Pause for Thought - Give you and your business a health check
by Shivani Gupta,
Newcastle Herald,
published Monday, 31 May 2010
The end of financial year is rolling around almost as fast as the oil is coming out of BP’s Deepwater Horizon well.
It is time to give your business a health check. You should be on top of your book keeping and generating a profit and loss summary now.
I want you to schedule some time to study it, particularly the expenses, and identify two or three things you would do differently next year to improve profit. Make this exercise part of the process of reviewing or renewing your 12 month goals.
We have different reasons for being in business but a fairly common one is to make a decent living. With the cost of living doubling about every 14 years you must be making sure that you are increasing earnings each year. Now is the time for thinking about strategies to boost sales – new products, selling other products and services to existing clients.
There was a small amount of good news in the budget for small business but there are no windfalls for the coming year. Company tax will come down 28% in 2012, earlier than for larger businesses. We will be able to write-off assets (excluding buildings) costing less than $5,000. If you account for GST on a cash basis, you will be able to claim the GST on Hire Purchases upfront. Registering a business name will be easier because you will only have to do it nationally, rather than with each state.
It is time to see the accountant and/or financial planner to ensure you are minimising tax and planning properly for retirement. They will help you to determine how much you should be investing in Super for example.
On a related note, I have noticed a few people “limping home” after a big financial year. There is a bit of sickness around and the moment and a touch of the Winter blues. Just as it is important to give your business a check up, you also need a personal check-up.
For small business people, prevention is much better than cure. Particularly if you are a sole-trader, you can’t afford to be sick. But that doesn’t mean paying no attention to your body or soldiering on regardless. Taking a few hours out to rest at the onset of a cold, as well as making sure you get some sunshine and exercise, despite the cooler weather, is a smart investment to make sure that you don’t end up in bed for days.
Seeing your GP for an annual medical check-up, particularly as we get older, is as essential as seeing the accountant. Make sure you and your business remain or get back to being healthy so you can tackle the next financial year.
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