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Author: Susie Kevern

Make a Plan

Posted on by Susie Kevern

How do you make a plan for the rest of this year? If the last six months have taught us anything it’s that we can’t predict the next twist in the story. So is planning a pointless waste of time?

This is the (polite) argument that I’ve been engaged in this week while I was supposed to be working hard on other things. Granted, it’s difficult to see what the future will look like, but is planning still worthwhile?

My point is that actually we have never known what the future holds – the unknown is nothing new. What is hitting harder at the moment is the uncertainty; the range of potential outcomes that are theoretically possible and those that haven’t seemed possible up to this point. There’s also a big chunk of consequence; in many businesses there’s less margin for error now.

So in the current scenario I’m pushing to follow General Eisenhower’s dictum: “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”

Without having devoted some quiet time to assess what we’d like the plan to be and, more importantly, what we’d like it to deliver we won’t have the right perspective to spot potential opportunities as they arise.

While it may take time, focus and some out of the box thinking, having a plan which you can adapt later remains the best way to order your thinking and prioritise action. And who knows, that preparation may put you in the position where you can see new opportunities arise out of the uncertainty!

When it Rains…

Posted on by Susie Kevern

“When it rains, look for rainbows.

When it is dark, look for the stars.

When it’s raining and dark… you should take care to look where you’re going and consider whether you’re still heading in the right direction”

Courtesy of Oscar Wilde, but paraphrased during a Francis Clark webinar last week

Why bother with a cashflow forecast?

Posted on by Susie Kevern

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With CBILS, Bounce Back Loans, VAT deferrals, grants etc there may be more cash in the bank now than ever before and your cashflow is sorted for the next couple months.

But what happens after that?

Lockdown has probably helped the bank balance with customers paying while you’ve been running down stocks or furloughing staff. However the problems will come when customers start buying again: you’ll need to buy new stock or pay wages for sales that take a while to be paid for.

Right at the point where your bank balance has run right down you’ll need to invest more in your business.

In addition to this you need to keep an eye on payments due in the future.
Corporation Tax: usually paid October or January
Self Assessment tax: due January
Deferred VAT: due March 2021
Loan repayments: starting May/ June 2021
Plus regular VAT due every quarter regardless of other cash spend

A lot of this cash is heading to HMRC so perhaps a phone call will stem the flow? But that only drains cash from next year’s profits and stifles growth potential.

A plan for the future is vital, which means some sort of cashflow forecast. Even if it’s just a rough estimate, that plan allows you to see what pressure you’ll be under and give you time to take action.

And if you’re going to take action, the sooner the better.

Sometimes getting started is the hardest step to take. If you need some inspiration why not download this cashflow checklist, or if you would like further help then get in touch.

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What makes good management accounts?

Posted on by Susie Kevern

Usually management accounts look very similar to the set of accounts that you get at the end of the tax year, but on a more regular basis – usually monthly – and in more detail.

Most cloud accounting software produces all these reports, so surely that’s enough? In some ways, yes it is, but there are two things to remember:

First: “rubbish in, rubbish out”. Simply printing out a snapshot of the accounts is unreliable. To improve the quality of the information you need to:

1. Make sure you have enough detail to see what’s going on – “Administrative costs” is good enough for the year end accounts, but does it help you see where the costs have built up?
2. Check all the sales and purchase costs have been included (and the accounts are up to date). this sounds simple, but isn’t as common as you’d think.
3. Think about making sure that only costs associated with this month are included – if you deduct a whole year’s insurance costs from one month’s sales your results may be skewed disastrously.
4. This is where stock counts come in, but also prepayments (spreading an invoice over several months) and accruals (estimates of costs not yet invoiced).

This creates accurate and reliable accounts. The second thing to remember is that there are no rules as to what you need to show in management accounts. The real benefits come from shedding light on what’s going on “under the hood” in your business.

Things like:
Financial metrics: debtor days (a comparison of how long customers take before paying), ratios splitting sales between different products or services, etc
Non financial metrics: customer numbers, spend per customer, active orders, etc
Variances: how this month compares to last month, or to forecast
Forward plans: a radar highlighting where problems should be expected, and an idea of liabilities (tax bills) in future.

Good management accounts should give you the information you need to identify the actions to take to steer the business towards the objectives that you want and they help you track the results of those strategies as well as the unintended consequences.

