Member Article

Is your business ready to move forward in 2024?

The New Year is a time for reflecting on the past and making plans for the future.

But businesses still emerging from the impact of the pandemic, a financial crash and a cost of living crisis, New Year resolutions might include some tough decisions for the future.

Stephen Beverley, Associate Director of Restructuring and Insolvency at the Sheffield offices of insolvency and business turnaround specialist Leonard Curtis, says that best approach to a new year is to have a strong plan.

“You have to review the fundamentals, take a look at the bigger picture and not simply wonder if it’s possible to survive until Easter,” he said.

“This is the time for thinking much further ahead than that and asking where you want your company to be next Christmas and beyond and then ask yourself how you are going to achieve that.

“Covid changed the landscape and rising interest rates and the cost of living crisis have added to the pressure.

“Even if the coming year is a more normal one, are you prepared for any future crisis?

“You need to be making sure your supply routes are secure and making sure you have a contingency plan in place that offers some protection from the unpredictability of the world at the moment.”

Stephen also emphasised the importance of seeking proper advice at the right time.

“There are a full range of options that we can utilise to help people to decide how best to deal with their business and financial problems,” he explained.

One of the biggest problems for struggling companies, he added, comes from such issues as the Christmas shut down and providing holiday pay, plus the fact that many customers will take Christmas as their own opportunity to pay late for goods and services.

It’s this accumulation of often unavoidable factors that can simply add to an existing problem, when followed by January tax and VAT bills.

Stephen said, though, that there were steps that could be taken to ensure a business survives into a new period of trading.

“Sharing the problem and exploring all the avenues for survival are the best options for anybody dreading the start of another year,” he said.

“Remember that a positive response today can certainly help to prevent a crisis tomorrow.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by John Highfield .