Accountancy meets consultancy
Your business may already be reaching a critical size: perhaps you are facing challenges that you have not encountered before. If so, you're not alone. All owner-managed businesses need help to grow effectively beyond a certain size.
Do any of the following scenarios sound familiar to you?:
- > It's difficult to establish a clear view of your ultimate direction
- > Your management team are no longer working to a clear plan
- > You are losing efficiency as your business grows
- > You have lots of ideas, but few of them happen
- > You are running short of finance
- > There is no consistent sales message across your team
- > Management have never been trained to manage
Combining accountancy with consultancy
Tenon is uniquely well placed to provide you with consultancy advice that will reboot your operation and yield genuine business results. We understand the numbers behind what you do, and as your accountants we will already have a good understanding of your business objectives and personal ambitions. Without understanding these properly it is not possible to give proper advice across the full range of financial issues.
Good advice extends beyond the bottom line. For example, if you decided at some point to sell your business then the best tax planning initiatives would be very different from those applying if you passed on your business through your family. It's crucial to keep these sort of issues in mind when looking ahead.
Clarifying your strategy
Accountants cannot do their job properly without becoming involved in clients' strategies. If we don't know where you're going, we can't help you to get there. There are times, though, when you are not entirely clear yourself where you are going and how you want to get there. It is for this reason that we developed a 5-step process to clear the air. We call it DIRECTA 1-5™. The process provides strategic support to private clients of different ages and outlooks, with different family needs or with different views on how to grow the business.
DIRECTA 1-5™
DIRECTA 1-5™ is the ideal approach to clarifying your business needs and establishing the strategy that will take you forward. It results in a detailed appraisal of the best directions, and an informed assessment of the strategies that can deliver your desired business outcomes.
The process addresses a number of specific questions:
1. What is your destination?
We initially help you to prepare an "Owners Plan" to agree and clarify amongst the owners an overall strategy about the long-term future of the business. Issues covered will include whether the business is likely to be sold or passed on through the family (or families) and what the timescale might be.We also outline what the business should look like in the future - the "size and shape" needed to meet future objectives. The plan considers the personal needs of each of the owners - the money they will need either through a sale or through extracting cash from the business before retirement.
2. Which route should you take?
If you asked your senior managers individually what were the most important issues facing the business and what needs to be done about them, all their answers should be the same. If you think that wouldn't be the case, or that responses would lack crucial understanding then you need to refocus your management.The DIRECTA 1-5™ "Management Plan" helps to identify your business's key strategies, agreeing priorities and allocating responsibilities.
3. Are you in the right vehicle?
Only when owners' objectives and business strategies are clear can we address properly the most appropriate structures for the business in relation to tax planning and other purposes, such as maximising efficiency and minimising waste.4. Are passengers comfortable during the journey?
The first three steps of DIRECTA 1-5™ show amongst other things what personal financial planning needs to be done for each of the owners. Crucially, DIRECTA 1-5™ also highlights which other directors and managers are important to achieving the overall plan.It's important to make sure that these key players are motivated - both financially and otherwise. Our plan will highlight the various arrangements available to provide non-owners with an effective stake in the future growth of the business, without giving actual shares.
There may also be family members who have (or wish to have) a financial interest in the business without working in it. Again, there are well-tried techniques for resolving the potential headaches.
5. Is the engine tuned regularly?
A regular "service" should now be sufficient to make sure that the structures remain in line with your goals and that agreed actions are implemented.Specialist consultancy services
DIRECTA 1-5™ is an exceptional tool for setting business strategy. Businesses have a variety of different needs, however, and we have four particular areas of expertise that we can offer to you on a consultancy basis.
Take a look below at the ways in which we can help to transform your business.
Grooming your business for sale
If you are selling your business, you need to do everything you can to make it attractive to buyers. That includes strengthening attractive features and improving areas that might be perceived as weak.There is no such thing as the "right price" for a private business, and Tenon can recommend a range of techniques for making the enhancements needed to maximise your return. Our structured approach ensures a reliable result, and investing in one of our "grooming" consultants can dramatically increase the value of your business. For more information on selling your business, go to Corporate Finance.
Sales and marketing
Sales and marketing should be an integrated part of your business strategy - you are missing vital tools if you see them merely as an action plan for telemarketing, brochures and other promotion.We can help you to make sure that your marketing addresses opportunities for growth positively and proactively, taking into account your market, your customers and your competition. Tenon's structured process helps you to make a deliberate choice of which markets to operate in; which customers to target. It shows you how and when to embark on new product/service launches.
Reducing waste
If you are typical, then between 15% and 25% of your operating costs are probably wasted at the moment. There are many proven techniques for eliminating waste within your business, and Tenon can help you to achieve a "best practice" approach.Re-designing the way you work
Sometimes you need to become more efficient and more dynamic, but you want to make sure that you retain the essence of your success.Business Process Re-engineering can be an enormous help in turning things around. It is about designing from scratch how you should best operate internally. The process involves a carefully thought through redesign of your procedures and processes, creating new ones where needed.
Rather than waiting for a crisis, it's much better to address processes from a position of strength. Tenon is experienced in helping clients to work through all of the complexities of a re-engineering programme, delivering maximum benefit with minimum fuss.