This is not about having reams and reams of paper to look through every month. You need a dashboard that shows the information that you need neatly summarized so that it doesn’t take an expert to find the figure that you want, and clear and unequivocal so that you can make decisions quickly.

If you would like to find out more, or you have a specific issue that you need help with then contact Susie either via the website here or direct on 07801 199671 or susie@poundlane.co.uk

Covid-19 support navigator

Posted on by Susie Kevern

At the time of writing the lockdown has been in force for 6 weeks, and in that time there have been a myriad of support packages (and revisions) announced by the government in an attempt to keep businesses in business. It has been a constant struggle to try to stay up to date.

But no longer: the government has added a “support finder” tool to the Covid-19 resources on the gov.uk website. Take a look at www.gov.uk/business-coronavirus-support-finder

The finder works as a series of questions with ‘yes/no’ and tick-box answers. It doesn’t require any identifying details (name, tax UTR, PAYE reference, etc) so you can investigate the support without creating a history. The questions, and the information you will need to know to answer them are:

1. UK nation in which your business is based
2. Number of employees (more or less than 249)
3. Annual turnover (<£85,000, £85,000 to £45 million, £45 million to £500m) 4. Are you an employer with a PAYE scheme?
5. Are you self-employed?
6. Rateable value of your premises (<£51,000, >£51,000 or N/A)
7. Business sector (retail hospitality & leisure, nurseries, other)
8. Eligibility for Small Business Rate Relief or Rural Rate Relief (on 11 March 2020)
9. Are you due to make an Income Tax Self-Assessment Payment-on-Account on 31 July 2020 (unlike the previous questions, this relates to a personal liability not related to your business)

Your responses to the above questions generates a tailored list of support packages for which your business may be eligible.

For each suggested package, there is a brief description of the measure and eligibility, with a link to take you to the relevant page of GOV.UK for further detail.

Start your search here or take a look at our resources and notes about the various options here

Cashflow in a time of Coronavirus

Posted on by Susie Kevern

As a follow up on my CBILS advice I want to share the cashflow checklist that I produced for my clients (and for myself!)

A cashflow forecast is the best way to see how much help you need at the moment (and you will be asked for one if you intend to apply for help under CBILS) – surviving 2020 is going to be all about your ability to pay essential bills rather than your profitability.

So I’ve attached the checklist here. Key things that I’d highlight are:

1. Extend your timeline well into your business’ recovery – it’s often restocking/ re-growth that leads to cashflow problems
2. CBILS loans are the last resort: make sure you’ve looked at every option available in order to minimise the borrowing that you’ll need
3. Think about how you’re going to repay any loan (including VAT/ tax deferrals). Repayments will use up vital cashflow when your business starts to recover
4. Stop and think about what the forecast is telling you. Is planning a return to the old normal the right thing for your business? If sales are down to a minimum at the moment then what sales do you want to regain? This is a good time to take stock and re-focus.

It’s always difficult knowing where to start with this, but the checklist has a structure that you can follow and the sooner you get started the sooner you’ll finish. If you get into difficulties give me a call, I’d be happy to help!

Help with accessing support for small businesses

Posted on by Susie Kevern

In the news recently there have been horror stories about how difficult it’s proving for small businesses to access the government’s CBILS business support scheme. Here we look at how to get the best result in any funding application, and particularly the Covid-19 support.

We are currently supporting a number of businesses with their loan applications so here are our tips on what to include in your application:

1. What support do you need?

The CBILS scheme is actually just government backing for standard bank overdrafts and loan so think carefully about ways to reduce your business spending in order to reduce the potential loan you will need. There is a raft of new measures to consider: furloughing staff, deferring VAT and requesting payment holidays, amongst others.

2. Make your case

The days of bank managers who keep in regular contact with your business are long gone so be prepared to give the bank an introduction to your business; include your last set of accounts, your most recent management accounts and a summary of your recent successes and future plans. Think of this as a sales pitch; make the bank manager want to back you.

3. Outline the effects of the disruption on your business

The bank will want to see the effect on both your profitability and your cashflow, over the next 3-6 months. A cashflow forecast is essential for this – now, more than ever, cash is king. As well as the numbers make sure you explain what changes you expect in words. Every business will feel the effects differently so you can’t expect the bank manager to know this already.

