JPAbusiness

Forecasts for the Australian economy in 2018 are cautiously optimistic, driven largely by improving global conditions but tempered by uncertainty around household consumption.

As reported in our Global Economic Outlook, the international economy appears to be improving and gaining momentum.

The ‘Advanced Economies’ group is experiencing cyclical recoveries, while the ‘Emerging Markets and Developing Economies’ group is benefiting from improving global demand and government spending.

When I speak to business owners about planning I find their eyes often glaze over or they break out in a cold sweat.

“Planning? Oh no!” they say. “Do we really need to talk about that? How will it make my business better?”

But planning doesn’t have to be an onerous task and it is very valuable.

I recently met with a new client to discuss the strategic planning program we are about to embark on with them.

Business planning is about making your business as robust as possible, so it can take advantage of opportunities and also successfully withstand inevitable shocks.

Annual business plans don’t have to be weighty documents, but they do need to contain some key information, with the most important being:

• frank and honest appraisal of resources
• analysis of your competitive environment
• SWOT analysis
• targets
  
• budget.

There is generally no perfect structure that covers all wish-list items for a given business structure proposal, so the goal is to achieve a structure of ‘best fit’ for your business.

We are creating a series of infographics to illustrate the pros and cons of four common business structures: Sole Trader, Partnership, Company and Trust.

First up is the Sole Trader infographic – keep an eye out for the others, which will be published over the next three weeks.

Why 'how much' should not be your first question (or second, or third)

Whether we’re assisting a client to buy a business, providing advice or due diligence, or fielding enquiries on businesses we’re marketing for sale, one of the first things I tell people is the price of the business should not be their primary concern.

Now that sounds a bit strange, I know, because price is obviously important –  it would be silly to enquire about a business worth $5 million, for example, when you have $500,000 maximum to invest.