In the family Business, a panel beating shop, two brothers, Aaron and Michael already had a fractious relationship, that became toxic when Michael, the elder did all he could to alienate and push the younger out. Michael convinced his father he was the rightful one and best suited to take over the family Business, and that he did.  

Regrettably the father, Mr Brown had no formal structured governance plans in place to guide discussions. He hadn’t made any provision for himself in retirement or for the younger son’s future. This played out with a family breakdown, disconnected ties and bitter outcomes.  

This scenario highlights the importance of implementing effective Structures in a Family Business. A situation that could have been avoided if the Business had a formal body to govern, direct and protect all parties involved. 

Revisit the same scenario, in this example the Business has established a formal structure and is governed by a Board. Mr Brown, the father has arranged and secured a Succession Plan. These arrangements provide direction, clarity, and authority with provision for all. 

If you are setting up a new Business or if established, implementing the right structure is crucial.   

Need advice? contact Blackburn Accounting we can help develop what best suits your enterprise and lay down the foundations for success.   

Family Businesses often start with the best intentions. Someone has a great idea, it’s shared and over time develops. Family members pitch in, and, with commitment and hard work, to everyone’s delight, pride, and joy, it takes off! Congratulations if that is your experience! 

In this early stage, on the wave of excitement, Business structure and frameworks are often less formal, even casual. Arrangements are formed on ‘we are family’ and that is enough to tie the bonds and loyalty of doing the right thing by all.  

This may work well to begin, but as the operation grows, the Business and members can face challenges and issues they didn’t anticipate. Does that sound familiar to you?   

Consider the following scenarios. 

Scenario 1: Mary buys into a local ‘gift shop’. This is something she has always wanted to do, operate her own small Business. She loves trinkets and treasures, retro design and stocks that little gift to suit every occasion. Mary, with her family, husband Bill and daughter Amy, have invested their time and money.   Mary manages and runs the Business. Everything is going well, and everyone is happy! 

Scenario 2: Same situation.

Are you struggling with the challenges of managing your cashflow?

You are not alone, with a recent survey revealing, ‘nearly 80% of small to medium Businesses have experienced a lack of cashflow in the past 12months.’ Many, a quarter, survived by not paying themselves a salary or dipping into personal savings.   

Yes, running a successful Business isn’t easy, it takes courage and a range of skills to stay on top of things. It's weathering the ‘storms’, complexities and demands of everyday operations, including customer relations, Suppliers, and sales! Sound familiar! 

The key to success is Cashflow, the amount of money going in and out of your Business.  In today’s trading environment this flow has never been more important, vital if you are to remain financially stable.  

To tackle cashflow challenges Businesses need to adopt 'sound' business strategies to keep the cash flowing now and to be better prepared for future challenges.   

Firstly, let’s look at Cashflow, what it is and how it impacts your Business  

Cash flowing-in is usually the money you get from sales but can also include sale of assets, grants or money from debt repayments. 

Your outgoings include; wages, rent, maintenance, payments to suppliers and loan repayments. 

Common flow causes include: 

Declining revenue, inaccurate forecasting, low profit margins, lengthy payment terms and supply chain issues. Examples include; 

• High overhead expenses: Having high administrative costs that support company functions but don't generate funds returns eg rent increases due to inflation 

• Expensive debt: poor debt management practices or taking on too much debt or extending credit card debts

• Inadequate cash reserves: little or no backup cash on hand to cover emergencies and lean periods  

• Seasonal fluctuations: Having seasonal highs and lows in sales, which can lead to extra costs like hiring more staff or buying more stock 

• Excess inventory: Having excess stock reserves you can't sell, which ties up cash  

• Decreasing sales: Selling products or services at low prices or offering discounts that reduce profit margins  

• Slow payments: Receiving late or slow payments from customers, which means you've already paid for production but haven't been paid yet. 
• Capital Expenditure: Upcoming fitout or new office fitout costs and new machinery acquisition's have significant impact on your cashflow

Impact on Operations and Growth 

Business viability and sustainability, loss of confidence, yours and others, poor staff morale, operational inefficiencies and investment limitations. Simply put your Business is, is stifled and stymied and at risk of sinking. 

These are the symptoms and causes of unhealthy cashflow, for remedies check our '8 Tips & Strategies' 

Develop your Business Plan.  

