Business Development

Every owner of a small to medium sized business (SME) can benefit greatly, both on a personal and professional level, by appointing an Advisory Board, as Kim Mei-Li Dennis, the Chair of SME Boardroom, explains.

Last month I explained that your credit policy is there to increase your sales, not reduce them. However, you need to make allowances for different types of customers, i.e. low risk, medium risk and high risk. Not all customers are the same and you should treat these three groups of customers differently.

Businesses may be affected by disasters directly and indirectly. For instance, businesses may not be directly caught in a disaster, but the resultant decline in trade will affect the business.
This toolkit provides information to assist businesses that are both directly and indirectly affected by disasters.

See the information kit attached below:

To help flood and storm effected farmers and small businesses understand where, how and if they can apply for support, CPA Australia in conjunction with the Queensland Rural Adjustment Authority (QRAA) has prepared an information kit summarising the financial support available.

Last time, we looked at how you would remind your customers about an overdue account when your philosophy did not involve sending statements.

The first option we looked at was the telephone. There is no doubt that the telephone is effective in collecting money quickly but the drawback of this option is the cost, particularly in terms of time and the possible negative effect on repeat sales. Good customers do not appreciate receiving phone calls about an account that is just a couple of days overdue. It is too confronting so a softer approach is recommended.

This list of key dates is not comprehensive – it is a guide only. Events or timelines may change. Click on the below links for more information about:
Lodgment Program 2009-10       
Super reporting and lodgment dates

One of the key qualities of a good credit manager is persistence. However, persistence is a rare quality in business today. Despite difficult economic times, a number of businesses are not making the most of the opportunities presented to them.

Early in December, I received a phone call from one of my suppliers. She was wondering why I had paid my October invoice but not the September invoice. I said to her that we had no record of receiving the invoice and we had not received any statement from her company.  She said that her company did not send statements. Surprisingly, a number of companies feel that this is an opportunity for saving. The advantage of sending statements is that it forces you to be very systematic about your debt collection.

If you've just arrived back from work after the New Year's break, then welcome to a brave new industrial relations world.  The second tranche of changes under the Rudd Government's Fair Work industrial relations regime came into effect on January 1, specifically the new National Employment Standards and the Modern Awards system.  And while business groups are hoping the Fair Work Ombudsman will allow SMEs to get their heads around the changes in the next few weeks, it's imperative entrepreneurs quickly get up to speed.

With this in mind, here are the five big things you nee

It's on again – the annual cashflow crisis that hits the Australian economy just after Christmas.  Tim Lea, managing partner of commercial financial advisory firm Cashstream Financial, says cashflow is notoriously tight through most of January and into early February, following the summer holiday break.  "This time of the year is the worst – nobody pays anybody until mid-February," he says.  While many payments are affected by the fact that key staff are on holidays, reduced selling periods in December and January puts extra strain on cashflow.  "It's a double whammy