Business Development

Weathering the downturn

Free Webinar: Monday, 17 November 2008 at 11:00am AEDST

In the last six months, private businesses have dramatically changed the way they do business in response to the downturn.

According to the recent PricewaterhouseCoopers Private Business Barometer, the slowdown has forced Australia's private businesses to take a conservative short-term outlook, change their targets, scrap product
launches and geographic expansion plans.

Free Webinar: Tuesday, 21 October 2008 at 2:00pm AEDST

Join Robin Bowerman, Principal, Retail at Vanguard Investments and Roger cIntosh, Head of Fixed Interest at Vanguard Investments for an in-depth ook at your investment strategy and outlook in a market crash.

During this free webinar Robin and Roger will take questions and discuss ith SmartCompany editor James Thomson:

With all the negative headlines and the doom and gloom forecasts each day (Wall Street leading the Dow Jones down etc etc) each week I see the value of my portfolio declining – and yes that is depressing.

But I am not going to sell. So what is my survival strategy?

So I am laying in a ditch, in the rain, it’s two o'clock in the morning, I haven't actually been to sleep yet and haven't washed in a couple of days, there are practice mortar rounds being dropped around us, and someone's yelling in my ear "SO WHAT?" I am miserable. The question is a good one though.

One of the many great learning experiences I had was the time we finally got the courage to invoice a major client for interest on very late payments.

I remember feeling sick about making the call – we valued our client and did not want to do anything to upset them. In a competitive market, surely they would just tell us to get lost and use another supplier.

Is Your Business Contributing to the Lifestyle You Want?

There is so much talk about getting an investor that it's easy to overlook other sources of funding. There is no doubt that investors bring lots of money and they add more than just money to your business. Well, it's never JUST money.

But let's look at where you can get your hands on money to get you through any cashflow crisis and short term funding difficulties.

When we buy a business we not only want to know what we are getting, but we want to know what we can do with it – that is, what potential it has.
The greater certainty we have about being able to execute on improving the business, the more willing we will be to take on the acquisition. Sometimes it is simply a matter of acquiring a competency or capacity that will enhance our existing business, but for lots acquirers it is simply bringing a business up the curve on industry best practice.

Separating your personal finances from those of the business can have a very positive impact on your cash position.

Many small businesses are run with the business bank account being treated as an ‘open tin’ for business owners and their families. If carefully managed and monitored this may be OK. The problem is, we have rarely seen a situation where it is monitored, and therefore it is mostly a problem!

The beginning of a new financial year can be the perfect time to assess the financial reporting in your business. When you perform, what is commonly known as a ‘Financial Year Rollover’, i.e. you roll an accounting system into the next year, all of the Profit and Loss accounts return to zero.

This is an opportunity to review how you manage the information in your Profit and Loss to maximise usefulness.

Here are some tips on how you can improve on Profit and Loss reporting.