Business Best Practices

Your manager breaks her leg playing softball and will be out for a month. Or your receptionist’s husband lands his dream job, but it’s out of state so they’ll be moving. When you own a small business, learning to expect the unexpected comes with the territory. Yet, you don’t have to stand idly by and wait for something to disrupt your finances and send you down a path of trouble. Consider being proactive with these troubleshooting tips.

Watch Your Numbers

You can monitor your company’s financial health, spot developing problems, and improve performance by reviewing key ratios derived from the numbers on your financial statements. Taken together, these ratios help paint a picture of your company’s financial well-being.

At times, you might dwell on problems in one particular aspect of your business. But don’t ignore the rest. If you’re not seeing the big picture, you might not spot trouble in other areas. For example, if your profit margin is falling, you could become so focused on trying to find a solution that you fail to notice that several of your biggest customers haven’t sent a payment lately and a cash flow problem is brewing.

Watch Your Assets

Always try to make the most of your assets. If you carry inventory, keep your eye on turnover rates. Slow inventory turnover can strain your cash flow. Figure out how many days’ worth of product you’d ideally like to have on hand, and adapt your purchasing to meet that goal. Also, check your fixed assets. If you have equipment that’s not being fully utilized, you may be able to repurpose it. If not, it may be time to sell or donate it.

Watch Your Debt

It’s practically impossible to operate a business without taking on at least some debt. Debt itself isn’t a problem, as long as you keep it under control. A high level of debt can eat up your cash, cut into your profits, and reduce the return you’re getting on your investment in the company — and that’s definitely trouble.

With data breaches becoming more and more common, it’s important to be proactive in protecting your business against cybercrimes. Here are some thoughts on preventing cybercrimes in the first place and having a plan to protect your customers’ information and your reputation should you become a victim.

Test your protection systems. It’s better to have a friend (such as a cybersecurity firm) uncover your weaknesses than a hacker. It’s especially important to run tests after you upgrade software or implement a new technology.

Check your apps. If you’ve created a mobile app for your customers, work with the app’s developers to ensure it’s secure before you release it.

Eliminate third-party risks. You could be exposed to risks via your vendors. Make sure they take security as seriously as you do.

Implement a response plan. Create a step-by-step response to cyber emergencies (e.g., a denial-of-service attack, the loss of a critical laptop, etc.). Hold “drills” to ensure that your plan is effective and that everyone knows what to do.

We offer a FREE initial consultation for business owners in the Bakersfield area. Call us today at 661-323-1514 and ask for Ken regarding our accounting, tax, and planning services.

 

For businesses that haven’t traditionally embraced remote employees, it may be difficult to get up to full speed with the current turn of events.  To make the inevitable transition less overwhelming, we assembled a handy checklist of actions to consider while adjusting to the new workplace reality.

Organization

• Access your staff members and/or roles that are able to work remotely, those that can’t work remotely, and those where remote work may be possible with some modifications.
• Conduct an employee survey to determine the availability of computers that can be used for working remotely, as well as availability to high-speed internet access.
• Create company guidelines covering remote employees, including inappropriate use of company assets and security guidelines.
• Develop and conduct work-at-home- training for using remote access, remote tools, and best practices.
• Select a video-conferencing platform for services, such as Zoom, Cisco WebEx, or Go To Meeting.
• Develop a communications plan to involve remote employees in the daily activities of the organization.

 Security

• Create and implement a company security policy that applies to remote employees, including actions such as locking computers when not in use.
• Implement two-factor authentication for highly-sensitive portals.
• If needed, confirm all remote employees have access to and can use a business-grade VPN, and that you have enough licenses for all employees working remotely.

Staff

• Institute a transparency policy with your staff and communicate frequently.
• Check in on your staff, daily if possible, to confirm they are comfortable with working from home. Find and address any problems they may be experiencing.
• Make certain each staff member has reliable voice communications, even if this results in adding a business-quality voice over IP service.
• Don’t attempt to micro-manage your staff. Remember their working conditions at home won’t be ideal, and they will need to work out their own work patterns and schedules.
• Create a phone number and email address where staff members can communicate their concerns about the firm, working at home, or even the status of COVID-19.

Infrastructure

• Ensure that you have ample bandwidth coming in to your company to handle all of the new remote traffic.
• Make sure you have backups of your services so your staff is able to keep working in the event extra traffic causes your primary service to go down.

You may need to adjust or expand this list to match the specific needs of your firm and the conditions affecting your organization.  Use this list to get you started and to help guide you through the process.

We offer a FREE initial consultation for business owners in the Bakersfield area. Call us today at 661-323-1514 and ask for Ken regarding our accounting, tax, and planning services.

