This time of year is the perfect time for companies of all sizes to review various areas of the business that are often overlooked during the end of the fiscal year period that, if done, can set the business up for a good year. new. There are 3 areas to focus on:

1. Review all corporate documents: Most business owners, especially small businesses, tend to create their initial corporate documents at the time of their business creation, archive them, and never review the documents again until something has happened. At this point, it is often too late to make the necessary changes. Instead, business owners should review their corporate documents annually to determine whether recent growth or downsizing or other business events have changed the business in such a way that the company’s governing documents, such as LLC operating agreements or bylaws, are updated. for incorporated entities they need to be reviewed.

In addition to reviewing all operational documents, it is important to review all meeting minutes of company members or directors to ensure that the appropriate meetings have been held as required by company corporate documents. For example, most corporate documents require meetings of members or directors at least once a year at an annual meeting. Too often, partnerships and limited liability companies run their business for years without a single corporate minute reflecting the vote on major business movements or at least the annual annual meeting to elect officers, etc.

2. Review important contracts: Every business has at least one type of contract that is vital to the business. Most have several. These contracts can be labor agreements, non-competitive agreements, agreements with clients, agreements with subcontractors, or simply invoices for goods or services performed. Regardless of the type of contract a particular company relies on, at least once a year these important contracts should be reviewed by an experienced attorney. Laws change often. For example, in Georgia, about a year ago, the legislature passed statute that now provides guidance for drafting an enforceable non-competitive settlement.

If a standard contract used by a business has not been reviewed at all by an attorney or has not been reviewed in years, now is the time to do it. Some examples of what may be missing are

1) clear payment terms;

2) provision of attorney fees if an attorney collects a breach of the agreement that will actually allow you to spend all attorney fees rather than a smaller fixed amount;

3) correct late payment interest penalties that state law satisfies;

4) Favorable venue selection and choice of law provision, so lawsuits must be filed under the law of your state and close to your business.

3. Review all insurance policies or get insurance coverage: Sure. Sure. Sure. It is vital that all companies have at least one CGL policy (general commercial liability policy). Owning a business means that you will face at least one lawsuit for the life of your business, if not many, many more. Having the right insurance and plenty of coverage is vital. For example, if you have a fleet of vehicles as part of your business, make sure you have fleet insurance that covers all company vehicles, including UM coverage to protect your employees if they are injured in a company vehicle. Make sure you have workers’ compensation insurance.

Finally, if you have agreements that require your company to be named as an additional insured on someone else’s insurance policy, verify that this was done correctly. This often comes up in commercial leases. The tenant must add the owner as an additional insured on the renters policy. Often times there are cases where the landlord never double-checked to make sure the tenant added them to the policy until a lawsuit is filed against the tenant and the landlord.

End-of-the-year planning is the perfect time to discuss these three areas of your business and contact an attorney for advice and preparing your business for success in the new year.