Your Money Machine - Strategic Activities, Exit Planning and Implementation - Russell Colbourne

Russell Colbourne : Your Money Machine

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INTRODUCTION
Your business is Your Money Machine.  In this Show – I’ll take you under the hood of your enterprise and show you how to fine tune your business.  Get ready for lift off as we add rocket fuel to your profitability!  This show is focused on businesses that have launched and are preparing for exponential growth.

Are you sure you’re ready for exponential growth?  Getting your mindset right to transition from business owner to CEO.  Are you prepared to give up some control and trust others to help you build?  As well as ensuring all your systems and standard operating procedures have been documented and are in place, you will need to ensure your financial reporting provides you with the feedback you need to run your business. 

Without a comprehensive, up-to-date business plan and an implementation timetable, companies may be missing out on opportunities for growth and not realising their full potential. A formal plan can be an extremely valuable tool for managing and growing a business, as it allows a company to recognise its strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore, research has shown that SMEs that have a business plan in place are consistently more profitable than those who do not have a business plan.

What You Need to Know - The What

• The benefits of creating a business plan
• Why business plans end up in a drawer
• The key elements of an implementation timetable 
• How a part-time CFO can help you to create a business plan and implementation timetable for your business The main causes of cash flow problems in any business.

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What You Need to Do - The How

There are many activities that sit behind each of the 12 boxes and the list below is not exhaustive, but merely gives some examples of what a business owner needs to consider in the area of Strategic Activities and Exit Planning:

• Prepare a strategy for growth and or exit; 
• Identify where value can be maximised and eliminate unprofitable or low profit activities;
• Ensure that shareholders’ interests are protected through a shareholders’ agreement;
• Explain what incentive arrangements are available for key management and introduce them. These could include bonus plans aligned to the business objectives or option plans;
• Ensure that property is held in the most appropriate manner for the business and any potential acquirer, ie. freehold or leasehold, and length of tenancy; 
• Review pension arrangements to identify any funding or future liability issues; 
• Protect intellectual property and ensure that claims are made in relation to government funded incentive schemes that encourage research and development, to help fund new intellectual property’; 
• Review contracts and trading terms to ensure they are in place, up to date and enforced;
• Identify risks to the business from suppliers and customers on whom the business may have become reliant and plan to mitigate the risk; 
• Improve the accuracy and timeliness of management information; 
• Introduce systems and controls to increase confidence in the integrity of the accounting information; 
• Improve and/or introduce forecasting processes and procedures so that budgets and forecasts can be used as dynamic planning tools; 
• Identify means of improving margins and reducing overheads to improve profitability;
• Ensure compliance with all major country based government forms of taxation while seeking ways to reduce the overall tax burden to the business;
• Obtain corporate finance, legal and other advisers to help with all aspects of the exit preparation and process;
• Project manage the exit process internally so that it minimises the disruption to other staff and their continuing responsibilities; 
• Create confidence in the acquirer and their advisers so that they have limited opportunity to attempt to negotiate the price down or increase warranties from you.

Shows 

• Previous: Episode 9 – Cash Flow Improvement
• Next: Episode 11 – Risk Assessment

 
Written by Russell Colbourne, FCCA, GAICD
Your Money Machine
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Russell is a CFO and Entrepreneur who has worked across a diverse range of industries over the past 25 years.  After a short service commission as a pilot flying Seaking Helicopters in the British Royal Navy, Russell studied business and qualified as a Chartered Certified Accountant (ACCA) in the UK. Since then he has been integral with the start-up of many successful companies and operations within larger organisations.  He has bought, sold and spun off business operations in the UK, Australia and the US. 

In 1994 Russell joined Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic Airlines where he was responsible for a number of innovative services that were, at the time, ground breaking and helped revolutionise air transport.  From launching the world’s first limo boat on the River Thames to developing the world’s first handheld check-in device and implementing drive through check-in booths around the world, Russell has helped the Virgin Group deliver unparalleled customer service. In 2000 Russell was the first of the Virgin team to arrive in Australia to start a new low cost Airline, and within 8 months had built a team operating flights between Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.

Russell now works as a Part Time CFO for a number of SME businesses in South Australia.  He is a Director of a health and wellbeing business; a crowdfunding website for educational costs and of the Founder Institute program in Adelaide where he lives with his wife and 3 teenage sons.

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