Your Christmas closure checklist

 

Christmas Office closure checklist

Christmas time in Australia means warmer weather, backyard BBQs, Christmas shopping and summer holidays. If you are running a business, you are probably gearing up to close the office for at least two weeks of much-needed R&R. 

It is a notoriously busy time, and in a service-based business, the push to get through everything by Christmas eve means the office can get a little hectic. So, to help ease the stress of the Christmas rush, we have put together a checklist for the Christmas closure period. Leaving you to focus your energy on ensuring your business, team, and clients have a rested festive period and come back refreshed for the new year.

 

YOUR STAFF

  • Turn on email Out of Office messages (don’t forget shared inboxes)
  • Update voicemails to include closure dates (landlines and mobiles)
  • Turn off unessential electrical devices
  • Empty the fridge & bins of perishables
  • Include emergency contact details
  • Water any plants
  • Enjoy a well-deserved Christmas party with the team
  • Ensure payroll is managed over the break

 

YOUR CLIENTS

  • Send client Christmas cards and gifts by the start of December
  • Advertise the closure dates (website, email banners)

 

YOUR BUSINESS

  • Update Christmas trading hours on your website, social media and your Google My Business profile
  • Send out an e-Newsletter to your clients and prospects wishing them a safe holiday – advise them of the closure dates and alternative contact details
  • Schedule social media posts for the holiday period
  • Chase up any unpaid invoices

 

Broadcast your closure dates

Notifying your clients of office closures is essential to maintaining your service levels. Be sure to advertise your closure dates at every point your customers might contact you and be sure to add a banner to the bottom of your emails. It’s best to start doing this in late November so the message gets out whenever you contact someone. So as not to be a nuisance over the break, don’t schedule any marketing emails during this time – if your clients aren’t working, they won’t be reading your marketing emails!

 

Be prepared

The lead-up to Christmas is the perfect opportunity to thank your valued customers for their business over the past year and to wish them well for the next twelve months. So, get any Christmas cards or gifts sent out early, so they reach your customers by mid-December. Those small gestures can go a long way and, at the very least, inspire some Christmas cheer.

Remember to factor in time for some self-care too. It can be easy to overlook this when you’re busy ensuring your business is ready for the break and getting your own Christmas shopping done. Book any appointments you need early to make sure you can get in. Self-care is just as important as everything else. In fact, without a healthy, happy business owner – how can you expect your business to flourish?

 

Getting your outstanding invoices paid

While the silly season can get hectic with so many loose ends to tie up in the office and parties to attend – keeping on top of your cash flow over the Christmas period is imperative. There is no hiding from the ever-increasing interest rates – which means your cost of capital to fund any work in progress and receivables presumably keeps rising too. When interest rates were low, this cost may not be as burdensome, but that is not the case now. Moreover, funding increases to salaries and overheads are coming at an increased cost.

With this in mind, providing fee funding arrangements to clients that allow them time to pay whilst putting much-needed money in the bank would be beneficial. Having healthy cash flow at any time of the year is essential for a well-run business, and when the cost of doing business continues to rise, it’s more important, now than ever, to ensure you get your outstanding invoices paid.

Things are getting real for the finances of many, and in the coming months, businesses and households will feel the flow-on effects. Contact QuickFee today to discuss how our Fee Financing facility can give your clients the flexibility they need without compromising your own firm’s position.

 

In the Spotlight: Meet Brent Szalay from SEIVA

Today we are meeting with Brent Szalay, Managing Director at Seiva. Along with his work at SEIVA, Brent has received the prestigious Henry Fox award at CPA Australia for his outstanding contribution to Accounting Public Practice and was awarded Wellness Initiative of the Year for his mindset book TryPositive. In this interview, Brent shares what drives him as a leader and how he has implemented a culture of “care” to grow his practice.

About Seiva

They are accountants, but not the kind you’re used to. They provide proactive advice in business strategy, tax, sourcing finance and personal wealth. They are an enthusiastic and dynamic team that firmly believes that happiness drives success. Not the other way around. They aim to make a meaningful impact on the lives of small business owners. 

Click here to learn more.
 
 

In the Spotlight

In the Spotlight recognises legal and accounting practitioners who demonstrate innovation, success, and commitment throughout their work. Each month, we select individuals or firms to acknowledge the positive impact they have had on their community or their industry sector. If you think you know someone who fits the bill, please send us a 100-word summary to media-au@quickfee.com telling us why they deserve recognition. Submission criteria: The legal or accounting professional has shown an unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction while still assuring the profitability and viability of their business or profession. They have helped a client turn around business profits with innovative business opportunities. They have outperformed their peers in their sectors, market segments and geographical areas in terms of community service.

In the Spotlight: Michael Hanrahan from Hanrahans Accounting Services

Today we are meeting with Michael Hanrahan from Hanrahans Accounting Services who has over 40-year experience in the industry. Michael shares his view on how the industry has changed over that time and how he has developed his business in what it is today.

 

Listen to the podcast: 

About Hanrahans Accounting Services

Hanrahans was established back in 1993 by Michael Hanrahan. Michael is also the founding partner of our Financial Planning division which received its own Australian Financial Services (AFS) Licence in 2011.

Click here to learn more.

 

 
In the Spotlight

In the Spotlight recognises legal and accounting practitioners who demonstrate innovation, success, and commitment throughout their work. 

Each month, we select individuals or firms to acknowledge the positive impact they have had on their community or their industry sector. If you think you know someone who fits the bill. Please send us a 100-word summary telling us why they deserve recognition:

media-au@quickfee.com 

 

Submission criteria:

  • The legal or accounting professional has shown an unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction while still assuring the profitability and viability of their business or profession.
  • They have helped a client turn around business profits with innovative business opportunities.
  • They have outperformed their peers in their sectors, market segments and geographical areas in terms of community service.

In the Spotlight: Jim Covino from Covino & Co

In the Spotlight this month, we have nominated Jim Covino, from Covino & Co.

This month, we met with Jim Covino, head of Covino & Co. Jim Covino has been advising and assisting businesses and individuals for over 30 years. He shares his perspective on how current events affect accounting firms and their clients and the importance of relationships for businesses.

 
Listen to the podcast: rss.com/podcasts/in-the-q
 
In the Spotlight

In the Spotlight recognises legal and accounting practitioners who demonstrate innovation, success, and commitment throughout their work. 

Each month, we select individuals or firms to acknowledge the positive impact they have had on their community or their industry sector. If you think you know someone who fits the bill, please send us a 100-word summary to media-au@quickfee.com telling us why they deserve recognition.

Submission criteria:

  • The legal or accounting professional has shown an unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction while still assuring the profitability and viability of their business or profession.
  • They have helped a client turn around business profits with innovative business opportunities.
  • They have outperformed their peers in their sectors, market segments and geographical areas in terms of community service.

In the Spotlight: Sal Vallelonga from Plexus Global

Sal boasts over two decades of experience as a Chartered Accountant. He has held this esteemed professional standing for 20 years. Furthermore, Sal assumes directorship roles in various private entities. Notably, he currently serves as the President of the WA Italian Club Incorporated, an organization with a proud 87-year history of dedicated service to its members and the wider Western Australian Community since its establishment in 1934.

In addition to his corporate commitments, Sal actively participates as a board member or committee member in various charitable organizations. His dedication extends to regular involvement in fundraising and charitable events, making a substantial impact on philanthropic initiatives.

Listen to the podcast: rss.com/podcasts/in-the-q

 
In the Spotlight

In the Spotlight recognises legal and accounting practitioners who demonstrate innovation, success, and commitment throughout their work. 

Each month, we select individuals or firms to acknowledge the positive impact they have had on their community or their industry sector. If you think you know someone who fits the bill, please send us a 100-word summary to media-au@quickfee.com telling us why they deserve recognition.

Submission criteria:

  • The legal or accounting professional has shown an unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction while still assuring the profitability and viability of their business or profession.
  • They have helped a client turn around business profits with innovative business opportunities.
  • They have outperformed their peers in their sectors, market segments and geographical areas in terms of community service.

How can you prepare for FY22-23 and avoid the Covid Hangover!

EOFY is almost upon us, which means, once again, it’s time to wrap up your books for tax season. And this year, more than ever, it is critical to conclude the financial year on a high note.

Why is that you ask? Well, where do we start…

We’ve talked before about not getting caught in a Covid hangover. This is caused by the combination of evaporating government stimulus, increasing employee recruitment and retention costs, supply chain constraints and the downturn in consumer confidence. All of which has created a state of shock for any business that was unprepared for the sudden change.

But now, we see a few more ingredients being thrown into the mix.

 

Who’s interested in Interest rates?

Perhaps the most relatable of these recent additions has been the shift in interest rates. Interest rates – or, to use the official term, ‘monetary policy’ – is one of the Reserve Bank’s main tools to combat inflation. The theory being that the increased price of money reduces demand and, therefore, prices (i.e. inflation).

