Strategic Action Plan For 2024 Budget

Hopefully you have now had time to read and digest the updates of the recent budget.

Below, I’ve outlined some suggestions to assist you to ensure you continue to thrive through the upcoming changes:

• To ensure a strong start in 2025, we recommend reviewing your pricing and ensuring that each product or service contributes positively to your bottom line — optimising for both competitiveness and profitability. Where possible consider subscription-based models that generate recurring revenue or offering packages to upsell and add more value to your customers.
• Rising employee and contractor costs impact businesses across sectors. For larger operations, calculate the cost per employee and consider automation where feasible. For smaller businesses, focus on optimising your own time to ensure you can work on the business as well as in it. Many business owners must be involved in the day-to-day operations, but it is equally important to make time to look at finances, marketing and implementation of new strategies. Utilising flexible staffing such as using subcontractors for project work, can keep costs manageable without long-term commitments.
• With upcoming capital gains tax adjustments which apply when you sell assets, reassess holdings such as property and shares to ensure they are still offering a good return on investment. Your client manager can calculate a ‘what if’ scenario for you with regards to the tax position if you are considering selling.
• For businesses or individuals holding cash that is not currently working for them, consider maximising tax-advantaged options, like ISAs or pensions, to shield earnings from tax hikes. You may also consider investing in new equipment or technology which benefits your business as well as saves tax. If you would like to speak to a financial advisor, we can arrange this for you. They will assist with maximising returns on your cash investments but also advise on relevant life insurance, critical illness cover and Wills and estate planning which is essential for everyone no matter your cash position.
• Using analytics to monitor real-time metrics, such as customer demand, stock, or project/client profitability, will be invaluable across sectors. We can help you build a dashboard of key performance indicators to ensure you stay on track. As a minimum we would recommend contacting us to discuss the option of adding a monthly or quarterly profit and loss summary to your service offering with us so that you can closely monitor your business performance over the next 12 months. We can also add an estimate of your tax so that you can keep track of your liability as you go along.
• Budgeting for inflation – Rising prices impact all sectors. Adjusting budgets to account for expected inflation in materials, utilities, and essential expenses will help you avoid unexpected cost pressures and maintain service levels. If you do not currently have a budget this is also something we can help with. If you are considering launching a new product or service a budget would be very useful for this too. Even if you decide that a budget is not part of your requirements for now, every business could benefit from conducting a review of its main suppliers to ensure you are getting the best value.
• Focus on cashflow, ensure you have strong debt collection and credit control processes in place. Renegotiate payment terms with suppliers where possible to keep the cash in your account longer. Finally, if you have loans or credit cards outstanding consider the option of consolidating these onto one lower rate option. We can introduce you to a commercial finance broker who can assess the viability of this for you if you would find that beneficial.

I hope that gives you a useful summary of things to consider. For personalised guidance on implementing these strategies and positioning for growth in 2024, feel free to contact Joanne Bell at Bells Accountants. Visit www.joannebell.co.uk to schedule an advisory session.