It also prevents confusion and ensures that small errors don’t snowball into accounting problems later in the quarter – or the year.
Confirm Payment Infrastructure
In January, annual renewals hit. Ad campaigns restart. Vendors begin billing again. A failed payment in week one can cause a chain reaction.
Check your balances, review merchant rules, and test essential payments. The sooner the better.
Automate What You Can
Pin down what you can automate. There are now widely available solutions that stop you from chasing receipts, manually exporting CSV files, or guessing who paid for what and when.
Review your finance stack. Automate what you can, and integrate your spend infrastructure with your accounting one.
How Wallester Business Helps
Wallester Business is a modern expense management and card issuance platform built to handle everything above from a single place. If you’re ready to take full control of company spend this year, this is the best place to start.
Here’s what you get – at zero cost:
- 300 free virtual Visa cards – issue in minutes, assign by user or team
- Unified dashboard – real-time visibility across every card and transaction
- Integrations with Xero and QuickBooks – sync spend with accounting tools instantly
- Custom limits and whitelisting – manage permissions, avoid declines
- Tokenised cards – works with Apple Pay, Google Pay, Garmin, and more
- 24/7 currency exchange – transparent rates, no service fees, 10 supported currencies
- Payroll & team cards – send up to 1,500 transactions in one click
- REST API access – automate reporting and integrate with other systems
- No monthly subscription fees – only pay for what you need
Set-up is usually completed within hours, and you can start issuing cards and tracking spend the same day.
Ready to start 2026 clean?
