30 Mar Be prepared. Actionable steps for your business.
What can you do right now in your business for your business? Be prepared.
The government has announced a range of stimulus measures designed to keep the people safe and the economy moving forward as best it can. Even if it has a bit of a limp.
As you can imagine, it’s going to take time for these measures to be rolled out. Government is a huge machine and now all these huge silos have to work together, things are going to be clunky.
At present, many of the initiatives announced involve Centrelink and the ATO. Neither of which are known for their speed or efficiency. So how can you prepare yourself and what can you do now for your business? Start by getting your ducks in a row.
Know your numbers.
Many of the measures require information about annual turnover, know what your previous years numbers were, and what they were specifically at this time of the year.
Know the losses you are generating. Are you still paying wages? Are you still paying rent? What is the decrease to your annual turnover to date?
Get your paperwork together and be ready to submit.
Communicate.
By the end of this we should all be better communicators….. Now is the time to communicate with all the various moving parts of your business.
- Talk to your customers
- Talk to your lender
- Talk to your suppliers
- Talk to your landlord
- Talk to your team
- Talk to your professional financial advisers
Present and committed marketing.
Yes, people are absolutely holding onto their cash right now and, sadly, so many Australians have lost their income. Now however, is the time to keep communicating (see point two). Show up. Let people know what you are doing, how you can help, what your company does, how customers can contact you. And if you are doing something great within your community, share it (in a non-smarmy way). At some point this will pass, we will come out of hibernation and there will be a place and need for your business again.
Look for opportunities.
To quote Warren Buffett, “be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful”. Nope, it’s 100% not the time to be taking advantage of other people. It *is* 100% the time to be keeping your eyes open for opportunities that you can invest in now for future payoff. Watch the market, ask questions of local agents, talk to Council. See what’s happening and work with it.
The property market hasn’t ground to a halt. We are seeing developers using this time as an opportunity to source land for future development, to work with their property team to get their applications moving through Council and work with their real estate agents to prepare virtual tours and showings. Off the plan sales are showing no signs of slowing down, use this to your advantage.
Use your existing assets to make cash available within your business and put it to good use. Buy stock now and negotiate the terms.
Think about how you could use the expanded Instant Asset Write-Off Threshold. Is there a large asset purchase your business needs that could be purchased now to take advantage of the write-off? (If you need assistance with this, we can help.)
Review your insurances.
It’s quite likely that no insurance you have will cover pandemic, but it’s worth checking. Particularly for landlords, ask what is and isn’t covered with your Landlord Insurance policy, particularly before you make any arrangements with tenants.
Review your depreciating assets.
Are you able to utilize the governments Banking Business Investment scheme to accelerate your depreciation deductions? Get in touch with your professional financial advisers to find out how this could help your business.
For more information, talk to your professional advisers and check out these information sources:
The ATO’s COVID-19 Support page
Temporary relief for financially distressed business
Coronavirus information and support for Business
What you do now will have an effect for years to come. We encourage you to be on the front foot when dealing with this and urge you not to ‘wait and see’ how this pans out. If you have a short-term funding requirement, email us. We can help with that.