Whether you are starting a Business or if you are already running one, it is essential to have a Business Plan. It’s vital to your success!  Without it direction and decisions can lack foresight and insight, operating like a ship without a rudder!  

Why is it important? Reasons include: 

• Clearly defines your objectives  

• Gives you and your Business direction 

• Guides and maps out how you will achieve your goals 

• Helps you identify and manage potential risks 

Other benefits:

Running a Business as you know presents challenges and complexities none more than in our current economic environment. Inflation and market uncertainty are around every corner. 

You have enough to deal with!  

Do what you do best, manage your Business and let us help with managing the behind scenes. 

Let Blackburn Accounting help take the worry out of juggling and managing the paperwork, balancing numbers, figures and meeting reporting obligations. We can help you understand your cashflow better, find possible improvements and explore efficiencies.

Blackburn Accouning is your family Business specialists offering a range of services including Business Development, Taxation and Strategic Planning.  

Personal and Business Financial matters:

Mixing money, personal and Company transactions is fraught with danger, including relationship friction and can easily lead to ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’!

And it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking it's all the same money, same interests but that is a slippery slope, particularly when the 'chips are down'.  Moving money, shuffling IOU's and broken promises is a recipe for disaster!   

Tips:

• Personal and Business matters are different matters.

• Keep separate systems and records and avoid ‘borrowing’ from either. 

• Adopting these practices makes it simpler for all concerned including for providing true and accurate Business financial reports, taxes and audits. 

• Supports transparency of operations. 

Do you feel like your Business is sinking?  

Are you drowning in paperwork, bills piling up?   

Running a Business, getting on top of financial matters, can wear you down and at times be overwhelming. Not good with numbers, always juggling accounts. Is that you?  

Don’t despair; there are solutions at hand. 

Seek Professional advice. Contact Blackburn Accounting, we are your Family Business Specialists. We offer; 

• personalized accounting 

• help manage cashflow 

• taxation minimization 

• bookkeeping services 

• assist with strategic planning and more! 

Cashflow Strategy No. 9 

Do you have Cashflow that isn’t flowing?  

Are you ignoring it, or robbing Peter to pay Paul and hoping the problem will go away? None of those solves it, as you have probably found.  

What to do! 

1. Acknowledging there is a cashflow problem, that is the first step! 

2. The second step is to take action and seek professional Business advice. 

3. Next, contact Blackburn Accounting, we offer an individualized service that helps you get and keep on top of your cashflow.  Let us help you address and solve your problems.

Assets usually cost a lot. Think of machinery, equipment, vehicles, and property; all these are expensive items.  

If you are not using them to full advantage, it’s worth considering if you can put that money to better, more effective use. 

For example: 

• Do you have assets no longer in use that you could sell to bring in cash?  

• Consider leasing or hiring equipment if that is better value, particularly if it is only needed for a short time or specific job.   

• Do you have the best finance deal if you are buying your assets? Is refinancing an option to explore? 

Do you need help with making your dollar work best for you, running your Business to full capacity, and meeting the bottom line? Blackburn Accounting is your Family Business Specialists, we offer an individualised service that helps you keep on top of your cashflow, assists in strategic planning and develops your business capacity for growth and expansion. Contact us today; we are available to offer solutions. 

Employing the right people at the right time helps support you and your Business development. It helps set you and your Business up for success. 

Do your recruitment homework!.  

• Before hiring do your research and sums. What are the total costs, and implications including their entitlements, pay rates etc. Ensure you match your Business needs, and employment costs to their skills, abilities and productivity. Make sure all the ducks line up. 

• Be flexible with employment arrangements and options. Roster to peak periods, consider employment options, casual, or permanent to suit your needs. Is outsourcing viable or practical for some tasks?  

• Develop ‘good’ staff.

  Read more...

Worth repeating, the importance of factoring in the true costs of doing business, particularly amid a time of ever-increasing Business expenses.  

Be aware that trying to absorb the costs of rising interest rates, fuel shortages, and out-of-control inflationary pressures can leave you financially disadvantaged and cash-strapped. 

Tips: 

• Regularly check the cost of goods, products, and services to determine realistic profit margins and set prices neither too low or too high.  

• Pricing points are needed to keep you competitive and, in the red.  

• Communicate and be transparent with your customers, offer value for money, and they will keep coming back. 

High overheads:

How much does it cost to run your Business?

