Year-End Best Practices: Running a Clean, Accurate, and Profitable Dealership : DX1

As a dealership approaches the end of a financial or operational year, there is a critical opportunity to review, validate, and clean up the business data that drives every department. Year-end isn’t just an accounting milestone — it is a strategic checkpoint that ensures the dealership goes into the next year with accurate numbers, healthy inventory, and full visibility into performance.

When the books are clean and inventory is correct, dealerships benefit in several ways:

Financial accuracy: Profit and loss statements, tax filings, and audits rely on numbers that match reality. Eliminating errors now prevents costly corrections later.

Operational clarity: Correcting open quotes, stale service jobs, and inaccurate part quantities protects margins and keeps every department moving efficiently.

Better decision-making: Year-end reports translate daily activity into long-term performance insights, allowing leadership to invest confidently in inventory, staffing, and marketing.

Improved customer experience: When deposits, special orders, and repair jobs are reconciled, customers receive faster, more accurate answers — which strengthens retention and CSI scores.

This Best Practices guide pulls together recommended DX1 reports and workflows that help each department confirm their records are complete, current, and compliant. The goal is to identify discrepancies before they become downstream issues, reduce manual rework, and enter the new year with momentum — not cleanup work.

Each section below includes the specific DX1 reports to run, what to look for, and why it matters:

Accounting — clean revenue activity, deposits, and overall business financials

Major Units — validate inventory accuracy and close out stale deals

Parts & Accessories — reconcile stocking, valuations, and special orders

Service — ensure ROs are completed, billed, and not waiting on parts unnecessarily

Whether you are doing this as part of a structured annual close or simply taking time to strengthen ongoing business health, these practices help secure tighter controls, protect margin, and ensure your dealership is built on reliable data.

Best Practice Reports:

Accounting: