7 key questions to prepare for the new financial year

As the end of the tax year draws to a close, now is the perfect time to look ahead and prepare for the new financial year.

The first step is to have to hand the numbers you've pulled together for this tax year as they will help inform your decisions for next year. If you don’t yet have those numbers, or you’re not sure what numbers you need, then read “The three best ways to get prepared for tax time ”.  That blog post will step you through the figures you need.

Then there are seven key groups of questions that I discuss with my clients when it comes to planning the year ahead.

Question 1: What is the long-term plan for your business?

What is the long-term plan or goal for your business? Is it always going to be a side business, or do you plan to grow an empire? Is your ultimate goal to work 20 hours a week or do you want to reach 1 million in sales as soon as possible and then sell?

Everyone has different goals, and everyone will take their eye off their goal at some point so now is the time to reconnect with the direction that you’re taking your business.

Is your long-term plan still the same or has it changed over the last 12 months? If it has changed, how will that impact on what needs to happen in your business?

Question 2: What needs to happen over the next 5 years?

What needs to happen within your business over the next five years to make sure your business is on track to achieve the long-term plan for your business? What milestones need to be reached during the next five years, and when do they need to be achieved by?

Where does your business need to be in five years’ time in terms of sales, profit and staff numbers?

Question 3: What needs to happen over the next 12 months?

Now that you’ve reconnected with your long-term plan and your five-year plan, we can look at the next financial year and what needs to happen over those 12 months.

Where does your business need to be in 12 months' time in terms of sales and profit?  Keep these figures to put in your budget.

Question 4: What staff does your business need?

In order to reach your sales and profit figures for the next financial year what do your staffing levels need to be?

Do you need to hire more people? What will their roles be? Will they be full time or part time?  What are the current pay levels for those roles? What needs to happen in the business to prepare for any new people?

How will your staffing levels affect your business expenses and profit? Be sure to include all expenses in your budget.

Question 5: What assets does your business need?

In order to reach your sales and profit figures for the next financial year what assets do you need?

Does your vehicle fleet need replacing? Is there a large asset that you need to start putting money aside for in this financial year? What are the current prices of the new assets? How much do you need to put aside each month? Are there any tax implications in the method, or timing, of purchase?

Question 6: What do you need to stop, start or continue in the business?

You’re an essential part of your business, but you’re not essential to every part of your business. Letting go isn’t always an easy thing to do, yet it could be essential to the continued growth that you want to achieve.

What tasks or roles do you need to stop, start or continue doing in your business?

If you’re the sales super star, what tasks do you need to stop doing, and delegate, so you can continue to excel in your sales role?

If reading the questions in this article have you thinking that you need to spend more time on the strategic elements of your business, when will you put aside regular CEO time?

Question 7: What support do you need?

What support do you need to achieve your business goals for the next financial year? Do you need a business mentor to help you be more strategic in your business or to hold you accountable to you strategy? Do you need a sales strategist to train up your new sales team?

Once you have the answers to these questions you can build a budget for next financial year. If you don’t yet have a business budget then read “6 steps to easily create your business budget” . That blog post will step you through how to create the budget you need.

Now that you have a clear picture of what you want to achieve take a moment to do a sense check. Is what you're planning realistic?

Are your operations or logistics set up to support your goal? There is no point in selling 10,000 widgets if your inventory, supply chain or cashflow can't support that level of sales.

Are there enough hours in the day to delivery your services? If your goal means you have to work 60 hours a week, with no holidays, that isn’t sustainable and will impact on your customer service before long.

The growth of your business needs to be proactively managed in a sustainable way.  If you can’t see how to achieve your goals with the way your business is currently structured, or you don’t have a clear exit strategy from your business, then talking to a business mentor is key.

If you have big goals for your business, and need support to get you there, book a 20-minute call with me to discuss how I can provide that support for you.