ADVICE FROM ACCOUNTANTS HAS A POSITIVE IMPACT

A recently released survey by Banking Analysts East & Partners, undertaken for Scottish Pacific, revealed some very interesting results. The survey of more than 1,000 Australian SME’s with annual revenues of $1 Million to $20 Million, showed that Accountants still made the most positive impact on businesses, with 82.9 percent of responders nominating that Accountants still made the most positive impact on businesses, with 58.8 percent for advice from business colleagues and 27.1 percent for advice from friends. This re-enforces the old saying that you get what you pay for.

The article went on to say, Many SME’s say they have had funding rejected, but the funding is there if they knew where to look. SME’s need to understand the options and not just revert to self-funding business growth if they are rejected by the Banks. This is where Accountants can play a key role.

INFORMATION ON THE LACK OF BUSINESS FUNDING

All SME’s are finding it harder to borrow money from the Big Banks, but now there are a couple of alternatives to the traditional Banks. One such Bank is Judo Bank. A Bank set up by some very senior Bankers who see that there should be a better relationship between Banks and their Business Customers. The Bank was created to provide funding to small businesses and not the big end of town.

If you think that borrowing for businesses has become harder, then look at this graph from the International Monetary Fund in 2018 which shows the lending gap.

Various Surveys of Australian Businesses this year have revealed that there is approximately an $80 Billion Funding Gap facing Small and Medium Business Enterprises, in Australia.

There are changes happening to the funding of small Business Australia, including Federal Government-sponsored loans for Businesses with turnovers in excess of $2 Million. In the meantime, spend some time after you return to work from the Christmas break to assess your cash flow needs for 2020 and to get some help from us on how to secure the funds you need.

SOCIAL MEDIA – Where to start?

So, what is Social Media really? One of the best Advisers on Social Media in Australia is The Social Adviser. They say that most people think of Social Media as the technology platforms people use for Communication, interaction, and sharing, the most popular currently being LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. They are used by businesses to communicate with the public at large (typically for leveraging data and technical information) or are used within organisations for a more sociable way of collaboration between teams and Departments. These functions are quite often solely managed by a client-facing Marketing or Public Relations or Sales team.

The Social Adviser says, that they see Social Media as being any means of leveraging human interaction beyond one-to-one. They view Public Speaking, email and even other platforms such as eBay as forms of Social Media. So, you do not need to be a Computer Guru to get involved in Social Media! Do something, as it is better than what you are doing now, which is nothing! Do not let perfect get in the way of better!