Happy New Financial Year!

As the clock ticks over on another year  – what should you be doing to start 2024 financial year off with a bang?

We revisit our top tips for the year to help you get the best outcome for your business.

• Revisit your strategic plan – you should start every year by reviewing your business performance from the last year and focusing on areas where you performed well.  This can also help you identify areas for improvement and set your new targets for this year. Both operational and cash flow budgets are crucial strategic tools for a business to set targets and measure your performance from a financial perspective.   In addition to your budget you should be considering your performance in relation to Key KPI’s using both financial and non financial metrics. You should also be considering the capacity you have in your business to enable you to continue growing and what if anything needs to change to to ensure you are on target to achieve your short and long term targets and of course the Big Hairy Audacious Goal.

• Strengthen your customer relationships – now more than ever business is more and more about trust and relationships. Touching base with key customers and ensuring the communication lines are open for another successful year is a great way to start the new year and build on your existing relationships. Sharing information, sending a referral or just picking up the phone to chat are all great ways to build connection with your customers.

• Review systems, processes and technology – do you have some processes that don’t seem to be working as efficiently as they should? Have you considered if you are performing time consuming manual tasks that can be automated? Ask you clients or your team for any pain points and identify areas for improvements. As well as streamlining processes there are hundreds of apps and add-on’s that can enhance both your financial reporting software, the operations of the business and the way we communication with our team or customers.

• Check in with your accountant before making key decisions – Remember your accountant is not just here to prepare your tax return- they should be the first person you call when you are making a key business decision to ensure that your next move is the right one. Transactions can have implications in terms of additional tax, risk to a business or may not align with your strategy and so talking through with your advisor is important to tick all the boxes. If you haven’t done any tax planning prior to 30 June it is also worth touching base to arrange your returns early to ensure you are aware of any tax liability and give you time to plan for payment.

• Review your HR requirements – this year more than ever there have been significant change in relation to minimum and award pay rates and superannuation requirements for your employees. You should check that you have all of these updates in place and if in doubt consult a HR professional. With a shift of teams working from home there are also additional requirements around health and safety in their new workplace. Our team is our most important asset so it is important we get things right.

• Celebrate your success and have fun!  You made it through another year so most importantly enjoy the reward and make sure the business is giving you the lifestyle and reward you deserve.

How Can Alto Help?

Alto can assist you with the following services:

Strategic Planning: we work closely with our clients to understand their business and build a strategy that helps them acheive their personal goals. This can include KPI and goal setting, growth strategy and operation and cash flow budgeting.

Systems Review: working closely with our clients we love to dig deeper and identify streamlining opportunities and technology that will help improve efficiencies on every level.

HR review: although we don’t advise in this area we can connect you with amazing professional partners that specialise in all things HR.

Author: Donna Bruce