3 year-end mistakes that many companies repeat
How to avoid bad year-end habits so as not to lose strategic traction or start the new year by postponing decisions.
Published December 24, 2025 · Category: Companies · Strategy and Management
Every December, the same pattern repeats itself: figures are finalized, toasts are made, “new challenges” are announced… but the way decisions are made and day-to-day operations are managed changes very little. This article is written for those who lead companies and organizations with established teams, who feel they work hard but make less progress than they should.
According to the series SME figures,Small and medium-sized enterprises represent almost the entire business fabric in Spain.
Various sources (such as Funcas) place SMEs around two out of every three business jobs and around 60% of added value.
Labor costs have increased by more than 251% since 2021 in small businesses (CEPYME),While average payment periods remain above the legal limit, at around 64–67 days according to the PMcM Delinquency Report.
In this context, there are three year-end mistakes that I see repeated continuously in companies and administrations:
- Closing the year as if only the finance department existed.
- Postponing, once again, the structural decisions that everyone knows need to be made.
- Ignoring accumulated risks: late payments, cybersecurity, and dependence on key people or clients.
The good news: none of these mistakes are inevitable. In the following sections, you'll see how they manifest in everyday life and what you can realistically do before February 2026 to break the cycle.
- The real context with which you close 2025
- How do we frame this within the Roadmap & Results strategy?
- Error 1 · Closing the year as if you were only in Finance
- Error 2 · Postponing (again) structural decisions
- Error 3 · Ignoring accumulated risk
- Why this article is not just theory
- Visual summary of the 3 mistakes
- Actionable checklist to start 2026 differently
- What role can the R&R Route play?
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
1. The real context in which you close 2025
The macro data is clear: SMEs represent approximately 99.8% of the companies and generate a good part of employment and business added value, according to the series SME Figures 2025 and other analyses such as those of The Digital Equation.
Since 2021, labor costs for smaller companies have risen sharply, while productivity and sales have progressed much more slowly. This is compounded by uneven and, in many cases, reactive digitalization: the SME digitalization report itself, prepared by the ONTSI It notes that a majority remain at low or medium levels, with clear gaps in data usage, automation, and cybersecurity.
Meanwhile, the national agenda is pushing in another direction. The plan Digital Spain 2026 It positions process digitization, responsible AI, and cybersecurity as pillars for competitiveness. Many companies and institutions have not yet aligned their management style with this scenario, something we will discuss in detail in the following article.
- You don't have enough financial leeway for whims or repeated mistakes.
- Every decision that is postponed increases future pressure on margins and equipment.
- Managing by inertia leaves you vulnerable to those who are actually organizing their strategy and risks.
In this context, closing the year by simply looking at an Excel spreadsheet and repeating goals is a decision in itself: you are accepting that 2026 will be too similar to 2025.
2. How do we fit all this into the R&R Route?
At Rumbo & Resultados we talk about this approach as the R&R Management Closure, a concrete application of the Route & Results at the end of the year.
1) A managerial perspective, not just a financial one
Turning the closing of the numbers into a real review of direction: priorities, resignations and management style.
2) Unblocked structural decisions
Identify which issues have been on ice for years and choose which two need to be seriously addressed in 2026.
3) Risks under control
Explicitly review delinquency, customer concentration, cybersecurity, and dependence on key personnel.
4) 10-week operational plan
Translate everything into concrete actions, with assigned responsibilities and deadlines, for the first quarter of the year.
The rest of the article elaborates on these four elements by presenting three common mistakes and their alternatives. These aren't theories; they're patterns we consistently observe when applying the R&R Route in companies and institutions.
3. Mistake 1 · Closing the year as if you were only in Finance
A typical December scene in many organizations:
- Finance presents sales, margins, variances, and EBITDA.
- Sales reviews whether or not the annual target has been reached.
- Operations explains incidents, overloads and emergencies.
- HR provides data on turnover, absenteeism and salary costs.
The meeting ends with a generic message:
“"By 2026, we aim to grow by 1%, maintain margins, and control costs. We will provide details of the plan in January."”