That is those costs not directly related to selling your goods, products or services. Costs such as utilities, rent and office equipment are some examples.  You may have others.

Tips:  

• To get on top of this, undertake an audit to establish what you have, what is needed, and what works. Keep, recycle, chuck! 

• Assess, determine if there are any cost-saving measures that can be introduced. Paperless systems, utility gas and electric efficiencies can be investigated without compromising Business operations.Look around you might find more!   

• Investigate vacant, underused space (floor or outdoor). Can it be leased out to generate revenue to counter expenses! 

• Review your telephone systems, digital online phone systems may be more cost-effective.

Bad Debts: 

These occur when clients or customers don’t pay their due accounts, going beyond the terms of credit. These are monies owed to you for services or goods already provided. 

Tips: 

• Help avoid bad debts by reviewing the credit rating of your clients before offering extended terms.  

• Work with new clients to establish credit ratings and performance before entering credit arrangements. 

• Adopt a Debt Management Strategy to better monitor and manage accounts. This scrutiny can help prevent debts from becoming bad debts. 

• Take any necessary recovery as required.  

• Remember that you are running a business. Failure to manage or recover debts can hijack your cash flow and business success. 

Cashflow Management

Proactive Financial management is key to keeping your Business in a healthy financially viable state. Hoping things will solve themselves isn't the answer nor is avoiding the issue.  

Tips:

• Set up a Cash management system that includes budgeting, forecasting and financial planning.
• Ideally implement automated payment and processing options.
• Monitor your cashflow diligently and regularly. Daily if needed.
• Seek expert help if required.
• These measures can help small Business foresee future obstacles by predicting cashflow crunch periods.
• This allows Business to build up cash buffers in advance.
• Contact Blackburn Accounting to assist.

Strategy No.2

Overdue payments - monies due, owed to you:

Slow and late payments pose the greatest risk to Small Business. Cash in keeps the money flowing, without it the cash river dries up! and so can your Business.

Tips:

• Have an efficient invoicing and billing system in place, one that generates accounts at the point of sale

• Offers a variety of payment methods and options.

• Electronic systems can also monitor receipts and overdue accounts allowing you to better manage and avoid late payments.

• Keep on top of your debtor's ledger, remember you are running a Business, it's your livelihood.

• Keep in communication - ask for a payment plan or set up a payment plan

Strategy 6: Excess Stock 

How often do you review your stores and stock?

Are you holding too much including old, discontinued or slow selling items? 

Tips:  

• Take stock of all your reserves 

• To reduce or shift, consider offering discounts for bulk orders 

• Use online promotions such as auctions to clear stock 

• Monitor sales to track flow and movement 

• Undertake regular inventory stock-takes to keep on top of supplies & stores 

Building your Business with a Centre of Influence Strategy 

Influence is power!

We can influence and be influenced!  

To begin consider these key questions, 

• who are the key players that influence your Business? 
• is your Business built on referrals as a valuable source of growth?
• are you always looking for sources of prospecting to attract new customers to gain income and market value?  

Let's look at this more closely.

Influencing others begins in the Business, the first source of influence is you!   

Your leadership, leadership by example is the benchmark built on critical skills: organizational intelligence, team promotion, trust building and leveraging networks. Skills that when applied have the ability to positively influence. You and your Team can use them to effectively influence others. 

Harnessing the power of influence. On a broader level, in today’s operating climate one strategy is finding and leveraging the power COI’s (‘centres of influence’) or simply Influencers. These are people connected to or around your client group making them well placed to potentially engage, refer or introduce you to new customers, markets or prospects. 

What influences your Business?  

Who, what do you rely upon to help make your Business successful, to grow.  

The headlines said it all! Did you see them?   

Stories of workplace ‘toxic’ culture. Organisations with a noxious environment that had undermined workplace relations causing disruption and pain for many.  These workplaces are characterised by bullying, harassment or exclusion that results in absenteeism, low productivity and more recently resenteeism. But there are solutions to remedy such situations.  

Culture has been described as ‘the way of life for an entire society, including codes of manners, dress, language, religion and rituals and art’.  Elements include values and beliefs and norms and symbols’. At times these are in sync and harmony but at other times there may be challenges and conflict to the status quo. This can be due to a breakdown in Management employee relationships. 

When we consider an Organization you will see similarities. 

