Three steps to ensuring data is meaningful for your business

Raw data describes the facts and figures that a business processes every day. Over time, every business hoards a certain amount of data and it only becomes meaningful to a business after it has been processed to add context, relevance and purpose.

For example, in a restaurant, every order will be recorded. However, a restaurant won’t learn much by looking at each one in isolation. However, analysis of the orders will reveal trends and patterns, such as peak dining days or biggest-selling menu or bar items.

Knowledge of the business comes from the relationship between the singular pieces of information. That restaurant owner may know to do their biggest stock order on a Wednesday by analysing their covers and establishing that sales increase by 38% on Thursdays.

The pace of business in today’s technological times requires businesses to be able to react quickly to changing demands from customers and environmental conditions. The ability to be able to compile, analyze and act on data is increasingly important. In some instances, a high volume of data may need to be accumulated and analyzed before trends and patterns emerge.

When you aren’t compiling accurate business data, you can only rely on gut feel and assumptions about past performance to inform your future business decisions.

If your business is already using cloud software for accountancy, project management system or CRM, it’s likely that you’re sitting on a goldmine of data. If properly utilized, this data can greatly aid running a successful business. You’ll have valuable insight into your sales, expenses, profit and staff efficiencies that can help you answer critical questions and drive smart business decisions.

Every business is unique, but here are three quick tips to help you drive data in your business.

1. Data is only powerful if there is context – can you stop to answer these questions?

• • • What is your primary objective (business or personal)?
    • What is happening in the business?
    • What isn’t happening?
    • How can you influence what happens by analysing and responding to your data?

Figure out what you’re currently trying to achieve before anything else. It’s important to periodically go back and ask yourself these questions and what goals develop from the answers, as answers evolve over time.

You may have started out with your primary objective as running the best restaurant in your area. However as time has passed, your primary objective might now be to take time away from the business to spend more time with your children.

2. The only way your data can help you drive your business is if it’s accurate and organized appropriately – ask yourself:

• • • Are your financials up-to-date?
    • Do you have any unreconciled transactions?
    • Are you tax compliant?
    • Are your staff trained on what systems and processes to use for different parts of your business?
    • Are your cloud systems being correctly utilised?
    • Are you using AI tools to analyse and respond to your data?

The worst thing you can do is to attempt to analyse incorrect data and attempt to make decisions for the business based on it! Tools like Spotlight Reporting can help you with the reports you need for business decisions.

3. Understand what the data necessities are and what the niceties are.

• • • What would you most like to understand about your business?
    • What figures pinpoint success for you?
    • What are your objectives over the next six to twelve months, and two to five years?

Remember, to focus on what truly matters and build from there. If you want help with the process, we can accumulate, analyze, report and advise on your data; or show you which tools to use.

The following content was originally published by BOMA. We have updated some of this article for our readers.

It takes guts to start a business. It also takes a strategic mindset to succeed.

Business owners are no strangers to weighing risk and navigating uncertainty, but the recent economic climate has dialled everything up. Many business owners face the uncomfortable position of having to remap carefully thought-out succession plans and exit strategies and to consider selling their business before they’re ready and, possibly, for less than it’s worth.

Transition may be a better option

Rob Young, Managing Director of Platform 1, works with business owners on ensuring they get the best possible return when selling their business. Rob’s advice is to start by thinking about what options you have first.

There are five different ways to sell:

1. 1. Close the business down and sell the assets
   2. Sell to a family member
   3. Sell to an employee
   4. Just a straight sale to an outside party
   5. Gradual buy-out – The Platform 1 model.

The Platform 1 model is a gradual buy-out program. It involves finding a manager to take the reins early on.

Gradual buy-out a process that involves:

• • figuring out what kind of individual would be right to run the business; finding that person, and developing them.
  • Creating a plan where the new manager buys in gradually over 3 to 6 years. The objective is to get the owner out of the business physically as quickly as possible by transferring relationships and processes to the incoming person, so the owner becomes more of an investor rather than a manager.

Preparing for sale – what’s important

• • Get your house in order – Ensure you have systems and processes in place so the business isn’t reliant on you, but can run as a standalone entity.
  • Maximise your profit – Make sure that you are not taking decisions to minimise your tax liability – because what you’re trying to do is create a profitable business.

