What are your business’ resolutions for the new financial year? When the financial year comes to a close and you start planning for the year to come, it’s important you consider what worked well during the business year and where there is room for improvement or restructuring. A business lawyer and an accountant can assist you with making the hard decisions regarding the business.
Should you incorporate?
At the end of the financial year you have the opportunity to look back on your achievements, as well as your blunders. A proprietary limited company is the most commonly used business structure in Australia, but will it work for you? Try to figure out whether the costs of incorporating outweigh the savings and vice versa. Incorporating may be the right thing, economically, to do for your business, so it’s worth consulting a business lawyer who can inform you on the various business structures and their pros and cons. If you incorporate at the start of the financial year, preparation of your finances should be a far simpler process.
Have you done your taxes?
No doubt, this is everybody’s least favourite task in running his or her business, but it may also be the most important. Make sure you’ve dotted your I’s and crossed your T’s so that you and the taxman never have any problems. In fact, it might be worthwhile having a tax consultant look over your paperwork to see if you’re entitled to any additional tax cuts. These deductions are sometimes difficult to find, which is why a business lawyer or your accountant may assist in saving the business money.
Continue reading this article below the formHave you reviewed and updated your business documents?
Your business documents should always be up-to-date. Make a habit of checking them with your business lawyer at the beginning of the financial year to ensure they are legally effective and compliant. You might have business documents that need renewals, or contractual documents that need amendments. Either way, this should be a priority. This will give you peace of mind, knowing you are tying up any loose ends with the ATO and complying with the ACL.
Have you assessed your employees’ KPIs and given feedback?
The success of your business depends, to a large extent, on the quality of your staff. Give well thought out evaluations on each member of staff. This will not only give your employees a better idea of how they performed, it will also ensure open lines of communication between you and your staff, which, in turn, leads to a more comfortable workplace atmosphere.
Also, check your employment contracts are accurate and reflect the current work arrangements of the employees. On top of this, you should make sure you have an Employee Handbook that reflects your company employment policy. File and record everything so that everyone is fully informed. This practice may come in handy one day if say, for example, an employee makes a claim against the business for unpaid wages. You’ll have everything on record and have no difficulty providing a court with evidence of the employee’s correct wages.
Be ambitious. Set new goals.
Looking back on the year past and assessing the business’ strengths and weaknesses is important in determining whether or not the business’ current approach is working. Are the current business practices creating a productive work environment? Are employees happy and motivated? What new goals can you set for the year to come? The whole process of reviewing the business practices is very insightful, and can make a huge difference to the success of the business.
Conclusion
LegalVision’s solicitors are some of the best in small business law. If you have any legal enquiries that need clarifying, or legal needs that needs servicing, contact us on 1300 544 755 and speak to one of our experienced small business lawyers to get the ball rolling.
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