Company culture is the underlying 'way we do things' attitude that becomes ingrained in behaviours.  Importantly Management, Leaders need to create a positive work-life culture so that everyone enjoys the benefits of productive, long-lasting results.

Now ask yourself what is my Business culture, importantly is it healthy reflecting the Company vision and mission. Great, if you said yes but what if you answered no!

The answer lies in changing culture. This need for a shift in culture can arise for a number of reasons.  For example, if your Business has low productivity, high staff turnover and many complaints from customers and employees, consider the need to change your workplace culture. It's about bringing in change for the better.

To successfully transform a work culture is a complex and challenging undertaking but the end result can be worth the effort. It takes commitment, careful planning and development of strategies. Strategies that need to be implemented and adopted by all to achieve the desired outcomes.

Here is our 10 Step Guide to Changing Workplace Culture:

1. It starts at the top with Executive, leading by example. Set the standards.

Never before have consumers been at greater risk of fraud, deception, and deceit.

Nothing and no-one is out of scope! 

Welcome to the world of scamming, impostors, dodgy products, practices, and deals that are too good to be true!   

Let’s look at the Scam ‘hit’ list! 

Luxury goods, toys and exclusive items are being copied for the lucrative counterfeit market. Think you are buying one of those popular cute plush ‘dolls’, the must-have possession of 2025, buyer beware to avoid fakes. Or if you are buying the cheaper look alike version shoppers are being warned that these have failed some of the Australian safety standards. 

With Christmas and the festive season only weeks away, fake texts and emails are already circulating. Scams using text messages impersonating Australia Post delivery services and trusted brands are becoming more common. Shoppers are being advised to be wary and stay alert if receiving messages that give a ‘bizarre’ list of instructions, have a sense of urgency and request personal information and bank details. Consumer Protection encourages consumers to report any incidents or concerns. 

Complaints about dodgy services and practices in the beauty and cosmetics business have been received by Consumer Protection WA in the past year. Complaints of dodgy eyebrow tattoos, haircuts and Botox head the list highlighting poor service, practitioner skills, and misleading representation. 

The agency spokesperson, however, suggests the number is likely to be higher than reported, as consumers are embarrassed for having used cosmetic services or about how they have been affected. Consumer Protection advises it welcomes and is open to receiving complaints of this kind.  

Tips to avoid Cons, Scams and Dodgy deals:  

• Stop and think before you act  

• Don't click links or open attachments from unknown sources 

• Never give out personal or financial information unless you have initiated the contact 

• Use multiple-factor authentication and strong passwords to secure your devices 

• Monitor your bank accounts and credit card statements for transactions and activity 

• Verify Business and contact details independently 

• Sight & check credentials of Providers/ Practitioners 

• Check the ABN of Australian Businesses 

• Be sceptical, if the offer sounds too good to be true, then likely it is false, fake or fraudulent 

• Report to the relevant Authorities any suspicious activity 

Creating and cultivating a happy, positive work environment is something you can’t afford not to do. If you are a Business owner it's essential to the success of your venture! 

It’s positivity, that aura you can feel, sense and see! These are the ‘happy’ vibes and rays given off by contented people, employees and customers alike. 

You may have found the key and are one of the lucky ones who have experienced such euphoria! Your workplace environment exudes happiness. Customers also enjoy the benefits of a ‘happy place’ and keep coming back for more.

And it’s not that hard to achieve this Shangri-La.

If you are a Business owner you can start by sowing the seeds. In this article, we provide the tips to create a positive, happy workplace. Nurture and you will see cooperation, trust and accountability grow and flourish. It’s about striving for a shared purpose, values and trust, that is developed between you, staff and your customers. By following our Tips you can harvest the benefits. Make your workplace the one everyone wants to be at. 

1. Wear a smile: How you present and interact with others is how they will react to you. Smiling is contagious. If the Manager has a positive demeanour it can influence emotions and create a sense of happiness. Employees are more likely to feel relaxed, communicate more and worry less. Happiness fosters confidence and motivation. Not happy! Frown and your staff frown with you.

2. Foster open and honest communication: This is the conduit for constructive exchanges and are the building blocks of healthy relationships. Encourage feedback, listen and act on it as needed. Staff will appreciate the opportunity to speak and will feel valued. Open and honest communication is essential to transparent management. Importantly, invite input from your customers, online surveys or face-to-face, hear and heed their comments. Without customers you are out of Business.