That interest rates are rising is perhaps not so much of a shock in itself; it would seem highly improbable to most people that rates would remain essentially at 0% forever. Rather, it is the pace and rate of increase.

Interest rates are now 0.85% and are forecast to hit around 2% by Christmas and then peak around 3% – 4% in roughly one year. Whilst depositors may rejoice, borrowers will cringe – businesses and individuals alike. The extra cost to service debt will be around $3,500 pa (roughly $300 per month) more for every $100,000 borrowed. Suddenly, a $1M Home Mortgage or Line of Credit doesn’t look so attractive.

The knock-on effect of this is cash-flow tightness, which for businesses, particularly small businesses, can mean chasing debtors and juggling cash flow. And inevitably, more write-offs.

 

So, what’s the plan?

How wonderful it would be if there were some handy instruction manuals lying about so that we would know how exactly we could not only get through this tumultuous time but thrive despite it—something like a practical stage direction that would tell us precisely what to do.

Ideally, this would come in the form of something Tennessee Williams would have thoughtfully put together (a notoriously descriptive fellow who was heavy on detail). But alas, we have something akin to Shakespeare’s more light-on approach in A Winters’s Tale…

‘Exit, pursued by a bear’!

 

If in doubt – preserve your reserves

They say cash flow is king and if there is no other plan in sight – then at least ensure your cash reserves are sufficient to weather the rocky road ahead. But with consumer confidence rapidly declining, supply chain impacts causing delays in stock, business loan repayments on the up and electricity prices soaring – it is little wonder small businesses are suffering. With each of these jig-saw pieces falling into place, there is less and less cash in the bank in reserve.

It’s no secret that most small businesses that fail do so because they run out of cash. Without cash, employees, suppliers and lenders don’t get paid, and with interest rates at the start of an upward trajectory, the cash reservoir is in further doubt.

Preserving that vital cash flow is imperative to a healthy future for any business. Any viable option a business has to preserve that cash flow is worth consideration, and whilst you can’t change the interest rate, you can make small changes to help combat the impact.

 

It’s not all doom and gloom.

Amazingly, despite the current financial situation, most Australian businesses are still optimistic about the future. Moreover, they plan on investing in improving their technology and growing their business in the 2022-23 financial year. According to recent research conducted by Honeycomb Strategy on behalf of Banjo Loans, 61% of SMEs plan on investing in new technology as a direct result of the pandemic.*

It would seem that Australian businesses are a hardy bunch. Despite growing geopolitical tensions and rising costs (just about everywhere!), we are confident in our ability to succeed. However, the reality remains that to do that, any business must overcome the hesitancy consumers have about parting with their hard-earned cash when it comes to issuing their invoices.

It’s all about getting ahead of the curve and getting the jump on your competitors. If you aren’t adequately prepared, it will only get harder to remain competitive in the current market. When that market is complicated by decreasing consumer confidence – the investment needs to be focused on internal improvements and ensuring your customers can comfortably afford your fees.

For businesses, collecting from your outstanding debtors is the easiest and most logical way to build up your cash reserves. If you can get paid on time and close those outstanding accounts, you will have more money in the bank to invest in your growth.

What’s more, if your clients can get the service they need today without breaking the bank, they will be more inclined to invest in getting the financial or legal advice they need to prosper.

 

Money in the bank

If your customers are pinching pennies because they want to preserve their cash flow, it makes sense to give them every option you can to achieve this. With QuickFee payment plans, your customers have the option to pay their invoices over monthly instalments while you get paid in full upfront. It’s a win-win situation that helps businesses maintain a healthy cash flow whilst their customers enjoy the flexibility of smaller monthly payments.

With QuickFee’s secure online payment portal, you can use our Fee Funding solution to clean up your books this end of financial year. 

 

If you struggle getting paid for the work you’ve done, call our QuickFee team, who will provide you with tips and tricks on using our Fee Funding and Secure Online Payment solution to clean up your books this end of financial year.

SME Compass Report: Insights into Australian SMEs in 2022

In 2022, Australian SMEs are coming out of two years of the pandemic with an upbeat outlook and an eagerness to invest in their business. More companies have acquisitions in their sights. Yet many are frustrated by the traditional borrowing process and are not fully informed about the alternative options available to them. Bruce Coombes, Managing Director at QuickFee, is meeting with Guy Callaghan from Banjo Loans to discuss the SME Compass Report and what it means for B2B firms and businesses that offer services to SMEs.