Nobody really gets into the key issues:
- Which business lines no longer make sense or need to be redesigned?.
- Which customers are profitable and which ones are destroying margin.
- Which projects should be stopped, even if it hurts, because they divert resources?.
- What structural decisions have been avoided for years?.
3.1. Real pain behind the mistake
If you recognize yourself in any of these points, you fit this pattern:
- You have achieved reasonable sales figures, but the treasury is always on the edge.
- Management spends most of its time putting out operational fires.
- There is no clear, shared document that says what is a priority and what is not for 2026.
- The teams return in January with the feeling of "more of the same, with slightly higher goals".
In an industrial company of about 40 people that we worked with, the year-end closing process had long focused on sales and meeting budget targets. No one was addressing the fact that three product lines were barely contributing to the profit margin and were consuming production capacity and sales resources. Until this issue was tackled, the company continued to grow in volume, but without improving its profitability or reducing the pressure on the factory floor.
3.2. What to do before February 2026
A three-day convention isn't necessary. What's needed is a well-prepared, three-hour management session with four clear objectives:
1) An honest snapshot of 2025
Three strategic decisions that did make a difference, and three that were avoided or postponed. Three projects that have consumed resources with no clear return.
2) Identify the levers of truth
Customers, services, channels, and projects that truly sustain margin and growth, not just volume.
3) Define 3 priorities and 5 sacrifices for 2026
A maximum of three clear strategic objectives, accompanied by five things you explicitly decide not to do.
4) Reduce everything to a 10-week plan
Ten concrete actions, with names and dates, for the first quarter. Not wishes; actions with owners and deadlines.
4. Error 2 · Postponing (again) structural decisions
The second mistake is even more dangerous because it generates fewer headlines, but it undermines the organization from within: the structural decisions that everyone knows need to be addressed, but are put off every year.
4.1. Decisions that are usually on hold
- Processes and organization
Areas that no longer fit the current size, saturated middle management, strategic tasks that management continues to do because "there is no time to delegate properly". - Digitization and tools
Systems that don't communicate with each other, duplicate tools, underutilized licenses, ERP or CRM projects that keep getting postponed, public aid used to patch things up, not to redesign processes. - Business model
High-volume but low-profitability clients, channels that are maintained out of habit, legacy services that no one dares to withdraw for fear of losing revenue. - Management team and replacements
Owners or CEOs who are involved in everything, managers who have never been trained in management, total absence of a succession plan even though there are people close to retirement or burnout.
In a medium-sized administration, the reorganization of a key area had been postponed for over five years. Every year-end, budget execution was reviewed, but the need to redistribute responsibilities, update job descriptions, or redefine processes was never addressed. The result was predictable: burned-out teams, stalled strategic projects, and an excessive reliance on a few individuals.
4.2. Why postponing this is costly
With rising costs, tight margins, and increasing regulatory pressure, continuing to manage the same way as five years ago is a subtle way of accepting less profitability and more internal tension.
Every year that a process redesign, reorganization, or business focus decision is postponed:
- The cost of switching increases.
- Teams get used to living with chronic inefficiencies.
- The organization is losing its appeal to talent that wants to work in places that are moving forward.
If in any internal conversation someone can say "we've been discussing this for years" and nothing tangible still happens, you're facing a structural decision that's been shelved.
4.3. A concrete way to unlock before 2026
The goal here isn't to make an endless list. It's to choose wisely what you're really going to move.
- List of postponed decisions
Write down on a single sheet of paper the 5-7 important decisions that have been on the table for more than a year without being resolved. - Assess impact and risk
For each decision, assess the impact on margin, team time, and operational or reputational risk (high/medium/low). - Choose 2 decisions that cannot be postponed in 2026
Just two, but with commitment: responsible, approximate budget, minimum milestones (what has to be done by June 2026). - Put the first step on your calendar
A pilot project, an RFP, a process redesign, a test with a new tool. Something concrete, with a date and responsible party, in the first quarter.
5. Error 3 · Ignoring accumulated risk
The third mistake doesn't usually appear in year-end speeches, but it makes the difference between an organization that withstands the blows and one that falls at the first serious impact.