Don’t put off your succession plan – even if you are not ready to sell

It’s a good idea to think about this long before you need to sell so that you maximise the value of the business and achieve a better outcome. It’s also worth remembering that retirement doesn’t need to be doing nothing. If your business can run as an asset without your involvement, you don’t have to sell it completely, so not selling down 100% of the business is a viable option.

Talk to us today about your succession plan

If you don’t already have a succession plan in place, we can help so that you have options when you need them.

The following content was originally published by BOMA. We have updated some of this article for our readers.

When you’re running a business, it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day activity and lose sight of the big picture.

Taking stock of the health of your business is important. Knowing where you are allows for more effective planning, early warning about any issues, and the chance to better chart a course for success.

There are some quick ratios that will help you to gauge the health of your business. We can help you to assess your business health and show you how to calculate these vital checks.

Liquidity Ratios

Liquidity ratios are about how quickly you can turn your business assets into cash – which helps you assess whether you’ll be able to pay the bills if cashflow gets tight.

High ratios are better, as this means you’ve got more assets than liabilities.

Current ratio

Current ratio = Total current assets / Total current liabilities

As a general guideline, 2:1 is a good current ratio, but this does depend on the kind of industry you’re in, and the nature of the assets and liabilities.

Quick ratio

Quick ratio = (Current assets – stock on hand) / Current liabilities

This measure excludes your existing stock, which you may not be able to quickly turn into cash, and is seen as a more realistic quick snapshot of your position.

Solvency ratios

Solvency ratios look at sources other than cash flow to see whether your business will be able to settle debts.

Leverage ratio

Leverage ratio = Total liabilities / Equity

This is a measure of whether your business is reliant on debt financing or equity to fund your assets. A higher ratio can make it harder to borrow money.

Debt to assets

Debt to assets = Total liabilities / Total assets

This tells you what percentage of assets is being financed by liabilities.

Profitability ratios

Profitability ratios will let you know how efficient your business operations are. Where possible, it’s good to measure your business against others in your industry.

Gross margin ratio

Gross margin ratio = Gross profit / Total sales

This ratio tells you whether you can cover the necessary business overheads from your sales.

Net margin ratio

Net margin ratio = Net profit / Total sales

This measure tells you the percentage of sales dollars left after you’ve settled your expenses, except for your income taxes.

Checking in on your business health is a great habit to get into. Using these ratios helps you to understand your current business health and allows you to plan. Talk to us about how to calculate the factors in these ratios in order to keep your business on the right track.

The following content was originally published by BOMA. We have updated some of this article for our readers.

Having a well-planned marketing budget can help you allocate resources to the right digital marketing channels and maximise the effectiveness of your campaigns.

But where do you begin when it comes to managing and tracking your budgets?

Businesses spend between 2% and 5% of their revenue on marketing to promote their products and services. That might not sound like much, but bear in mind that it’s vital to use your working capital wisely. So, whatever the size of your marketing spend, you want to make sure that every penny is successfully helping to raise awareness of your brand and your products.

When it comes to marketing spend, you and your executive team will want to see real-world results from your marketing – and tangible evidence of that elusive ROI.

To get in control of your marketing budget:

• • • Decide which marketing channels will be most effective – Whether you’re considering video, social media, blogging, events or above-the-line advertising, think about which channels are likely to deliver the best results. Do your research, talk to your customers and use the channels where your audience are most likely to engage with you.
    • Understand your marketing spend across different channels – each channel in your marketing strategy has to deliver. But how much cash should you invest in each channel? Talk to other marketers in your sector, look at industry benchmarking and get a ballpark figure for a ballpark spend on each channel. By adding up the costs for each channel, you get a total figure for your overall marketing spend. Make sure this doesn’t overrun the planned percentage of your revenue that’s set aside for marketing.
    • Calculate how much revenue and profit you’re likely to generate – you can never predict the exact outcome of your marketing activity. But you can set revenue targets for each channel, and set clear goals for both the financial and non-financial ROI you’re likely to achieve. For example, how many customers will each channel bring in? How will this impact on cashflow? What’s the desired impact on your revenue and profits?
    • Track your marketing spend in your cloud accounting – the latest cloud accounting platforms make it very easy to record and track your marketing costs. Track your marketing spend by channel, product or cost code to give yourself a detailed breakdown of all your spending. This gives you the data needed to track performance over time, so you’re in complete control of the money you’re spending.
    • Manage your data and make informed decisions – if you combine the data and reporting from your cloud accounting and your marketing software, this gives you the best possible management information relating to your marketing. In turn, this gives you the information you need to make informed decisions on your marketing. Ask yourself:
      • • Where are you spending the most money on marketing?
        • Which channel is converting the greatest number of targets?
        • How much of your marketing budget have you spent – and what remains?

