My Loss Is My Gain

I shipped over 600 packages in November and December without any mistakes in filling or addressing them. By Excel’s accounting December came within $600 of being the busiest month ever…and with a day and a half left in fiscal December, there’s a remote chance that it could still make it. That’s remarkable because, in my whole-week based accounting, this December was only a four-week month and the still-champion December 2008 had five weeks. The numbers:

December:

Total income: +6.1%
Total COGS: +7.3%
Payroll: +4.4%

Marketing: +4.3%
Net Income (Profit): +31.7%

Whole Year: 

Total income: -2.2%
Total COGS: -2.4%
Payroll: +0.2%

Marketing: -3.0%
Net Income (Profit): +3.2%

I couldn’t quite staunch my first year-over-year sales decline. Excel has me down by $992, while Quickbooks thinks the shortfall is $1,616. But the all-important bottom line actually increased a wee bit over LY, so I can still consider it a win – even if only by $91!

These numbers are preliminary because my accounting calendar closes on the last Saturday of the year -- tomorrow. Quickbooks, of course, uses the whole calendar year. Here’s the first draft:

This year’s profit was (roughly) $3,000. Uncle Sam and the governor will take 20% of that, or $600. I’ll take my traditional 75% bonus out of the remaining $2,400, leaving the company with $600. My final year-end payout (bonus plus taxes) will be $2,400, compared to LY’s $2,350. My 2012 salary was $12,831, making my total compensation $15,231, down from $15,668 LY, which was itself a decrease from the previous year. BUT Monday, Dec. 31, is a payday. Even though that additional $750 infusion amounts to stealing 2013’s first payday, and even though payroll reduces profit (it all comes out of the same pocket, after all), this year’s total compensation might technically beat LY. Or maybe not, thanks to payroll taxes shaving the bottom line without going into my pocket.

I’ll post the final Quickbooks numbers next week for history’s sake. Yes, I know it's boring, but I really do refer back to these posts for comparison.

What’s 2013’s plan? I’m going to take my 2012 high point and add 7.5% -- which is to say, the same plan I had this year.

The next couple of weeks are for housekeeping. I need to tidy up my office and reorganize the cellar, where I cleared away enough old junk to make room for new junk. I need to place a wave of reorders once the profit/bonus calculations settle out – my open-to-buy is actually in the black at the moment! I also need to retake manual control over my advertising and refresh my ads and bids. I’ll leave that subject for another post, though.