Five Tips to Prepare your Business for 2018

As 2017 starts to wind down, we begin to cast our eye forward towards the year to come. Here at the SR Group, we work closely with many small business owners and company directors, and we have decided to compile a list of tips to help your business thrive in 2018.

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Plan Ahead
Success takes organisation and strategy, and your business is no different! As we look forward to 2018, consider what key events and milestones are occurring and when. Adjust your revenues and cash flows as appropriate to accurately reflect your perception of your business’ popularity. Making careful, considered forecasts will allow you to make better and more accurate business decisions for the future. Spend a few days running through all the likely (and unlikely!) scenarios that might occur to your business and make calculations accordingly. That way will there be no surprises and you will be prepared for any outcome.

Make it Easier for Customers to Pay
This one is simple. The easier it is for customers to pay, the more often they will pay! Times are certainly changing, and so is the way people pay for things these days. If your business is still not accessible to ‘tap and go’ or charges fees on EFTPOS, it’s probably time to get with the times. A recent survey by payment giants VISA has classed Australia as a ‘Digital Leader’ in adopting electronic payments, with 92% of face-to-face transactions being contactless payments. Make it easier for your business to make money – by making it easier for your customers to pay you!

Employee Entitlements
Employee entitlements are an important thing to stay on top of in the new year – especially if your business is in financial difficulty. An audit by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) revealed that employers had short-changed staff by an average of $2.81 billion per annum, a truly terrifying figure for the employees of Australia. To tackle this, the Australia Government has introduced the Small Business Superannuation Clearing House, a free service to reduce compliance costs and red tape for small businesses.  Additionally, should your business undergo an insolvency event, you as a director can be personally liable for unpaid employee entitlements while in financial difficulty.
Small Business Superannuation Clearing House – Read More

Never get Complacent
This is an important point always, but even more so as we begin to enter 2018! The ever-present threat of competition means that as business owners, we must always be looking for ways to lower costs and improve our product. Our competition will be constantly trying to better our product, and we are no different. Similarly, the presence of competition means that you must stay vigilant in looking for the cheapest prices to lower your costs in running a business.
Use Support Services and SystemsIt important for you to focus on what makes your business great, and leave the stuff you’re not as good at to someone else. There are companies around which provide a vast range of services to help with a number of different situations. Some types of support services include;

• Advisory Services: Need help making a business decision or reconsidering your strategy? There are business advisers around who will help you make the right decisions for your business.
• Hiring Services: Don’t waste your time sifting through thousands of resumes when you could pay a company to give you the top 10 applicants of the lot.
• Financial Difficulty Services: Companies, such as the SR Group, exist to help companies and directors through periods of financial difficulty. A company, or person, in financial difficulty, has a lot of decisions to make in a very short period of time, which can have different and long-term consequences. Just because things aren’t going well at the moment, don’t let this period of hardship affect the rest of your life. Talk to the right people, get the right advice, make the right decision, and you and your business will be back on your feet in no time.

There are many tools and services available to businesses and their directors to help them through a variety of situations. Find out more through our advisory service.