Finish the Year with Confidence: 4 Year-End Checklists by Industry

A critical resource for education, healthcare, hospitality & retail professionals

The end of the calendar year is a critical time for busy professionals. To make wrapping up the year a little less challenging, we’ve created year-end checklists for those of you in the education, healthcare, hospitality and retail industries.

Education year-end checklist

Whether you’re a teacher or an administrator, the last few weeks of the year are an opportunity to prepare for the next term in a few key ways:

• Analyze student performance: Were there any particular lessons or topics where students really struggled to grasp the concepts? On the other hand, where did your classrooms exceed expectations? By analyzing performance, you’ll find ways to course-correct underperforming students, improve your lesson plan and repeat your biggest successes.

• Make a financial plan: Teachers and administrators should work together to make a financial plan and reorder supplies for the new year. Break your budget down into categories like transportation, facilities, instruction and staff development to ensure resources are being allocated fairly. Find out what supplies your teachers need and use that to guide your ordering for next year. Make sure your classrooms are stocked by the time that bell rings in the new term.

• Schedule maintenance: With students on vacation for the final week of the year, it’s a good time to address outstanding maintenance needs. Schedule plumbers, pest control or other services and prioritize which issues need the most immediate attention. After all, a broken window in the dead of winter is more pressing than a fresh coat of paint.

• Set goals: Use this time of reflection to set goals for the coming year. Teachers should aim for classroom initiatives like increasing engagement and improving academic performance while administrators focus on broader goals: offering the teaching staff more support, connecting and engaging with the community of parents and ensuring financial resources are aligned with the district’s educational vision.

Find more ways to set educators and students up for success in The Education Professional’s Year-End Checklist.

Healthcare year-end checklist

In healthcare, it’s always the busy season—there’s rarely downtime when you’re sifting through stacks of patient records, chasing down payments from insurance companies and ordering new medical supplies. It’s easy for anything else to slip through the cracks when the day-to-day work is so demanding. That’s why it’s vital for healthcare professionals to designate the end of the year as a time to take stock and set goals:

• Update and file patient records: If hundreds of records are sitting in stacks on desks and not properly filed away, that should be one of the first things you address. Even better, make the switch to digital records to speed up the process going forward. Then do the same for your billing and financial records—your employees will thank you when paperwork no longer makes up a disproportionate amount of their workloads.

• Review compliance and payment changes: Compliance policies don’t always change annually, but updates happen, and you don’t want to risk the legal and financial penalties of non-compliance. If your practice has added new insurance providers or your current providers are changing their own rates, prepare now to avoid chasing down payments in the future.

• Take stock of inventory and budget: Going forward, make it an end-of-year tradition to inventory your medical equipment and plan the budget. These two tasks go hand in hand, as understanding which supplies are running low will inform your spending in the next few months. Review line items like staffing and utilities, as well as revenue sources, and adjust pricing to meet demand as necessary.

For more information, read The Healthcare Professional’s Year-End Checklist.

Hospitality year-end checklist

After a tumultuous few years, the hospitality industry experienced a “robust comeback” in 2024. This is great news for business owners and industry professionals, who are now poised to make the next year even more successful. Here’s how:

• Analyze finances: To understand what “success” means to your business, run a financial report and analyze your spending and revenue. This will help you balance the budget in the new year while still keeping your employees and guests satisfied.

• Check guest satisfaction: Because customer satisfaction is everything in hospitality, consider distributing guest surveys to get valuable feedback. You should also check reviews on booking sites and social media to see if there are any common pain points to address. Take note of the positive reviews, too—if there’s something you’re consistently doing right, you’ll want to capitalize on that.

• Perform staff evaluations: You can’t deliver a stellar hospitality experience without an engaged team, so take this time to review staff performance based on customer service, respect from coworkers, attendance and expertise. Have team leaders provide actionable feedback and suggestions that help employees further develop their skills.

• Audit your inventory: Like many industries, hospitality businesses benefit from year-end inventory audits. You may discover a surplus of certain supplies while others are scarce by the time the ball drops. Having this data on hand will help you order more accurately going forward, stretching your budget further.

Get more actionable strategies in the full article: The Hospitality Professional’s Year-End Checklist.

Retail year-end checklist

While the end-of-year holidays are a particularly hectic time in the retail world, that’s no excuse to avoid planning for the future. Here are some ways to make the new year go more smoothly:

Master your finances

• Reconcile accounts receivable and payable: As you go through your invoices, be sure to tie up any loose ends. Follow up on outstanding invoices and close out your books to start the new year with a clean slate.

• Review your inventory: Overstocked products and sold-out inventory both interfere with your ability to meet your revenue goals. Examine sales trends from the past year to order more accurately in the future.

• Start tax season early: Waiting until the last minute to do your taxes adds unnecessary stress to you and your team. Gather up your vital financial documents, such as last year’s tax returns, ledgers, credit statements and invoices. Investigate opportunities for tax returns or credits. This will help make the tax season go as smoothly as possible.

Improve business performance

• Review staffing policies and performance: The end of the year is the perfect time to deliver employee reviews, raises and holiday bonuses. Make sure your salary and benefits are still competitive and your employees are engaged with the work. If there are departments where you’re under- or over-staffed, consider making adjustments to ensure everyone has the support they need.

• Examine store layouts: How long has it been since you thought about whether or not your store layout was effectively nudging customers toward purchases? If it’s been more than a year, add that to your to-do list. Make use of creative signage and prominently displayed endcaps. Don’t be afraid to experiment; you might find that a grid layout works better than the current freeform arrangement, or vice versa.

• Assess your marketing strategy: Collect data on key performance indicators like return on ad spend (ROAS), leads, website visits and so on. By analyzing this information, you’ll be able to determine which strategies generate the most revenue and make informed marketing decisions in the new year.

Read the full article: The Retail Professional's Year-End Checklist.

The ultimate year-end business checklist

Happy New Year from Walmart Business

After you’ve checked everything off your to-do list, be sure to take a moment to celebrate yourself and your team. To take these year-end strategies even further, check out the Walmart Business content hub. You’ll find a wealth of information about how to save time and money while meeting your business goals.

Ring in the new year with the right retail partner. Walmart Business has an extended assortment of products that span industries, from office supplies to technology and beyond. If you sign up for a Walmart Business+ membership, you can take advantage of free shipping with no order minimum,¹ free delivery from local stores on orders over $35² and 2% back in Walmart Business Rewards.³ That could add up to over $500 in savings a year!⁴ Click here to learn more.

¹ Excludes most Marketplace items, freight and certain location surcharges.

² Restrictions apply. 

³ Rewards can only be used toward future purchases on Walmart Business. Additional terms apply.

⁴ Savings based on 1 free $35+ delivery order vs. $9.95 fee and 1 free shipping order under $35 vs. $6.99 fee biweekly, plus 2% Walmart Business Rewards on monthly order >$250 (average value of $400).