By Phil Harris
Principal
Harris & Co
I RECENTLY heard a really insightful comment about Brexit from a businessman. He said we should stop referring to Brexit.
His logic was that that phrase has muddled up two things – an exit and the terms of that exit.
The former is a certainty, and the latter is still taking shape.
It is hard to plan ahead when the precise terms of our future trading relationship with the EU are still being negotiated. The exact impact on businesses is hard to predict, even for the experts.
It could be that our economy booms or it could be that it stalls. No one knows for sure.
So what can you do to plan for every eventuality? Well, whichever way the economy goes, the management of cash and costs is going to be critical for businesses – either to fund growth or to ride out a recession.
Some key metrics remain constant whatever the state of the economy and you need to start getting yours in shape over the next 12 months to get you business in the best position to deal with whatever turn the economy takes:
1 Finance – knowing where you stand every minute of every day is vital. There are some great cloud-based packages out there to give you access to your numbers 24/7.
2 Daily break-even sales – check every day how you’ve done against your break-even figure and if you don’t hit that figure regularly, address the problem.
3 Costs – look critically at your cost base and identify any you can reduce, especially the big fixed costs.
4 Debtors – monitor daily and chase them frequently.
5 Creditors – monitor regularly and don’t let major debt build up.
For more information, contact Harris & Co on 01604 660661 or visit www.harrisandco.biz