‘Cash is king’ for SME’s and all companies need to employ best practice cash management policies. Based on my extensive experience as a part time Finance Director, I offer the following key practical tips: Cash planning Ensure that a cash flow forecast is updated regularly (daily/monthly/weekly) – it can be a simple excel spreadsheet for […]
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36. ‘The best-laid schemes …’ What The Bard teaches us about managing business risk
‘The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men, gang aft agley.’ Or, as Robert Burns might have written in more standard English, ‘often go awry’. The poet neatly summarises the central idea of risk management: we know that things will go wrong, but not precisely what or when. The discipline is to identify in advance the […]
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35. How to empower your team when working remotely
The reality of business today is that organisations are much more widely dispersed. Even smaller organisations might operate from multiple sites that make justifiable business sense. Whilst there may be good reasons for having staff dispersed, people management becomes more of a challenge for those leaders that that have responsibility for performance and development. For […]
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34. So, you are thinking of upgrading your IT. How will you fund it?
Your operations or IT guy has made the business case, the specification is drawn up and the request for quotation has been issued. You’ve seen a couple of providers, taken up the references, and now you’re ready to buy that exciting new kit which will enable your business growth to continue. And then the last, […]
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33. The one thing you cannot make more of
A guest blog by David Croydon of Hilltop Consulting. If you run a business (that is to say, a proper business with employees, not the lifestyle business I run), I’ll have a bet with you that virtually every problem or issue you confront comes under one or more of three simple headings: Time; Team; Money. […]
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32. More, more, more – 5 ways to be more productive
The UK is expected to be strongest performing of the largest economies in 2014, with GDP growth expected to exceed its pre-recession peak this summer. This is not the only good news for the UK however as productivity levels, albeit still below their pre-recession levels, are showing significant improvement, rising 0.3% in the final quarter […]
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31. Nothing lasts forever: The need to reinvent your business
According to the International Monetary Fund’s ‘World Economic Outlook’, Britain will be the best performing of the world’s largest economies in 2014. A key contributory factor to Britain’s expected 2.9% GDP growth this year is the strongest rate of growth seen in the manufacturing sector for three years; anticipated at 3.8%. The manufacturing sector in […]
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30. New rules for crowdfunding
With the chancellor’s announcement in the March 2014 budget that loan based crowdfunding investments can be included in ISAs, it’s clear that crowdfunding has well and truly become mainstream. According to a 2013 study commissioned by The World Bank, the scale of the crowdfunding market worldwide is expected to be as high as $96bn; that’s […]
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29. How to achieve more by doing less
A top priority for many high profile technology firms this year is the automation of software development¹ as a way to stay competitive and continue growing. Mike Manos, CTO at First Data Corp. has said that “to drive and scale this business forward, automation at every level is really key”. Automation is not solely confined […]
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28. So, you are thinking of starting a new business!
guest blog by Peter Rogol of Goodman Jones LLP. You have an idea that might work. The more you think about it, the better it seems. You’re convinced – people will love it! It’ll sell itself, it’s going to break the mould, it’s hotter than hot cakes, you’re more Zuckerberg than Zuckerberg himself. You talk […]
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