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The latest Clay Shaw Butler 'Looking After Business' column
The latest Clay Shaw Butler 'Looking after business' column from the pages of the Carmarthen Journal -
By Ann Thomas, senior consultant with Clay Shaw Butler, chartered accountants and business consultants of Carmarthen
Wednesday (today) is traditionally market day in Carmarthen the day when farmers and businesspeople arrive from all over Carmarthenshire to add an extra buzz to the town.
The conversations are usually dominated by the weather and about the state of the local economy, with many businesses still working their way out of the economic downturn.
If your business is feeling the pinch, its more important than ever to look at what you can do. Here are some ideas to get you started
1. Get paid sooner! Encourage your customers to pay more quickly, by giving small discounts or just by chasing them promptly. Send out invoices for completed work as soon as possible, and for long term projects ask for staged payments on account.
2. Promote best value products. If you have a range of products or services, look at giving more prominence to the best value items in your marketing.
3. Talk to your bank. Keep your bank informed, particularly if you are going to have a need to secure extra funding or even renew existing arrangements. If fees are being increased it may pay to shop around.
4. Take advantage of the crunch. If you are cash positive, turn the crunch to your advantage. Some businesses may be keener to make a sale, so those with cash may be able to negotiate some great bargains, particularly for early payment!
5. Staffing needs and working hours. Consider asking staff to change their working hours to part-time or flexi-time, with an appropriate drop in total pay. Or ask them to take their holidays now if business is slow. If a skilled member of staff is about to retire ask them to stay on part time, as this may be cheaper than recruiting.
6. Office rent. Ask your landlord if you can change the rent from quarterly in advance to monthly. Or with improvements in technology, perhaps now is the time to consider if you could run your business from home.
7. Dont forget the marketing. While cutting back on costs can be necessary, it may be tempting to cut the marketing budget. But, it may prove a false economy if sales suffer. While others cut back on their marketing, you may be able to use this to your advantage and keep on marketing to get a larger share of the present market.
8. Renegotiate with suppliers. Review the agreements you have with suppliers for continuing services, such as energy or cleaning. Can you renegotiate any of these contracts to get a better deal?
9. Reduce tax payments on account. Review the projected tax payments for your business. Payments on account for unincorporated businesses can be reduced and reclaimed if you are confident of the taxable profit figure. This is a good reason for getting the accounts completed quickly after the year end.
10. Carry back losses. If your business is likely to make a loss for the current year, quantify that loss as soon as possible and submit a claim to carry back to loss to get a refund from HMRC.
If you would like to meet up to discuss these and other ideas as to what your business should be doing in the credit crunch, please contact us.
For small businesses, it is also worth bearing in mind that we are full business partners for the Sage accounting software.
For further details on the software, whether it be for purchase, upgrade or training, you can give us a call at Clay Shaw Butler.
It is also worth bearing in mind that we have team members here who are specialists in Quick Books software and other accounting packages. They can help with training and hand-holding for inexperienced computer operators.
The team at Clay Shaw Butler can be contacted on 01267 228500 or through the website at www.clayshawbutler.com
