Sometimes you’ll need to set a few progressive targets, to get a client from a ‘poor’ position, to a ‘best practice’ standard. Here is an example. Suppose you have a client who is a real ‘basket case’ of a business: too much stock; debtors don’t pay on time; the company doesn’t charge enough for their […]
The overall financial efficiency of your client’s business results from the interaction of ‘profitability’ on the one hand and ‘investment’ on the second. Looking at ‘return on equity’ benchmarks can be problematic, as there are many variables in small businesses which will materially affect the comparability of those results. However, reviewing Asset Turnover benchmarks […]
As with any ‘ratio’, personnel productivity is best measured by linking an ‘input’ to an ‘output’. The key ‘input’ we’re looking at here is labour: the number of people; the cost of those people and so on. We’re linking it to the output of their activity. Often this is ‘sales’ or ‘gross profit’. These […]
If your client has a gross profit margin problem, what is the natural reaction you are going to get in 70% to 80% of the cases? “Customers are leaving and I can’t put my prices up. There’s a new bloke down the road. He’s just started up and is undercutting me – I can’t do […]
As a business owner, competition can be intimidating. However, it can also drive to achieve impressive results. The important factor is knowing how to beat the competition. With this sentiment in mind, for business owners and advisors, gathering intelligence on a business’s competitors in a systematic and rigorous format is critical to success. What are […]
Many businesses are ‘mixes’ of basic revenue models – and in particular, are a mix of ‘retail’ and ‘labour-based’ models. So to analyse it effectively, you might need to think differently about each part of the business, using a different ‘model’ in the process. Here are a few examples to prove the point: […]
At different stages during the process of Benchmarking a firm, your mindset needs to change. Here are the key stages that you’ll need work through as you help a client to devise concrete plans for a better, stronger business: 1. At first, your role is essentially a clerical one: converting the financial data about […]
As Featured in the Australian Financial Review on 19/6/19. Amidst the protest of taxi drivers against ride-sharing, the headlines of more manufacturing companies closing and uproar over telecommunications jobs moving overseas, the mature accounting industry is quietly undergoing a dramatic innovation transition. And, the $1Billion Australian FinTech Industry is not the only one to blame. […]
In case you didn’t know there’s a $30,000 instant asset write-off for small businesses If businesses are wanting to purchase assets, now may be the time given recent changes to the instant asset write-off (IAWO) thresholds. The IAWO was first introduced in 2015 as a means to help small businesses through a period of economic […]