It feels like the road to recovery is just starting, however for most of us, the last few months have been spent putting the building blocks in place to make sure we continue to be relevant in the post COVID-19 world.

I came across this article which provides some great insights into what successful businesses are likely to be doing to make sure they thrive over the next few years.

The article highlights some key learnings from Harvard, McKinsey, Deloitte and Bain & Company to provide a snapshot of what successful businesses did to get through the GFC in the best possible shape. For all of us, I think it contains some good lessons for what we should do to make sure we are best placed to get through COVID-19 and beyond.

From the Halidon Hill Finance team, here are our suggestions for the coming year:

  1. Make sure your business has a clearly defined strategy and framework. Even when the unexpected happens, businesses with long term growth plans are more resilient to change.
  2. Cash will continue to be king. Every business needs a simple profit and loss and cashflow forecast to enable clear understanding of your profitability and cash availability on a rolling 12-month basis. If you or your accountant don’t already have one, we can help with a template. This is a really useful tool to let you analyse the impact of each operational and marketing initiative.
  3. Beware the ATO arrangements. This should be the last option for working capital shortfalls as from a financing perspective, your greatest asset is being able to demonstrate that you are continually up to date with your tax obligations.
  4. Financier COVID-19 deferred loan repayments are coming to an end. For those businesses who took advantage of the option to defer payments, most of these have come to an end or are about to. Contact us if you need help with putting these in place or extending them.
  5. Property Finance. Now is a good time to review your current property finance facilities, including both commercial and home loans. There are some stunning interest rates on offer. We are here to analyse your options and put in place the best available rates for you.
  6. Purchase or Rent. In the coming years it’s likely that owning commercial property may be more cost effective than paying rent. Loan repayments with the current reduced interest rates are significantly lower than they were a few years ago.
  7. Despite the doom and gloom, money is still available. The major banks are becoming harder to deal with however there is still money available if you know where to look – and we do.
  8. Now is the time to invest in efficiencies and automation for your business. There are also government incentives to do this sooner rather than later. Talk to us about how best to finance your next purchase.

Hopefully this list has helped in getting you prepared for what will be the new normal. Now more than ever it’s time to get your long-term growth strategies in place and surround yourself with experts to get you there.

We are here to support you in whatever way we can, please feel free to contact me on 0407 746 474 or get in touch via email at andrew.sutherland@halidonhill.com.au

Best Regards,

Andrew