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Start January Ahead: Year-End Accounting Meets Tax Strategy
When: Tuesday, January 26, 2027 at 6:00 PM
Where: Main Library, Robeson Pavilion Room A & B, Champaign, IL — Champaign, IL
Price: Free
Who it's for: Business owners, founders, and the finance or operations people who keep the books - anyone who'd rather start January with a plan than a scramble.
Why it matters: Most businesses treat year-end as a deadline. The ones who get ahead treat it as a decision point. Clean books are what make those decisions possible. A business in decision-making mode uses those same weeks to make proactive choices - about when income lands, how assets are expensed, how the owner is paid, and which elections get made. This session covers how to close the year properly, what to do with the picture once you can see it and how to plan for the new year.
What we'll cover: By the end of the session, you'll be able to:
Run a clean close. Reconciliations, accruals and adjusting entries, fixed-asset and inventory review, AR/AP cleanup, and the three financial statements that come out the other side.
Identify the moves still available before December 31. Income and expense timing, retirement plan establishment and funding, equipment purchases and placed-in-service timing, depreciation and expensing elections, and owner-level items.
Map your filing calendar. W-2s and 1099-NEC, Forms 940 and 941, state withholding and unemployment reports.
Plan for the new year. A working budget, a cash-flow forecast, and an estimated-tax schedule that reflects the decisions you just made.
About the presenter: Helen Zhang, President and Partner, Financial Brilliance Accounting Firm, provides startups with high-quality financial, tax advisory and virtual CFO services. Helen is a Certified Public Accountant, senior Human Resources management certified, and Six Sigma Black Belt certified. Helen holds Master's Degrees in Business and Accounting, and she has management experience in Fortune 500 companies, higher education, tech startups, and accounting firms. She has taught managerial accounting courses at the Gies College of Business at University of Illinois. Helen serves as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Research Park at University of Illinois. Her services aim to support clients' financial health, business growth, operational efficiency, and long-term sustainability. She has led Financial Brilliance Accounting Firm to win a Worldwide Finance Award for Best Community-Focused Accountancy Firm 2025-Illinois.
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