By finding the answers to these questions, you make it much easier to make sensible decision on how to improve your ROI and how to boost your overriding digital presence as a business.

Talk to us about tracking your marketing spending

If you want to drill down deeper into your marketing spending (and the ROI this money is delivering), please do book some time to talk to us.

We’ll help you set up new cost codes in your accounts software and refine your marketing budgets per channel. We’ll also work with you to customise your dashboard and management information, so you have all the financial and non-financial data you need at your fingertips.

The following content was originally published by BOMA. We have updated some of this article for our readers.

There are certain items of equipment, machinery and hardware that are essential to the operation of your business – whether it’s the delivery van you use to run your home-delivery food service, or the high-end digital printer to run your print business.

But when a critical business asset is required, should you buy this item outright, or should you lease the item and pay for it in handy monthly instalments?

To buy or to lease? That is the question

Buying new pieces of business equipment, plant, machinery or vehicles can be an expensive investment. So, depending on your financial situation, it’s important to weigh up the pros and cons of buying, or opting for a leasing option.

First of all, let’s look at why you might decide to buy the item…

Buying: the pros and cons:

• • • Pro: It’s a tangible asset – when you buy an item, you own the item outright and it will appear on your balance sheet as one your business assets. As such, by owning these assets outright you increase the perceived capital and value of your business. You can also claim the cost of the asset against your capital allowance for tax purposes.
    • Pro: It’s yours for the life of the asset – once you own the item, you have full use of the equipment for the duration of the life of the asset. Your use of the asset isn’t reliant on you being able to keep up regular lease payments, and if your financial circumstances change then you can sell the asset to free up the capital.
    • Con: It’s an expensive outlay – paying for the item up-front is a large outlay for the business and will require you having the cash to cover this cost. Spending a large lump sum in this way may take cash away from other areas of the business, so you need to be 100% sure that this purchase is the right decision and a sound investment.
    • Con: You may require extra funding – if you don’t have the liquid cash available to buy the item outright, you may need to take out a loan. Asset finance is available from funding providers, but does tie you into a loan agreement that will add to your liabilities as a business – reducing your worth on the balance sheet.

Leasing: the pros and cons:

• • • Pro: Leasing has a cheaper entry point – if the item you need to purchase has a large price tag, leasing allows you to make use of the asset without the cost of buying it in full. For start-ups and smaller businesses with minimal capital behind them, this can make leasing a very attractive option. You may not own the asset, but you can make use of it – and this may be the difference between the success or failure of your business.
    • Pro: You can spread the cost – there is still an associated cost of leasing, but you can spread the cost over a longer period, making it easier to find the necessary liquid cash to meet your lease payments. With this money saved, you can then invest in other areas of the business, helping you to expand, grow and bring in more customers and revenue.
    • Con: You don’t own the asset – there are different types of leasing agreement. Under a capital lease, you do own the asset (once you’ve paid if off). But if you opt for an operating lease, this is a more short-term lease and you won’t own the asset at the end of the contract. Ownership does have its advantages (including being able to sell off the asset if required) so it’s important to consider what kind of leasing agreement you’re entering into and what the advantages/disadvantages may be.
    • Con: You may pay more in the long run – most leasing agreements will attract additional costs and interest on your agreement, so you may well end up paying more than the market price for your asset in the long term. If you can cope with the higher cost, this is fine, but bear in mind that buying outright may have offered greater value.
    • Con: You may lose the use of the asset – if you can’t keep up your lease payments (due to poor cashflow for example) then the owner of the lease agreement may recall the asset. If this item is crucial to your business model, losing this key asset can have a profound impact on your ability to operate. In this respect, leasing is a more risky prospect, but also an easier option for businesses with less cash to splash.

Talk to us about whether buying or leasing is the best way forward

Whether you opt to buy or lease your equipment isn’t always a straightforward decision to make – so it’s a good idea to consult with your accountant early on in the decision-making process.

We’ll help you review your current financial position, assess your available cashflow and look at your regular cost base to decide whether buying or leasing is the right thing for your business.

The following content was originally published by BOMA. We have updated some of this article for our readers.