In a recent study, 77% of workers said that the benefits package an employer offers is extremely or very important in their decision to accept or reject a job.*

If benefits are that important to your employees, they are critical to your bottom line. You know that attracting and retaining top-notch employees generally translates into growing and retaining business. That’s why your financial professional is an important ally.

The Right Stuff

Benefits don’t fit neatly into a one-size-fits-all approach. The best benefits package is one that meets the needs of workforce force. Your financial professional can help design the right benefits package to fit your budget.

Bring in a Pro

Use the upcoming open enrollment season to showcase your benefits and their value — and to engage your employees so they make informed decisions. Make it a goal to achieve 100% participation in your 401(k) plan, meaning that all employees make all their benefit elections (keep in mind that waiving coverage is an election).

Keep it Simple

One reason employees may not be participating is that they don’t understand their options. You can remove that roadblock by providing easy-to-understand materials in a variety of ways (such as one-on-one and group meetings, benefit fairs, enrollment kits and intranet and online tools). Your financial professional will be happy to help with your communication strategy.

If your benefits package is changing this year, highlight the differences and be candid with your employees about why changes are being made. Be prepared for questions. And allow plenty of time for your employees to consider their options. (Three weeks is generally thought to be a reasonable length of time.)

Plan a 401(k) Day

Yes, there really is a 401(k) Day. Originally, it was observed the Friday following Labor Day. These days, employers decide when and how to celebrate the popular retirement plan. Since open enrollment period is all about benefits, why not publicize the benefits of your 401(k) retirement plan at the same time.

Whether you need individual or business tax advice, give us a call. We’ve got the answers you’re looking for, so don’t wait. Call us today.

* ebri.org Notes, Vol. 36, No. 11, November 2015

Give us a call at 661-323-1514 today to learn more, or request a free initial consultation online.

It’s a given that businesses need to be profitable to survive. A key element in making a profit is pricing. Here are some suggestions that can help you get your pricing right.

Identify Your Costs

If you don’t know what your product’s or service’s total costs are, you can’t price them accurately. What makes up total cost? The components may include:

• Cost of materials or merchandise
• Labor costs, including salaries plus benefits
• Overhead costs, such as taxes, rent, insurance, marketing, utilities, and transportation

Determining how much you need to charge just to cover your costs is an essential first step in setting prices. Be sure to reevaluate your costs regularly. If you are experiencing difficulty moving certain products at an acceptable profit, your costs could be too high.

Know Your Customers

Customers generally fall into distinct categories. Some are very price sensitive. Others focus less on price and more on convenience. The implied status or exclusivity of certain goods and services is very important to certain other customers. Once you identify the type of customer you are targeting, it becomes easier to set your prices accordingly.

Know Your Competitors

Knowing what your competitors charge for similar products or services helps you position your business in the marketplace. For example, if you determine your competitors focus on low prices, you can decide if you want to differentiate your business by focusing on superior service.

Leveraging service as a value proposition may justify charging higher prices than your competition. Or there may be other differentiators that allow you to charge higher prices, such as exclusive merchandise or highly knowledgeable employees.

Experiment and Monitor

Look for ways you can sell options, service contracts, and add-ons to a primary product or service, perhaps by offering several “packages” at different prices. Or consider applying discounts based on the quantity ordered.

Continuously monitor your prices and your profitability. Knowing which products or services are making you money allows you to make data-driven decisions about inventory and pricing.

Finding the best candidate to hire is often costly and time-consuming. But, if your new hire turns into a loyal, hardworking, long-term employee, your investment may be worth every cent and minute.

Locate Candidates

How do you find good people? In the past, people who were job hunting would look in the “help wanted” section of the newspaper or go from store to store filling out applications. Today, most people use a computer and a mouse and search the Internet for jobs. So if you’re not posting your openings on online job boards and industry blogs and websites, you may be missing talented candidates. Note: Running classified ads may still be a good way to reach out (especially to fill jobs requiring local candidates) since many local newspapers also have an online job board for posting classifieds.

Another way to attract candidates is to add a recruiting page to your website. In addition to posting job openings, you can use the page to attract qualified candidates by highlighting the benefits of working for your company.

And last, but certainly not least, you can use social media to announce openings and solicit job applicants. There’s no better way to reach a large number of people almost instantaneously.

Make an Attractive Offer

If you’re hoping to hire top talent, you’ll want to make sure the benefits you offer are competitive — or better. Many full-time workers have access to employer-provided medical care and/or access to a retirement plan.

Keep Employees on Board

Once you’ve assembled a group of valuable employees, an attractive and competitive benefit package will help ensure they stay. Your financial professional can provide insights and help you review your firm’s benefit package for cost efficiency and competitiveness.

For more tips on how to keep business best practices front and center for your company, give us a call today. We can’t wait to hear from you.