Ideas from a larger business

In our previous post, it was suggested that Accountants/Bookkeepers should be suggesting to their SME clients that they will benefit by modelling their business on larger businesses, preferably in the same industry. Let’s dig deeper into that concept…

Rhythm of meetings is an important process that large businesses implement. Also ensure that the meetings are held irrespective of who can attend on any particular date. These meetings are not meant to be talkfests, but to discuss important issues that the invitees need to be aware of. A program can be implemented for:

Daily meetings, which might only be for 5 – 10 minutes, to consider urgent issues that arose yesterday and planning initiatives for today.

Weekly meetings could be conducted by the leadership team, to review current key data but also for individual workgroups to meet. Weekly meetings can also be conducted to review the current position on projects and to identify any problems that are being incurred on a particular job.

Monthly meetings could include a leadership team, to consider the business performance in the previous month and to formulate a report to be submitted to the Board of Advice and/or Board of Directors meeting.

Some companies also have a monthly/quarterly ‘State of the Union’ meeting with the entire team, to keep them informed of developments and the strategies. These meetings contribute to the ‘Culture of Continuous Improvement’.

An SME can implement a similar process to keep the team informed, especially if the business is committed to a SCALING UP PROCESS. Activities will be hectic and the team need to be kept informed.

52 Week of the Year Business System: as the name suggests, businesses operate throughout the year and the accounting/administration systems should also operate throughout the year, not just at the end of a month or at the end of the financial year. Data is required to assist management in making day-to-day decisions and receiving:

Daily reports: potentially relating to production or sales for that day

Weekly reports: performance and profitability report/KPIs

Financial update: debtors – inventory – bank – creditors

Monthly reports: profit and loss account for each business unit with comparisons to budget

Balance sheet with supporting ratio analysis

KPIs/business metrics

Working capital analysis compared to the predictive accounting reports forecast

‘Financial Position Report’ for Board of Advice/Board of Directors meetings

Towers Business Development can assist your business to plan the STRATEGIES TO THINK LIKE A LARGER BUSINESS. To find out more, contact us on 1800 232 088 or email .