Tips to Prepare Your Business for End of Financial Year (EOFY)

The end of the financial year (EOFY) is quickly approaching, and the weeks leading up to July 1 can be a crunch time for Australian small businesses, with many rushing to get their financials in order to meet their legal obligations. Although it is natural to be feeling some pressure, it is not like the date has been hit on SME owners unexpectedly – it is the same 30^th June every year.

To help you to get things on track, we have compiled the following tips that can turn the EOFY into good opportunity to review, plan and prioritise your business goals and strategies for the new financial year.

EOFY strategic planning

While there are numerous financial requirements to meet at end of financial year, it is vital that you do not neglect planning for the future of your business as part of your EOFY checklist. How did your business perform in comparison with forecasts and your projections? What are your company’s goals for a 12 months’ and a five years’ horizon – and what steps are you making to reach those aspirations?

It is worth to allocate your time to revise:

• Your business plan – a document that summarises your plans and details a path to a successful growth of your business. A business plan typically consists of marketing, operations and finance plans, and should reflect the changes to the markets you serve, the products or services you sell or the way you operate. If you are not sure where to start, Planium Pro can assist you to pull a professional business plan together. With the help of our engaging, well-design dashboard, automated tables of contents, appendices and industry benchmarks, Planium Pro makes structuring and writing a business plan a breeze.

• Your business insurance. Are you sure that your business is adequately covered? To protect yourself against any of potential threats, it is imperative to have the right insurance in place for your business. In case you need help, seek assistance from an insurance broker to help you sort the essential insurance products for your business or industry.

Review your financials and forecast

It might be a good start to review your financial statements from the last year, with attention to the items where you spent the most of your income; the amount you paid in fees or interest and any recurring subscriptions. Take a closer look at your income and expenses for the current year, running a variance analysis on your budget. If your numbers differ from your projections, find out why.

Reviewing your statement might open up the ways you can save money over the next year. You might negotiate to buy the most frequently used items in bulk, approach your suppliers or utility providers to discuss the lower rates, or remunerate employees with non-monetary incentives like flexible working hours or an opportunity to work from home.

Create cash flow projections

To be successful and achieve growth, a business needs a robust cash flow to meet its everyday expenses. Management team needs to create projections for next year based on operations your business performed this year before you start considering new ideas for next year. Collect the best estimates from the sales department for the coming year if your business operations and the market stay generally the same. Consider the possibility of your customers buying smaller or larger quantities from you, whether you think your expenses will increase or decrease and if your competitors, consumer preferences or new technologies will change your marketplace. As a result, update your cash flow projections so you can plan for any potential shortages, or consider shortening or alternating your payment terms.

Time saving and streamlining procedures

Spend less time on admin and routine tasks, so you can create more time to focus on growing your business. Here are some useful strategies that can help you with time management:

• Implement deadlines for important tasks
• Handling your mail or email only once, so you reply, delegate, file or delete at the time you read it
• Build a system of templates and process documents for your recurring invoices, emails or letters
• Automate your bank statements straight to your accounting software
• Use strategic planning software, like Planium Pro Lite, that boasts a variety of in-built text templates and graphs, to help you to achieve your business growth, so you spend less time planning and writing and more time hitting the goals.

Want some further advice on how Planium Pro can assist you in writing your business plan? Give us a call on 1800 966 081 or email at info@planiumpro.com, and one of the members of our team will be happy to assist you.