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SMEs need planning for post GFC Recovery

"As featured in the July Edition of the Western Sydney Business Access magazine (WSBA)"

ALMOST two years have passed since the ‘official’ end of the Global Financial Crisis (the GFC) however for many small and medium sized businesses (the SMEs) the effects of this downturn in the economy are only just starting to subside.

Big businesses, having the luxury of greater access to resources across the board have been able to move beyond this downturn and are operating back at relatively normal levels again; but what about the SMEs?

The drastic and often cut throat measures taken by many SME owners to survive the GFC, coupled with the banks reigning in business credit in its aftermath and the high level of economic instability has left many businesses seeing the opportunities starting to present themselves in this new period of economic growth but unable to seize them due to their lack of resources.

SMEs were forced to cut back staff numbers and review their operating expenditure to find areas where spending could be reduced. At the same time plans for capital outlays were quashed as existing assets were kept rather than being upgraded and now many of these assets are well past their use by dates.

But these measures to help ease cash flow constraints were somewhat undermined as many of the SMEs customers started stretching out their payment terms. In addition not only were customers taking longer to pay, some were not paying at all! And to further compound the lack of cash inflows the drop in consumer spending meant that sales figures were simply just down overall.

Cash flow constraints during a general economic downturn are a struggle for any business, but during a downturn of the magnitude of the GFC any business that had not planned properly in the good times for the bad were in for a real struggle.

For many years Australia experienced strong economic growth and it was easy for almost anyone to register an ABN and a business name and make a buck or two. But it was the smart SME owners that reinvested some of these profits into getting advice on how to plan for the future.

And that is the key to moving ahead in this post GFC business environment. Businesses need to plan for the future.

The businesses that diverted resources pre GFC to defining and implementing a strategic business plan and continued to allocate resources (even if on a reduced scale) to the planning and review process during the GFC to carefully monitor their position and make decisions as they were needed, are the SMEs well positioned to take advantage of the post GFC recovery opportunities.

However, for those businesses that either never allocated resources to planning pre GFC or cut out expenditure on this important process when the GFC hit, are the SMEs that face a tough future.

These are the businesses that would have also cut back on valuable resources or asset upgrades because they didn’t have the plan in place to help them ride out the storm and their decisions would have all been reactive in nature. They now find themselves facing a slow and hard recovery.

But fortunately it is never too late to start planning for the future and below is how we have been helping our business clients to grow both pre and post GFC. This centres around four major steps.

The first step is to conduct a business health check. You need to take stock of exactly what position your business is in at this point in time. Without knowing where you are now, you can not effectively plan for where you want to go.

The next step is to plan for the future. You need to either develop your business plan (if you don’t already have one) or revisit and redefine your existing business plan to set your current goals and objectives.

The third step is to assess what gaps exist in the business in terms of the resources required to help you achieve the goals as defined in your current business plan. And then start looking at how to fill these gaps.

From this point forward SME owners will be equipped with a “Business Game Plan” which at the very minimum sets out the steps needed to achieve their desired goals. But the process doesn’t stop here.

Business plans then have to be implemented and monitored to ensure that the business remains on track to achieving its goals. This is the most challenging step as owners have to often follow through on tough decisions to make it happen.

Whilst the fourth step of implementation is the most challenging the most important steps are the second and third steps. The planning steps are where all the assessments are made of where the business is going and determining how it is going to get there.

This planning phase has to cover the following areas, linking what the desired outcome is with the inputs and resources required.

•• Business strategy; have you got clear sales, marketing and growth objectives to take advantage of the opportunities that will arise as consumer confidence increases?

•• Your service mix; do you have the right service mix in place to meet consumer demand or effectively challenge your competitors?

•• Resources and reserves; do you have in place the right people and financial capabilities to implement a growth strategy?

•• Business information systems; are your business systems in place to record, report and effectively use business and market intelligence?

SME owners will be more responsive and efficient when they have information at their fingertips and by feeding that information back into the business it will ensure that they make smarter decisions which are proactive rather than reactive and that is what helps SMEs to grow.

To summarise, it is all about being focused on sales and marketing strategies to lead the charge, but having a clear understanding of how the business is positioned to handle new business, implementing good measurement tools to provide visibility to management and ensuring that the strategy is appropriate for the business’s capabilities.

SME owners are passionate about what they do but the key to succeeding in this post GFC business environment is for them to be objective when making decisions about their plans for the future.

Once the plans are made, then it is time for the passion to takeover and help seize the opportunities as they present themselves.

What exactly is financial planning......

"As featured in the June Edition of the Western Sydney Business Access magazine (WSBA)"

Prior to the Global Financial Crisis (or the GFC as it is affectionately now known), the financial planning industry held a somewhat precarious place in the financial services world. It was often on the receiving end of unfavourable media attention thanks to a small number of unscrupulous and often unregulated advisers who had the sole intention of preying on and ripping off unwitting people of their life savings .

