Articles

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 […]

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 the [...]

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 […]

One point that can be made about ‘Business Benchmarks’ is that they are a tool. They are not the ‘complete answer’ to every possible question a client might ask you.   It’s not the one tool that will fix absolutely every problem that you are going to run across.  But they will enable you as an [...]

How to Build a Performance Feedback Loop in Your Business Home Articles Benchmarking Advice Performance Feedback Loop: How to Build One Business Benchmarking Difficulty meeting financial commitments Share expecting difficulty over the next four weeks, June 2026 Businesses expecting difficulty meeting financial commitments, by size, June 2026 A horizontal bar chart with four bars. Small [...]

Franchises are often considered, and sold as, a win-win business-model by both franchisors and franchisees. However, the recent Fairness in Franchising Report by the Federal Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services, released in March 2019, highlighted that franchisors are currently winning at the expense of their own franchisees. The scathing report has recommended [...]