Most of us are working from home during Covid 19 and I guess many of us are working longer than harder than normal. Our clients’ concerns mean we need to spend more time with them but we also need to do some things for ourselves.

The 15 things I think we need to look at are:

1 – Review of our vision for the business:

• is it time to
  • sell the business / divest a business unit
  • change the business
  • merge the business
• enter into a new business
• change our markets and potentially look at another market
• look at merger opportunities
  • upstream
  • downstream
  • other markets
  • next door

2 – Review the business plan

• Our 2019-2026 business plan is already obsolete

3 – who are our advisers and what value do they bring?

• we all have lawyers, accountants and tax advisers. If we don’t have these three right, we are in big trouble.
• Bookkeeper who is using a web-based accounting package which we can access.
• Digital marketing consultant
• IT and anti-virus systems including DRP and PCP work.
  • We can actually recover from our cloud storage and backups.
• Our insurance is what we need and current –
  • property plant and equipment
  • third-party liability for people come to our office
  • professional indemnity
  • workers compensation
  • travel
  • business interruption
• We need review what we pay our professional advisers and what they do. I suspect some will be paid not enough and correspondingly we need to budget for them to do more.
• We are current members of the relevant
  • trade and professional associations
  • employer groups
  • Chamber of Commerce
  • industry groups

4 – Ironically, we need to check we are compliant

• our accounts are up-to-date
• our quarterly BAS and other returns are lodged
• we are registered for
  • BAS
  • to take from staff “Pay As You Earn” employee deductions
  • GST (Goods & Services Tax)
  • FBT (Fringe Benefit Tax)
  • Payroll tax
  • Research funding tax grants
• we are using the appropriate single touch payroll system and therefore automatically paying our stance pension fund entitlements.
• Our ASIC records and fees are up-to-date and we have told them of any changes in directors or officers.

5 – Financing and Refinancing:

• Interest rates at record lows so it is logical that we should be looking at refinancing opportunities. To do this we will need to have all the paperwork in place.
• Availability of
  • trade finance
  • working capital finance

6 – We have made claims for appropriate special grants from the National and State governments. Covid 19 has also led to government offering a number of funding opportunities which can be accessed through banks, the Australian tax office and state governments. To access these, we need to be compliant and have all our paperwork up-to-date.

7 – Our board and/or advisory board consists of the right people who have the time to make the contributions we need in the new world.

• Companies deed different skills on their boards in different phases of their development. We need to be frank and honest of where we are and ensure that we have the correct board member mix to get us where we want to be.
• We need people we can turn to for advice and sometimes just a chat to make sure we are heading in the right direction. Increasingly people are finding this by appointing members or a single individual as an advisory board member. Their ongoing understanding of how the business works means they can be proactive. A person who is preparing your business plans for dealing with your bank on behalf the company is often a good person to have in your corner.

8 – Our Training and Knowledge

• we all need to understand the digital environment – you don’t need to be experts but we do need to speak sufficient of the language to understand what is being discussed.

9 – The software we have is licensed an up-to-date.

10 – Our own documents are up-to-date

• our business information memorandum reflects our business plan
• our financial model has been updated
• that the changes in these flows through to our pitch deck
• our teaser and website are up-to-date.,
• our term sheet is ready to we need to raise equity.
• our board papers and reports are filed.
• relevant parties have copies of these documents including
  1. our bank and
  2. our loan brokers

11 – Get introductions locally and globally. Now is an ideal time to look to expand our networks. We can do some of this for ourselves by presence on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc. But sometimes we need other people to pick up the phone or send an email. At a time when other people are reaching out, we should be doing it too.

12 – Minimise the amount of paper we have in store as much as we can electronically in a well organised and methodical system.

13 – Our disaster recovery and business interruption plans are documented, relevant and tested.

14 – Our business contact lists, are relevant and up-to-date.

15 – Our key business data is copied and securely stored so that all people who needed it can access it when it is necessary.

This is not a due diligence checklist nor does it reflect the specific needs of some industries, but if you go down the path of checking these off and making sure you should be able to find what else you need for your business.

The most important thing is to make it a priority.