Challenge – are you and your business developing strategies for “future-proofing” your business to meet the challenges of the next few years?
Some of the challenges facing businesses include:
- Finding and keeping quality staff – this relates to the employment process, induction, training, feedback that your team members are receiving.
- Maintaining “corporate memory” – are important matters being documented so that they are available for other team members to refer to at a later date to obtain information on decisions that have been made previously so that current team members do not have to “re-invent the wheel”?
- Developing strategies to combat “digital disruption” – many businesses are being affected by digital disruption – the important thing is what strategies are you implementing to overcome the problem?
- How is your business reacting to “new market trends”, particularly trends initiated by your competitors?
- Have you implemented systems to reduce your business’ debtors’ days outstanding?
- Have you implemented appropriate procedures so as to ensure that your business is able to make the correct decisions as to whether to register a particular customer or a business with which you have stored assets, on the Personal Property Securities Register so as to minimise your business’s potential exposure to the loss of an asset?
- Are there systems implemented within your business to protect your business’s intellectual property – trade secret agreements, intellectual property identification, and patent registrations?
- Has your business implemented marketing systems that coordinate general marketing with social media and your website?
- Have you reviewed the selling process that is being utilised? Are these processes coordinated with marketing and production so that all team members know what is happening within the organisation in an attempt to maximise the sales effort?
- Is there an awareness of the necessity to identify a potential research and development activity, to document that activity and then to maintain appropriate records so that the company will be able to lodge a Research and Development Rebate application as part of the company’s income tax return?
- Has your budget for 2022/23 been finalised? Have segments of the budget been supplied to the persons responsible for managing individual business units within your organisation?
- Has there been a review of your business with Workplace Health and Safety requirements relating to both team members, customers and visitors to your premises?
- Does your management team understand the “people resource” strategies that are required in 2022/23 relative to compliance issues announced by Fair Work Australia?
- Are you satisfied that your financial accounts are being prepared on a basis that enables the responsible manager to be able to read and analyse financial performance for the individual business units that he/she is responsible for including key performance indicators, ratio analysis, benchmarking against other similar organisations?
- Are you evaluating your competitors’ strategies by maintaining a confidential file on your individual competitors which you are evaluating in an attempt to determine individual competitors’ strategies on a regular basis throughout the year?
- Are you monitoring government grants and other assistance that is available for businesses similar to yours?
- Have you considered utilising our firm to provide you with a wider range of financial management services?
- What do you want your business to look like in 3 to 5 years’ time?
- Revenue and profits
- Cashflow
- Services/products
- Clients/customers
- Technology utilisation
- Team members
- Brand
- Marketing strategies- coordination of social media with your website
- Corporate governance
- Are you interested in expanding your business by internal promotion or the acquisition of other businesses?
- How will you finance this type of expansion?
For any of these ventures and for any other business planning its future, you will need a business plan.
These are some of the issues that are considered an important part of the strategy relating to the development of “future-proofing strategies” for a business.
If you would like to discuss any of these ideas with us, please do not hesitate to contact your accountant at [email protected] or call 02-4365 6789