Download the report here: https://landing.banjoloans.com/banjos-sme-compass-report-2022/

In the Spotlight: Corene Baird-Coetzer – General Manager, Murfett Legal

 

 Corene Baird-Coetzer – General Manager, Murfett Legal
In the Spotlight this month, we have nominated Corene Baird-Coetzer, General Manager at Murfett Legal. Corene has worked as an administrator/manager in the legal profession since 1991 and has been an Office Manager of various law firms since 1995. Corene has a passion for making a difference, which has brought her to become the General Manager at Murfett Legal, a young and dynamic firm led by a team of energetic and strategic directors. Corene’s supports and helps drive the firm to become a well-recognised and serious player in the market. But Corene’s passion doesn’t stop there. She has also been supporting the animal rescue efforts in Ukraine, specifically the Animal welfare work.

 
Listen to the podcast: rss.com/podcasts/in-the-q/
 

 

In the Spotlight

In the Spotlight recognises legal and accounting practitioners who demonstrate innovation, success, and commitment throughout their work. 

Each month, we select individuals or firms to acknowledge the positive impact they have had on their community or their industry sector. If you think you know someone who fits the bill, please send us a 100-word summary to media-au@quickfee.com telling us why they deserve recognition.

Submission criteria:

  • The legal or accounting professional has shown an unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction while still assuring the profitability and viability of their business or profession.
  • They have helped a client turn around business profits with innovative business opportunities.
  • They have outperformed their peers in their sectors, market segments and geographical areas in terms of community service.

Australian businesses are starting to feel the pinch

The hip pocket of many Australian businesses is feeling the pinch of the ever-increasing costs of doing business. In fact, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reports that more than half of all Australian businesses have reported experiencing increases in their cost of doing business over the last three months to April 2022.

However, according to the ABS, only half of those businesses have increased their prices. Which begs the question, how can any business survive these mounting cost pressures when they choose to absorb the increasing costs rather than pass them along to their customers? If no additional funds are coming in through invoicing, then any savings must surely be found internally.

If you do nothing else, any additional income must come from your customers, which means increasing your customer base. Whilst this sounds like an elegant solution, this option can only be successful if you maintain your service levels and don’t let customer satisfaction decline. You may get an initial boost in income but forgo long-term customer loyalty.

What is driving the increasing costs for business?

With unemployment rates at levels unseen since the 1970s in Australia, the Great Resignation is in full swing. As a result, employees can be more selective in what roles they choose and look for the best package on offer. So, employers need to have many tools in their toolkit to offer new talent and retain existing ‘stars’. Tools such as within or above market wages, flexible working arrangements, or extended paid maternity/paternity leave. All this costs money.

If you are using a hybrid working model with combined work from home and office days, you may not fully utilise your office and parking spaces. Providing flexibility to your team may be ticking the employee satisfaction box but is it the most cost-effective way to do business.

Now that our borders are open again and flights are getting back on track, we are seeing increases in business travel and customer events. After a couple of years away from customer drinks, lunches, dinners and events, there is plenty of catching up to do. It can get expensive when you factor in the drinks, meals, flights, accommodation, parking, and transfers. Whilst it is all for a good reason and does cement the customer relationship, there is no doubt that getting back into relationship building is costly.

It’s not just business feeling the pinch – your customers are in the same boat

As we start to recover from what seems like a litany of crises – droughts, bushfires, floods, and COVID-19 – we are feeling the fatigue of having to endure ongoing stressors.

The cost of living is a hot topic lately and it is simply because we are feeling the pinch of many things all at once.

With offices opening back up, employees are heading back into the office in increasing numbers.

But being back in the office means employees need to start budgeting for things they haven’t had to consider when working from home. Such as more stops at the petrol station, tolls, public transport tickets, take away coffees and even work clothes. Maintaining a wardrobe of shorts and t-shirts for a couple of years has undoubtedly been kinder to wallets than having to splash out on office wear every now and again. Not to mention the occasional coffee or lunch at the local food court.

Increases in everyday living expenses are felt almost across the board. Whilst the anxiety you feel when filling the car with petrol has been lessened recently after the federal government halved the fuel excise, it is still by no means an inexpensive endeavour. With supply chain impacts due to drought, fires, floods and most significantly, COVID, our groceries are without a doubt costing more with every shop.

Add in recent interest rate hikes – and the almost certain notion that they will rise further–and the average mortgage increases are set to rise. For many Australians, this will mean increases in mortgage repayments, loans, and credit cards, and with less disposable income to hand, many will need to tighten their belts.

