Setting a useful budget in a business world where the pace of change continues to accelerate is an increasing challenge.  Last year’s figures are a starting point, but when the only certainty is uncertainty, trying to forecast trends is always going to be a gamble.  This, however, is not a reason to view the exercise as perfunctory; it’s a reason to devote time and expertise to create a budget which is as detailed as possible.  Although the budget needs to be in place before the start of the financial year, you should be prepared to revisit it regularly in order to scrutinise how it’s measuring up to the reality of the financial year and to make adjustments accordingly.

An effective budget will help you:

• Focus on the big three: sales, costs and working capital.
• Ensure that day to day financial commitments are met.
• Help the strategic allocation of resources.
• Identify a problem before it becomes a crisis.
• Ringfence finance for future projects.
• Attract external finance and grow your business.

Key Headings

• Income streams – both guaranteed and projected.
• Fixed costs – plus a margin for increase.
• Variable costs – assume increase rather than decrease.
• One off purchases – identify essential and inessential purchases.

Keeping Track

Make sure that your business is using the most appropriate fintech to track expenses and handle the paperwork.  A cloud-based accounting system such as Sage will handle all the documentation and processes required in business, such as payroll, taxes, invoicing, payments and expenses.  This system gives your business a real time overview of cash flow which can even be accessed on the go from a mobile app.  This saves time and therefore helps your business improve its productivity.  It also drastically reduces the possibility of error and frees up your employees to do more challenging, satisfying work.  It also provides much increased security and makes it easier to predict cash flow needs.

Managing employee expenses

Employee expenses have, in the past, been a time consuming, unpredictable area of company finance.  The use of a company credit card, passed around staff members, has in many institutions, led to a culture where no-one takes responsibility for the expenses incurred.  By issuing staff with a prepaid company card, a company can provide its staff with the necessary financial autonomy, whilst maintaining a secure grip on expenditure.  Prepaid cards are loaded with a specific budget, enabling a company to differentiate staff allowances, from the most junior to the most senior.  Staff can use the card as they would a conventional credit card, either to make purchases on the company’s behalf to use for travel and subsistence expenses.  Receipts and tickets are simply photographed and up-loaded via the app.  The employer has a real time overview of all staff expenditure and can reduce or increase budgets, impose spending limits under specific headings or freeze an individual card without the need to freeze an entire account.  Prepaid cards are not linked to a company bank account and consequently they are far more secure in online transactions than a conventional credit card.

Every manager and business owner has an important responsibility to ensure that their workers remain in good health and jovial spirits, but knowing how to comprehensively prevent employee injuries from occurring is no small feat. Workplace accidents lower company morale, lead to expensive lawsuits, degrade the quality of life of the workers involved, and are generally undesirable in every way, shape, and form. You’ll nevertheless want to be careful as you try to prevent them, as there are important legal guidelines you need to adhere to.

Here’s an analysis of how to prevent employee injuries, and why it’s imperative to put the wellbeing of your workers above all else.

Know the common causes of injury

The most important aspect of preventing employee injuries is familiarizing yourself with the common causes of injury to ensure that your workspace isn’t a hostile or hazardous one. The most common workplace injuries to be on the lookout for include overexertion, whether it’s physical stress or mentally draining your employees. Ensure that your workers who are tasked with physical work have frequent, short breaks that allow them to catch their breath and avoid overstraining their muscles. Having first aid equipment onsite can also mitigate the extent of an injury after it occurs. An online CPR and first aid certification ensures your workers to do their best in performing these skills in case of emergency.

Besides overexerting themselves, workers frequently come into harmful contact with equipment or heavy objects. Storing heavy objects in a high-up space can lead them to come tumbling down to the detriment of those below, for instance, and being unaware of moving equipment on a factory floor is one of the leading reasons that workers find themselves injured. Ensure that everybody is up to date on any equipment changes your company approves of and guarantee that each new employee knows their way around an active and hazardous area before allowing them unfettered access to it.

Finally, be aware of tripping and falls, things which impact all of us at some point or another. Making sure that ladders are properly placed and that employees know about the perils of working at heights are important steps to take if you don’t want to injure somebody. Know that injury at work can quickly devolve into lawsuits which financially endanger your company, so spending huge sums of cash to protect workers is always a safe bet, not to mention a morally praiseworthy action.

Besides knowing the common causes of injury, there are many other steps you can take to ensure that the risk of injuries to employees are reduced from the very get-go.

Have a safety and wellness plan

Besides covering the basics during company training sessions, you should have a company-wide safety and wellness plan that looks after your workers. Enabling people to clearly and easily report hazardous behavior, for instance, is an important part of letting workers know that they’re in control of their own destinies and won’t be punished for reporting dangerous working conditions. Transparency and accountability are the name of the game, and those companies which shun them will suffer sooner rather than later.

If you’re struggling to form a company-wide safety plan, don’t be afraid to read up on the examples of others to more effectively create your own. You should also be conducting pre-placement physicals to ensure that those workers who do end up joining your team are qualified and in good health before you put them in a potentially dangerous situation. Screen applicants closely to ensure that they can safely and effectively pick up heavy objects before putting them in your warehouse. Ensure that drivers of company vehicles have clean license records and no substance abuse issues. By taking small pre-emptive steps like this, you’ll be putting out raging legal fires before they ever ignite and consume your company.