5.1. Late payments and collection periods
Average payment terms in Spain continue to exceed the legal limit, in both the private and public sectors. Report of the Multisectoral Platform against Late Payments It confirms average payment terms exceeding 60 days and a structural late payment rate that directly impacts SMEs and small suppliers.
- Treasury departments under strain even with good revenue.
- Dependence on credit policies and external financing to pay salaries and suppliers.
- Vulnerability to any significant non-payment or prolonged delay.
5.2. Weak Cybersecurity
Most organizations have made some progress in digitization, but cybersecurity often lags behind. Recent reports such as those from Kaspersky They point out that only a minority of SMEs report having a solid strategy in this area.
- Users sharing passwords or without two-factor authentication.
- Backups without real proof of restoration.
- Critical systems in the hands of a single vendor or a single IT person.
A serious incident can paralyze operations for days, generate legal costs, and damage the trust of customers or the public.
5.3. Dependence on key people and clients
Two more risks are added to these:
- Key people
Profiles without which the operation stops: financial managers, people who concentrate the knowledge of a system or project, technicians with undocumented historical memory. - Customer concentration
Two or three clients who account for an excessive percentage of the revenue, with payment and service conditions that the organization accepts for fear of losing them.
If your main system is shut down tomorrow due to an attack, or a key person is absent for months, does your organization have at least a basic plan B, or does everything depend on improvisation?
5.4. Minimum checklist before February 2026
It's not about doing endless audits. It's about calmly identifying where you're most vulnerable.
- Top 20 clients or financiers
Weight in revenue, average actual collection period, signs of deterioration (recurring delays, changes in conditions). - Risk of concentration
How many clients account for more than 50.1% of your revenue? What would happen if one of them reduced your volume by 30.1%? - Basic Cybersecurity
Clear responsibility, critical systems identified, tested backups, minimum access and password policy. - Key people
List of 3–5 roles without which the operation would stop. What they do, where the information is located, and who could cover for them if needed.
6. Why these mistakes are repeated every year (and what it reveals about the leadership)
The patterns that appear in year-end closings are not isolated failures, but Symptoms of a management model that no longer keeps pace with the real rhythm of the business.When analyzing companies that reach December with pending decisions and little strategic traction, three clear constants emerge.
6.1. Lack of clear priorities during the year
Initiatives, tasks, and projects accumulate without a solid selection criterion. Day-to-day operations take precedence over strategy, and by December, this lack of focus becomes glaringly obvious.
- Everything seems urgent.
- Nothing is really decided.
- Priorities change depending on the emergency at the moment.
6.2. Management trapped in operations
When management teams spend 70–80% of their time putting out fires, strategic moves are postponed until the calendar forces them into a corner. The end of the year doesn't create the problem, it just exacerbates it. makes visible.
6.3. Slow or diffuse decision processes
If a decision takes months to resolve, the problem is not the decision: is the process.In December, this becomes a clear burden:
- Plans that are not progressing.
- Budgets that don't add up.
- Opportunities lost through inaction.
6.4. A pattern observed for years in very different organizations
The methodology Direction & Results It arises precisely from observing this phenomenon in multinationals, scaleups, industrial SMEs and public administrations: Year-end closings don't fail due to a lack of work, they fail due to a lack of clear direction..
When the course is unclear, December becomes a race to justify what hasn't been done, and January begins without a real roadmap. When the course is clear, December is just another month in the plan.
7. Visual summary of the 3 mistakes
If you want to take only one sheet from this article, let it be this table.
| New Year's Eve Mistake | How it manifests | Minimum movement before February 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Close only with Excel | Meetings focused on numbers. Targets copied from the previous year with a 1TP3Q increase. Nobody talks about priorities, sacrifices, or real changes in management style. |
3-hour management session to define: · 3 clear priorities. · 5 explicit waivers. · 10 concrete actions for the first 10 weeks. |
| 2. Postpone structural decisions | Obsolete processes, duplicate tools, zombie projects, pending reorganizations, issues that "have been discussed for years" but no one moves forward. | List 5–7 postponed decisions, assess impact and risk, and commit to 2 “non-postponable” decisions in the first half of 2026. |
| 3. Ignore accumulated risk | Long collection periods, chronic late payments, dependence on few clients, weak cybersecurity, and key personnel without replacements or documentation. | Risk checklist across four areas: customers, market concentration, cybersecurity, and key personnel. Define two concrete measures to reduce exposure by 2026. |
This matrix can function as a steering committee slide, as a worksheet in a year-end closing session, or as a checklist to review in January with your core team.