This means that your customers have less cash to spare and will be less likely to part easily with their left-over funds.

What are your options?

Your choices are relatively simple, carry on as you are, continue to see the cracks of increasing cost pressures, or do something. Whilst something is better than nothing, some ‘things’ are certainly better than others.

Streamlining your internal business processes and eliminating inefficiencies is a good start. For example, removing manual processes such as clunky payments and implementing integrated solutions will help streamline your payments process and help you get paid faster.

It’s also worth considering the payment process from your customers’ perspective. If you can find a solution that streamlines your payments and is a simple, easy process for your customer, you will be off to a head start. Making your payment process as easy as possible removes the first hurdle for your customers. The next hurdle to consider is your customers’ financial situation. For any customers with financial limitations that need your services — you just have to find the right solution for your business. 

With less disposable income available, customers will be selective in what services they take on. When finances are tight, and there is uncertainty around what costs will go up next, providing your customers with certainty and flexibility when it comes to payment will ease their concerns.

Providing flexible payment options that allow your customer to extend their payment period and pay using various payment methods provides them with clarity on what expenses to expect each month and budget accordingly.

Fortunately, not all payment plans are created equal, and QuickFee offers financing plans for professionals with an effortless and transparent customer experience. Your customers can take advantage of the flexibility of payment plan options that allows them to pay in full or in instalments using their Visa, Mastercard or Amex credit or debit cards.

Interested in offering QuickFee’s payment solution to your customers? Contact us today at 02 8090 7700 to learn how QuickFee can help

The ATO honeymoon is over – Don’t get caught with a COVID hangover

With the world starting to recover a sense of normalcy after the ravages of COVID, we are starting to get back to living the lives we led in that seemingly free and easy world of pre-pandemic times.

It was a time when we didn’t have crumpled up face masks stuffed into the pockets of our activewear when we used our car gear sticks as make-shift mask hangers.

Business also did it tough, though the government was able to step in to help enterprises through various fiscal arrangements.

 

Business has never been on worse terms with the ATO

But now, as we merge back into a sense of normalcy, the ATO, in particular, is less inclined to look past overdue debt and is indeed coming after any business that owes more than $100,000 in tax. The pandemic saw the ATO put such bold actions on hold so Australia could get on with staying in business.

Now the honeymoon is very much over. Any business that is not on the front foot with outstanding debt will suffer the consequences and be hit with a COVID leniency hangover if they don’t act swiftly to ensure the health of their cash flow.

What happened when the stimulus was turned off?

For larger firms, there was work around options such as work remotely and downsize office space to save costs; however, not all industries had such options. For example, hairdressers, chefs, and pet groomers can’t work from home if they are required to go into isolation today – for them, there is no work if they are isolating.

With stimulus now a thing of the past, business costs growing, increasing pressures on the cost of living and wage growth flat, the current economic landscape is perilous for the unprepared. Businesses can no longer delay paying their ATO commitments lest they harm their credit rating.

It is quite clear that now more than ever, Australian businesses need a healthy client book with a steady cash flow.

The perfect storm

The withdrawal of stimulus and concessions will undoubtably impact business in Australia.

Further, acute staff shortages, increases in staff costs due to increased sick leave payments, growing employee demands as a result of the great resignation and the general increase in the cost of living are all adding pressure to an already tenuous economic stability some businesses are maintaining.

Pair this with the supply chain shortages across multiple industries and a downturn in consumer activity, and it’s an almost perfect storm for business failure.

We are all under the same pressure

It’s not just small businesses that have been hit hard recently. We have seen some big players go down, with building companies seemingly falling like dominoes lately. For every business that closes – big or small – the knock-on effect for every link in the supply chain takes a hit.

From the stationery suppliers right through to the accounting and legal firms that support them, every client that goes under comes with associated cash flow impacts. The cost of replacing lost business is significant and there is no guarantee that there will be plentiful new business opportunities in this current financial climate.

 

How can you weather the storm?

For small and big businesses alike, cash flow is king, and if you can help preserve your client’s cash flow and still get paid what you are worth, you should pursue every opportunity. Professional service firms can no longer afford to be a bank for their clients.
It’s not so much a case of wanting to be paid what you are worth right now; it is more a case of needing to be paid what you are worth, on time.

Acknowledging a client is struggling and offering a payment plan solution will support your client’s needs and provide your business with full, upfront payment so that both can get on with the business of doing business.

If you would like to hear more about how QuickFee can help you avoid the COVID stimulus hangover, support your client base and get paid today, contact our team today on 02 8090 7700.