Local business advisors and accountants, BFA, have the expertise to help you diversify your opportunities outside of the industry. Tom Findlay, a director and client advisor at BFA, with a wealth of knowledge in this area, explains how you can protect your assets.

”Diversification isn’t possible if you don’t protect your assets and income earning base first”, says Tom. Having sound, real-time, relevant information is number one in protecting those assets.

It is pretty difficult to protect your business after you have run out of cash. It is much easier to address if you know the cash crunch is coming. Knowing immediately, and at all times, what your cash flow is, or will look like now, and in 30 days, 90 days or one year from now, is critical to ensure your survival.

The next area you should look at is profitability. Are you making profits from your business. Is it run efficiently? BFA suggest there are a number of questions you need to ask yourself about your business, which include:

• are costs monitored
• is income maximized and billed per the contract
• is productivity of the team where it should be?

If you answer these questions honestly the answers may be a stark reminder that your business is not where you wish it to be.

BFA advises that you should regularly look at your pricing model. What is your debt level – do you have too much debt, or maybe too little. It is extremely important that your debtors and creditors are monitored, and that you don’t let overdue invoices - either to you or from you - slip through the cracks and blow up your budget. The same goes for inventory, if you have it – you should maintain strict controls on what is coming in and going out each month.

Once you have all this information and your business is running smoothly, there are others areas you then should also look at. Is your business structure effective - should you set up a company, create a partnership, limited partnership or a trust? What are the tax effects of your structure – can you do better? BFA have experts who can help you decide what is best for your circumstances.

Are you doing your best to protect your biggest asset, your team? Your business cannot succeed without your team and their health and safety must always be at the front of your mind. Every worker deserves to go home safely to their family every night! How often do you review your insurance, does it cover everything and at the correct replacement values?

Only once all of these areas of your business are set and functioning well can you look to diversify your opportunities.

Diversifying within your industry is good, as you know that industry. However, you can end up putting too many eggs in the one basket. Diversification outside of your industry into well understood, long term investments helps to supplement any savings you may have.

Personal preference and risk profile dictates where that diversification could be – shares, funds, other non-related businesses, property, carbon – to name a few. Regardless, gettingmoney out of your main business into non-related investments helps to protect overall wealth.

BFA are not financial advisors but can assist you with business purchases, business

planning, cash flow planning, property purchases and business structures.

If you’re thinking about diversifying your assets, get in touch to get the ball rolling.