8. Actionable checklist to start 2026 differently
Before January ends, if you want 2026 to be more than just a copy-paste of 2025, answer these questions honestly:
- Do we have a management session scheduled that focuses on direction, not just numbers?
- Is there a simple, shared document with our 3 priorities and 5 sacrifices for 2026?
- Do we know which structural decisions we have been postponing for more than a year and which two we are going to address now?
- Do we really know our collection periods, customer concentration, and exposure to late payments?
- Do we have a minimum cybersecurity strategy (responsible party, critical systems, tested backups)?
- Do we know who the key people are whose absence would halt the operation, and what our plan B would be?
9. What role can the R&R Route play?
Rumbo & Resultados was created precisely to help companies and institutions break out of this loop: lots of activity, little real progress, important decisions postponed.
We do it through the R&R Route, a modular methodology that combines three layers:
- Operational diagnosis
We didn't just take macro photos. We went inside to see how real decisions are made, where processes get stuck, and what's happening with margins, workload, and risks. - Clear strategy
We define a few well-ordered priorities, with explicit trade-offs. No plans that are only good for a presentation. - Operational plan and support
Break everything down into actions, responsibilities, and deadlines. Support the change realistically, without PowerPoints that end up gathering dust in a drawer.
In end-of-year contexts, we usually start with a R&R Management Closure: an intensive session where we work with you on priorities, trade-offs, structural decisions and key risks for 2026. From there, we decide together if it makes sense to activate other modules of the R&R Roadmap (deeper diagnosis, marketing plan, digital strategy, support in execution, etc.).
If you've recognized yourself in any of these three mistakes and would like to explore together what would make sense for your organization, we can schedule a no-obligation exploratory session. Not to share theories, but to see what concrete decisions you should implement before 2026 picks up speed.
10. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Quick answers to common questions that arise when a management team considers taking the year-end closing process seriously.
Isn't it "normal" that December is just for closing the books?
It's understandable that Finance sets the pace in December. The problem is when that takes up all the space. Financial closing is mandatory; strategic closing is optional… but it's what determines whether 2026 will be different.
Is a major strategic plan needed to avoid these mistakes?
No. Clarity is needed. In many organizations, a well-crafted one- or two-page document, with priorities, trade-offs, and a 10-week plan, provides more value than a 60-page plan that no one ever reads again.
What if my company is too overwhelmed to stop and think?
That's the reality for many SMEs and institutions. That's precisely why it makes sense to specify: an intensive, well-prepared session with the right people and a clear objective. It's not about philosophizing; it's about making decisions that will reduce some of that overload in the coming months.
Does what you're proposing also apply to public administrations?
Yes. The mistakes are very similar: closures focused on budget execution, structural decisions postponed due to political scheduling, and risks (late payments, dependence on key personnel, cybersecurity) treated as secondary until they materialize. Times and margins change, but the logic of clarifying priorities, trade-offs, and risks remains the same.
Does Rumbo & Resultados only work on large projects or also on more limited processes?
We work with a modular approach. Some organizations need a comprehensive review (diagnosis, strategy, and operational plan), while others, for the moment, only need to streamline their year-end closing, resolve two key decisions, or review their business model. The Ruta R&R methodology adapts to the size of the problem, not the other way around.
👉 If at the end of the year you recognize yourself in any of these patterns —delayed decisions, unrealized plans, operations that take precedence over strategy, or inertia that hinders your growth— it's a good time to correct course before 2026.
We can help you transform that roadblock into a clear and actionable roadmap:
well-defined priorities, a realistic operational plan, and a system for measuring progress without losing traction.
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