Spring time is traditionally the time to ultra clean a house. While it’s incredibly popular, there is no one origin to this desire we have once it gets a small bit warm.
Cleaning companies the world over ramp up their advertising spend at this time of the year appealing to this sense of Spring Cleaning. For business owners, you too can take advantage of the bright weather and spring clean your finances.
Here are ways to maximise your finances and put a spring in your step for the year ahead.
1. Review Company Expenditure
This is something to do at any time of the year, but it’s particularly useful in Spring time. For some businesses, January is not a great month for sales and they slowly pick up in February to March. Believe it or not, the weather does have an impact on buying decisions.
However, spending occurs in the first quarter of the year regardless of sales so now is a good time to identify areas and patterns of spending. Pay particular attention to those areas where costs can be curbed.
2. Make Strategic Plans
Everything is brighter in Springtime. It’s a good time to focus on your business strategically speaking. An element of strategic planning is blue sky thinking – where do you want to go, where do you want to grow, where do you want to be in three years, five years even ten years time?
Planning now rather than the depths and darkness of winter allows you to aim higher. Then you can create your tactical plan to implement ways to reach your big goals.
3. Identify Trends
As part of your strategic, blue sky thinking, now is the time to look for trends in your industry. If you are in fashion, you are already eyeing up trends for the Autumn/Winter season. Take some time out to identify trends particular to your niche.
It’s also a good idea to look back at this time last year. What trends did you identify then? Did they come to pass? Was there something that you missed for the upcoming months that you can implement this year? What key learnings can you take away?
Write them down and plan for them.
4. Stay on Top of Credit Days
You’ve heard me more than once say that cashflow is key to running a business. Stay on top of collecting on sales. Don’t pay your debtors too early. Now is a time to look at your credit limits, the length of time it takes to get paid and the length of time it takes you to pay your debts.
You can’t reach your blue sky thinking goals if you don’t have cashflow. This is essential.
5. Check your Budgets
If you did the above Spring Clean items, then you have a clear idea of how your budgets look. You may have to recalculate them or revise them. Whether you revise them upwards or downwards, it’s always good to make a decision based on real-time information.
In Summary, Spring is always a good time to look at how you performed the previous year and see how you expect to perform this year. Take some time to spring clean your finances, dust the cobwebs from the business that often build up and appreciate the business you’ve built up.
If you’d like to discuss anything in this article, please get in touch.
AG Associates is an accounting practice that specialises in affordable accounting and payroll solutions for the SME business owner. It’s new service Clarity combines online book-keeping with offline accounting to provide an instant snap shot of how a business is doing right now
AG Associates is an accounting practice that specialises in affordable accounting and payroll solutions for the SME business owner. It’s new service Clarity combines online book-keeping with offline accounting to provide an instant snapshot of how a business is doing right now.
For further information please contact Angela at Unit 11, Eastgate Way, Little Island, Cork, 021 482 4723 or angela@agassociates.ie.
AG Associates Accountants
11 Eastgate Way, Little Island, Cork
021 482 4723
info@agassociates.ie
agassociates.ie