With many Australians not really understanding what a financial planner did or what the financial planning process involved, people steered clear of those offering these much needed advice services, and opted for the typical aussie DIY approach to manage their financial affairs. In many cases, it was (and still remains) a “she’ll be right” attitude. However, does this approach provide someone with ‘peace of mind’?

Post GFC, during the aftermath of its destruction the financial planning industry was dragged into the spotlight as fingers were pointed. But in many cases the blame being laid at the feet of financial planners was misplaced. This was generally as a direct result of the lack of knowledge of what a good financial planner does and what impact financial planners actually had on the losses incurred by so many Australians as well as other investors around the world.

As is often the case in life, the fear of the unknown is what stops people from moving out of their comfort zone and this analogy can be applied to the financial planning process. Sitting down to identify your financial and lifestyle goals, then having a plan prepared which shows you how you can achieve these goals and then challenging yourself to trust this advice and make the changes identified are all factors which can take someone out of their comfort zone. With any ‘plan’, financial or non financial, the outcomes are never guaranteed and for many this fact leads them away from getting the advice they need.

The GFC however, has highlighted the need to obtain financial advice from professionals to reduce the risk of making the wrong choices when it comes to one's financial affairs and since the GFC there have been a wave of reforms to make the financial planning industry more regulated and more transparent so as to give people both financial and legal protection as well as to build faith in the profession.

The Financial Planning Association of Australia (or FPA), the peak body governing and representing financial planners and the financial planning industry within Australia lists the definition of financial planning as; “Financial Planning is the process of developing strategies to help you manage your financial situation so that you can protect and build wealth, enjoy life and achieve financial security” . The FPA website also contains information as to what the financial planning process is as well as when you may need advice along with other invaluable information concerning the industry.

But what really is financial planning? Who are financial planners? And what is a financial plan? Quite simply, financial planning is about identifying what your financial and non financial goals are (B), taking stock of where you are now (A) and working out how you can go from A to B in a comfortable and secure way. Financial planners are the professionals who help you do this and a financial plan is the roadmap you get that outlines how all of this is going to happen. In essence, the financial planning process is all about ‘adding’ value to your financial situation that you otherwise could not have achieved without having received the advice.

That all seems very simple and straightforward, so why are many Australians still scared of the process? For most, it is a question of trust. Who do you trust to give you advice that in most cases is life changing? It’s a tough decision for an individual to make and they would sincerely hope that the person that they put this trust into takes this responsibility seriously and acts in their best interest at all times.

So how do you choose a financial planner? At a minimum, you should always choose a financial planner who is a member of the FPA and if possible is also a CFP. CFP stands for Certified Financial Planner and is a designation which indicates that this planner has undergone extensive formal training and maintains this level of expertise through regular ongoing training. It also means that this person is bound by the FPA’s Code of Conduct which covers many ethical, legal and professional requirements.

From this it is all about building a relationship with the financial planner. Without this relationship there can be no trust and a good financial planner will take the time to get to know you and your entire personal situation. Without doing this, it is virtually impossible for a financial planner to provide advice that is adequately tailored to your personal needs.

Hence why in many cases financial planners who are either your accountant or work within the accounting firm you use are well placed to provide the advice as they have this relationship with you already. But that is not to say that financial planners working on their own or within a financial planning firm are any less competent and it does really come down to the relationship and the level of trust an individual has with their financial planner of choice.

And what about the actual financial plan? What does it actually cover? In reality it covers a whole host of things. A good financial plan takes into account your entire financial and personal situation. It can cover retirement strategies, investment strategies, superannuation strategies, savings plans, budgeting and lending strategies just to name a few areas. It can be for you as an individual or it can be for your business.

And if you have a good financial planner, it will provide advice on the best personal insurance options available to you including income protection insurance, life and disablement insurance and trauma insurance. Because with any plan you have to protect against the unforseen and so insuring the sources of income that will provide the opportunity to achieve these financial and lifestyle goals is a must.

Finally, good financial planners see this financial plan as a ‘work in progress’. A set and forget approach to financial planning doesn’t work and once the process has started and the seeds have been planted it is a life long commitment from both sides. (Hence why the relationship between planner and client is vital to the success of the financial plan).

At a minimum your financial plan should be reviewed on a yearly basis to ensure it remains on track to achieving your goals. Things change and a good financial plan has the ability to be flexible to absorb those changes and allows your financial planner to make adjustments where needed to ensure your short and long terms goals are still achieved.

There are many examples out there of the benefits of engaging the services of a financial planner and going through the financial planning process. The FPA website has published a booklet with easy to read real life case studies which not only highlight the benefits of getting proper financial advice but also to help show the value that a good financial planner can provide to you.