With the end of the 2020 financial year rapidly approaching this month, many businesses will be reflecting on how they managed to navigate and meet the challenges of a turbulent time (namely, the COVID-19 pandemic).

By taking what they have learned, what worked and what failed, businesses should be able to plan for their future for the next financial year and understand how to take their learnings from the previous year forward with them to create preventative strategies and coping measures.

A good business plan recognises these periods of change as opportunities to innovate, challenge the business and engineer a plan that allows them to take chances but remain safe at the same time.

Planning For Your Business’s Financial Future This Financial Year

• Ensure that you are legally compliant with your approach to your employees by conducting an audit of all employment contracts.
• Plan out and undertake a risk-management plan to identify vulnerable areas and what strategies you can employ to mitigate their effect. Include potential exit strategies for the business and a succession plan for worst-case scenarios.
• If there were any excellent habits or innovations developed throughout the pandemic, retaining them should be a priority
• Manage financial obligations, such as commitments to leases, staff, debt etc., and see how those can be managed in the event of volatility or turbulence. Revisit grants and support packages and see if these are still available/useful to you
• Plot out guaranteed, likely and potential projects or income and your expenses, taxes, overheads, wages and subsidies that should be accounted for ahead of time.
• Surplus cash generated can be used to pay down debt or take advantage of opportunities through reinvestment in areas such as hiring new staff or purchasing equipment (especially with the instant asset write off scheme being extended for another year)
• Consider implementing reliable financial software (such as e-invoicing) to ensure everything from expenses and invoices to taxes and analytics are meticulously organised.

We are here to help you plan out your business’s future for the next financial year, including how to prepare financially for any eventualities, what might be the best path forward to deal with potential or existing debts, and what schemes or grants your business could be helpful to your business. Contact us for an appointment today.