The end of the financial year isnt just about making a date with the taxman. Like the approach of 1 January each year, the end of the financial year can be a great opportunity to set up some New (Financial) Year’s resolutions for your small business. It’s an especially good time to re-evaluate your financial year planning when you’ve just reviewed and reconciled your expenses and earnings for the past year.
Here ares three New Financial Year resolutions to consider today:
Plan for the season
With interest rates rising in May for the first time in 11 years, ongoing supply chain challenges and warnings from the new Federal Government that inflation is rising, the economic road ahead looks a bit bumpy. Further, power bills are expected to spike for small businesses and households after the energy watchdog increased the benchmark power price in May.
However, there are some encouraging signs. The ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence index rose 1.5 points to 90.8 in May and Australian retail spending remains at record levels, with turnover rising 0.9 per cent in April according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Not surprisingly, a number of small businesses are preparing to increase their prices. The ABS monthly business conditions survey in May found 39 per cent of small businesses expect to increase the price of goods or services in the coming months. The main pressures facing businesses were the costs of products or services and fuel and energy. Of those businesses who didn’t expect to increase prices, 46 per cent said it was in a bid to retain customers.
Now is a good time to check in on the health of your business to understand how any price rises will impact your bottom line and the price you charge your customers.
Look at how you are promoting your business
With the cost of doing business rising and consumers facing increased cost of living pressures, securing and keeping customers is more important than ever. It will be especially important to make sure you are competitive if you have to pass on cost increases to your customers.
If you haven’t explored social media maybe now is the time to give it a go. Setting up a social media account is free and there are how-to guides online to help get you started. Maybe your website could do with a facelift or some added features like online ordering, social media integration, feedback or booking buttons.
Make sure your business is safe online
Taking the time to ensure your business is cyber safe, particularly if it has an online presence, can help you to avoid or reduce the sometimes-devastating consequences of the more common cyber threats.
The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) says one of the priorities for business in the coming months should be to secure their local .au domain name. Up until 20 September, businesses with an existing Australian domain name (for example .com.au or .net.au) have priority to register for the new, shorter .au domain names.
After 20 September, remaining .au names will be available to the public. In a recent warning, ACSC said “opportunistic” cybercriminals could register .au domain names in an attempt to impersonate local businesses and has urged businesses to register their .au equivalents before the deadline.
With the financial year almost wrapped up, now can be a good time to take stock of the year just gone and set yourself up for success for the new year with some fresh resolutions.