Constantly educating employees may sound expensive, but it’s a small price to pay compared to the lawsuits you’ll be grappling with if you force workers into hazardous conditions without preparing them ahead of time. New equipment should be thoroughly explained to everybody who may have to work with it, and new safety protocols should be widely proliferated whenever they’re conceived. It goes without saying that you’ll want to invest in stellar protective equipment to keep your workers’ bodies intact.

Follow these guidelines, and soon you’ll be preventing more employee injuries than ever before.

If you’re currently searching for the perfect place to base your business, look no further than the City of London. The famous ‘Square Mile’ has one of the highest concentrations of world-renowned businesses found anywhere else on planet Earth. By relocating your company into this area, then, you can be sure of the fact that you will be in esteemed company.

Simply rubbing shoulders with other well established businesses, even those that do not necessarily operate in your industry, will give your company the bonafide seal of approval it needs to finally become an authoritative figure. With this enhanced reputation, you’ll find it easier to attract customers, you’ll stand out from the crowd when skilled workers are looking jobs in your field, and you’ll be able to build an optimized brand image for yourself.

Should you decide that relocating your business to London is what is best for business, then it’s essential that you understand the ins and outs of the move. Here’s everything you need to know about moving your company to the UK capital:

The facts

The facts don’t lie — London is full of everything that you need to take your business to the next level! Here’s everything you can find in the Square Mile:

• 80 million sqft of workspace
• 17,000 businesses operating here on a daily basis (98% of which are small organizations)
• 100 gardens, conservation areas, and public squares
• Retail facilities and hotels at every turn
• A police force and political governing body that works independently
• 27 train stations (both mainline and underground)

All of this means that you will be surrounded by excellent amenities, first-class transport links, and a plethora of cultural hotspots should you decide to relocate to the UK capital. When it comes to looking for offices to rent in London, be sure to check out Fora. Their co-working spaces and private office environments are designed for businesses that operate in all manner of industries, which means they’ll always manage to find the perfect workspace for you.

The future

You want to see your business flourish in London, which means that you can’t just consider the present-day facts when you’re trying to decide if this is the perfect place to relocate to. You also have to have one eye on the future if you’re to ensure that this city has the capacity to offer you everything you need for the next decade. Fortunately, as always seems to be the case, the future is looking bright in London.

With a transport network that remains unrivalled anywhere else in the UK, a comprehensive telecommunication infrastructure that makes the rest of the world jealous, and a resilient electricity supply that has enough juice to power a whole country, you can be sure that your business will have everything it needs to grow and develop for years to come should you relocate it to London.

If you’re looking to take your business to the next level, then you should seriously consider moving it to London.

Security breaches are a huge problem for businesses, both big and small, and are the most significant sources of financial loss, damage to reputation, and even business closure.

As a business owner, when you put proactive measures in place and invest in business security, from cyber security to retail security. It can save your business from financial loss and all sorts of damage along with potential savings of your dollarflow. Therefore, keeping your business security in check should be on top of your list of priorities in 2020.

This article can serve as a short guide to point you in the right direction.

Monitor and control network access

Through having remote access to your company network, you and your staff can work from home or on the go, saving time and money and increasing productivity. Unfortunately, this can also expose your business to the threat of unauthorised access.

Fortunately, good employee-security practices and robust technological security measures will counter many of these threats.

For example, you should provide employees with computers configured with the right software, tools for remote access, and proper security measures so that they don’t use their home computers. Label the company name, contact details and inventory number of all business computers used outside the workplace and install employee time tracking software so that you can easily tell who is online at a particular point in time.

Also, if someone leaves your business, remember to remove all their remote access rights.

Monitor your financial details

These days, a lot of business takes place over the internet and via email. When doing business online, don’t be in a hurry to make payments or approve transactions, or even download financial attachments. First, confirm manually so that you don’t expose your company to online vulnerabilities. This means checking via another channel, by phone, for example, that you are actually dealing with the right party.

You should also have a clear process for how you carry out sensitive business transactions or changes. For example, what is the transactional threshold that will raise a red flag for you or your staff so that a follow-up is immediately implemented?

Using a separate channel of communication to verify a transaction, particularly one that happens by phone or email, will save you from potential security problems. You should also run a business bank account that provides you with all the tools needed to transact securely.

Develop a cyber-security plan

Create and implement a cybersecurity strategy that clearly identifies best practices for every employee.

It’s easy to underestimate how much a cybersecurity program will cost, so make sure that you have a reasonable budget. Begin with a detailed yet relatively simple cybersecurity strategy that clearly explains the company’s most critical cybersecurity needs.

Next, identify and modify existing standards, or develop your own rules, to address unique cybersecurity problems in your business.

Make sure your employees recognise that safety is essential to them and the company, and then clarify to employees the rules and requirements so that they understand the reasons for implementing the policy and the consequences of not following it.

Invest in cloud computing

A good cloud service provider supports the security and stability of your business.

There are many providers of cloud services out there, and you need to make sure you choose the right one for your business. Understanding that they are taking your protection needs and your data seriously is essential. Make sure they can provide you with the kind of services and protection you need before you commit to a particular provider.

Your business needs to consider various security issues when deciding if a cloud service is right for you. You can find a cloud service that will suit your business budget as most of the cloud packages available these days operate on a pay-as-you-use system. They are also easily scalable, so you can add or reduce computing resources as your business growth demands.

Final thoughts

In the past years, a large number of businesses suffered security breaches, and there is nothing to show that 2020 will be any different. However, as long as you can keep up your business security with these and other tips, you will enjoy peace of mind knowing that your business is safe and secure.