Can you afford your Post-Covid-19 Business Plan?
Once your business strategies and plans are developed, prepare budgets that implement your plans and corresponding cash flow forecasts. The budgets will show if you need additional money to fund your plan and when you are likely to need that money, or if the plans need to be modified to be more affordable.
Take advantage of government initiatives aimed to help small businesses build capacity and capability, for example in building an online presence, or marketing to overseas customers.
Questions that can assist you decide whether you can afford your Post-Covid-19 business plan.
- Have you put a cost next to each element of your new or revised business plan? If so, can you afford such a plan?
- If you cannot afford your new or revised business plan, have you considered adjusting your plan to something that is affordable, or even exiting your business?
- Have you completed a cash flow forecast and a profit and loss budget? Do such forecasts and budgets include additional Post-Covid-19 outlays that may be required to restart the business?
- Have you included 'what if' scenarios in your forecasts to measure how your cash flows will be impacted by unexpected events or your assumptions not coming to fruition?
- Do the forecasts show that the business can afford to access debt finance to implement the new or revised business plan?
- Where the business has existing debt financing arrangements, have these been reviewed to ensure that this finance facility fits the new needs of the business?
- Is your existing debt finance stil available?
Build on lessons learned during the Covid-19 crisis to improve business performance
Reflect on the business lessons you learned from the COVID-19 crisis. Some examples include:
• Do you need to improve your technology adoption? For example, automating finance processes to free your time and the time of your accountant to focus on improving financial management.
• Are you issuing invoices immediately and are you staying on top of what is owed to you?
• Are your continuously reviewing and updating your IT infrastructure, including cybersecurity?
• Do you need to invest more into building good and trusting relationships with your customers, suppliers, employees and other parties in your business’s ecosystem?
• Did flexible working arrangements work for your business? It can offer some cost saving opportunities, so how can it be improved for you and your team?
• How was your communication at all stages of the crisis to key stakeholders such as employees, shareholders, customers and lenders?