This morning I am in Cardiff, so bore da from the nation’s capital. I am here to attend a client’s board meeting at which they will discuss and prepare their budget for the coming year. They have a formal and structured process for doing so which I will facilitate and advise on.

It doesn’t just happen; the board members are spread geographically and so travel and hotel arrangements have to be made, board papers prepared, equipment booked and so on. All this for an organisation with less than £250,000 in turnover.

Is it worth it?

Absolutely. It’s not the size of the organisation that matters but the systems, processes and disciplines you adopt that will make the difference. Want to get into the top 20% of businesses rather than the 80% who struggle or just get by? Book a day with your accountant or business mentor and invest it in preparing your budget and cash flow forecast for the coming year.

Here’s what we’ll be covering this morning:

1. A review of this year’s performance (sales, cash flow and key metrics) to date and the forecast outcome for the year ended 31st March;
2. A comparison with this year’s budget (this business already gets monthly management accounts so this is an ongoing process);
3. What went well and where could they have done better (with no recriminations, this is about marginal gains – a tip I learned from a Red Arrows pilot);
4. Their goals for next year and big plans for what they want to achieve;
5. How much income they expect to generate;
6. A careful review of costs, expenses and overheads; and
7. How much additional cash, if any, they need.​​​​​​​

It’ll be a busy day with lots of input from the board members and, no doubt, some lively discussion.

Do you take a day away from your business (even if its at a weekend) to plan in this much detail? Its what super-successful businesses do.

To your success,

Da boch chi or I’ll be late.

Noel Guilford