2021 Business Planning - Salisbury Accountants

Business planning for 2021

By Ben Gay, Salisburys Director

We hope you’re managing and working your way through what has been one of the most challenging times from an economic and also from a social point of view certainly in our lifetime.

As we consider this new financial year despite the challenges we have been presented, it makes it more important to ensure that you know that you’ve got a plan in place.

That means having a goal and target you’re trying to work towards (or even multiple goals and targets) and then knowing how you’re going to get there.

What we’d like to do over the next couple of weeks is talk about business planning – what that looks like and the things you need to try and put in place to make sure that you are ready as you can be for this financial year and beyond.

So where do you start?

The first thing you need to do is really understand what your long term goals are from a business and personal perspective.

What do you want to achieve in the next 3 – 10 years? Look at those goals, understand what’s involved and then break them down into smaller targets.

Think about what you want achieve this year

What does this financial year look like? Let’s be very aware this is not a small process in the current market.

Sit back and assess what is going on

What do your customers want? What does the market look like? What are your competitors doing? What worked during the COVID-19 lockdown periods?

Consider what you would like to continue doing

What is your current business model? Do you need to tweak and fine-tune it? Once you understand and have a better idea of your goals and targets for this year, then work out how you are going to get there.

What is the action plan you need to develop?

What steps do you need to make sure that you can achieve your goals? And, with those steps, what does this involve from a resource point of view? Specifically people, time and cash.

Once you’ve tackled goal setting and you’ve thought fully about the implications of your actions, the next step is to build a financial forecast. Create a Profit & Loss (P&L), a budget and a cash flow. Then decide what is and isn’t achievable. Once you’ve gone through this process and it looks like it is going to work, then that’s fantastic. But if you need to fine-tune, then repeat and refine your planning process until you have a plan that feels like it’s a stretch but is achievable.

At Salisbury Accountants & Business Advisors we believe that good business advice is not just about numbers; it’s partnering with business owners to solve personal operational and strategic challenges.

We listen to business owners utilising a range of accounting and business advisory services to deliver actual advice tailored to your individual needs. Call the team at Salisburys on 02 6041 3014 or visit salisburys.net.au to get your business planning underway this financial year.