Posted: 19 June 2020

Cashflow and Funding a Major Issue for SMEs in the Aftermath of COVID-19

Empowering SMEs (Issue 063)

Friday, 19th June 2020

Want to learn more about ESS Small Business? (Click here)

Greetings from ESS Small Business.

Due to administrative problems in setting up the grant processing mechanism with State government departments, there have been some delays in the rollout of the Home/Renovation Grants for homebuilders and for renovations to houses.

The $25,000 grants made available by the Australian government to individuals who are constructing a new house or renovating an existing house, are expected to significantly enhance the building industry and some trade business classifications all over Australia.

The 30th September 2020 is going to be a major problem for many small businesses and medium-sized enterprises with the cessation of:

JobKeeper
Cashflow Boost
Coronavirus SME Guarantee Loans
Embargo on action against borrowers and directors

The Australian government’s Small Business Ombudsman, Kate Carnell, has requested banks to go easy on small businesses until 31st December 2021, because she believes there is going to be significant funding problems for businesses until that date.

All of this highlights a looming cashflow problem for many businesses.

In our "COVID-19 Survival Panel" webinar on Wednesday, 24th June 2020 our presentation will be centred on cashflow and funding issues for businesses.

Peter Towers, Managing Director, ESS BIZTOOLS, will discuss the key issues relative to debtors' management and, in particular, debtors' days outstanding, which is a particular problem in Australia. A few years ago Australia was awarded the dubious title of having the longest debtors' days outstanding in the world at 56.4 days and governments and big businesses vowed to improve their payment processes and yet three years later a recent report has indicated that debtors' days outstanding currently is 56 days, so that in three years the reduction has only been .4 of a day, which probably means that Australia still has the dubious record of having the longest debtors' days outstanding in the world.

Businesses need a debtors' management system to guide their teams through all aspects of debtors' management from the request to open an account through to the calculation of debtors' days outstanding and the collection of debts.

We are also arranging for a keynote presenter, who is an expert in the Crowd Sourced Funding Equity Raising Industry in Australia, who will discuss the history of Crowd Sourced Funding in Australia, what has been achieved to date and what is likely to happen in 2020/21 and the next few years.

Crowd Sourced Funding Equity Raising, which enables up to $5 million to be raised in a 12 month period, gives small businesses the opportunity to be able to improve the funding of their businesses. We believe it is crucial that all small businesses and medium-sized enterprise operators understand how this process works so that, if you decide that you would like to explore the possibility of raising capital from the public, you have a general idea of the operational requirements for Crowd Sourced Funding Equity Raising.

We are fast approaching a critical time in the COVID-19 process with the withdrawal of the significant government support which has been available and business operators should be thinking now about what the financial effects will be with the government funding support ceasing and how you might have to reorganise various aspects of your business operations.

To register for the free webinar on Wednesday, 24th June 2020 at 12-noon AEST click here.

Last Wednesday we had two interesting presentations:

Kevin Thiele, “Working Better” gave an overview of “Operations Management” and how it can be adapted by businesses, particularly manufacturing and workshop type business operations.

Priscilla Bea Smith, Partner, Cloud Nine Associates, discussed the assistance that proactive accountants, who are committed to offering a broader range of services then just the preparation of income tax returns, can give to small business and medium-sized enterprise clients to assist in value adding to their businesses.

You can listen to the full presentations made at the webinar by Priscilla Bea Smith and Kevin Thiele by clicking here.

We would like to invite you to visit the ESS Small Business website è Survival in Difficult Times è Learn More where you will find details of the products ESS Small Business has developed to assist small businesses and medium-sized enterprises to gain a better understanding of strategies which will assist you to survive in your business.

Do you want to know more? You can access the PowerPoint slides utilised by Priscilla Bea Smith in her presentation by clicking here.

You can access Kevin Thiele‘s “Working Better” LinkedIn page by clicking here.

If you would like to have a discussion, please don’t hesitate to contact us.