4. What will your business look like after this is over?

Do you expect some of your customers to disappear? Can you capitalise on the changes you’ve been forced to make? Are new markets suddenly open to you? Most importantly you need to extend that cashflow forecast to (ideally) show the bank that you expect your recovery to allow you to repay the loan that you’re applying for.

Finally, remember to state clearly how much money you want to borrow based on the forecasts above.


We have a detailed advice sheet on giving that application your best shot: Government support.
You can find other information and help concerning the government’s support for businesses at this time on our Covid-19 support page

Financing a growing business

Posted on by Susie Kevern

Yesterday I was lucky enough to be at the NatWestBoost event in Exeter with Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones of The Black Farmer. It was a fantastic morning full of inspiration and really good advice – but what struck me was Wilfred’s take on financing his business.

With an eye-catching brand and great proposition it is ripe for raising capital from investors or crowdfunding & he confessed that he had looked into it. But in his words: “the moment that you have outsiders in your business you have to listen to all sorts of other perspectives. Growing a business needs the tenacious drive of a passionate entrepreneur”

I speak to lots of ambitious food businesses who need more cashflow in order to grow. Some of the successful crowdfunding stories make it seem like a low risk, easy way to grow. However in practice it’s never as simple as the stories make out and you give away some of your control and potential rewards as well.

At the workshop on 25th March I am lucky enough to be joined by Toby Jones from Start Point Finance who advised Wilfred on raising capital to grow his business (Start Point Case Study). Toby will share his advice and experiences on the right way to raise money for growing businesses.

Train Life

Posted on by Susie Kevern

I set myself a couple of challenges with my New Years Resolutions this year: firstly, to reduce my carbon footprint and secondly to use my time more effectively.

So the first change to make on the way to achieving these goals was to switch the car for the train where possible. Admittedly I am lucky to live within a stone’s throw of the Tarka Line between North Devon and Exeter, but even so I have been surprised by the outcome.

First of all the train is cheaper than driving in to Exeter, especially when you add the cost of parking. And it achieved my primary objective of reducing my car’s carbon emissions.

In addition to this I can sit on the train working, reading, or writing (blog posts for example!). I try to spend my driving time listening to audiobooks and while this is mostly educational it always feels like using up dead time rather than being productive time.

So far so good, these are the changes I expected to see. But I have noticed other changes that I didn’t expect:

I have to be more organised – I think I’m pretty organised with my client work, but planning of my personal time is always far from being a priority. Now I am making more time for getting to and from events, so I am more relaxed and more likely to be on time!

I’m walking more, to and from the station, which I hadn’t realised would happen. And it’s through the centre of Exeter past all the lovely shops; because I’m walking I can I actually appreciate it, rather than just grabbing essentials at service stations.

Finally while I like to think that I am comfortable with new situations, I’ve been surprised at how much I’ve had to learn (read this as how many times I’ve had to ask people for more information!) and this has highlighted how stuck in my ways I’ve got.

I’ve learnt loads about the Tarka Line, needing time request that I stops at the right place, needing to find out which platform to be on (sometimes there’s just one, for both directions!), how long it takes to walk across Exeter, and how to solve the various problems that have already sprung up.

Plus I’ve learnt more tedious things like how my laptop bag isn’t as waterproof as I had thought and how I need to reconsider my handbag choices so that I can carry my insulated coffee cup around after its been emptied!

The bottom line is that I am loving the train travel, even without considering the money or carbon saved. So from next week I’ll be using the train for travel north into Barnstaple and I’m ready to consider the next change to make.

Does my Business Plan need a Mission Statement?

Posted on by Susie Kevern

Mission statements are just corporate waffle, about “empowering”, “finding new paradigms” and “evangelising findings”. Right?

Recently I have been working in developing Business Plans with two (very different) clients. As part of my preparation for this I started working on my own Business Plan.

It has been about two years since I wrote my original plan. At that point I was just beginning – exploring what I wanted to do and trying to work out what my clients valued about the work I was doing for them.

So it was very vague in some ways, but it was specific in others. For example I knew, and wrote down that I wanted to limit my working hours to school hours, and then only during term time.

This has proved really valuable – when things were going badly I could remind myself what my original idea was and see that if I could pull it off it would be worth it.

Once or twice people suggested full time roles to me which would have been financially lucrative, but demand much more time. My written down business plan enabled me to compare those opportunities to my expectations and see if a job was something that was worth sacrificing my flexibility for. Clearly it wasn’t, or I wouldn’t be writing this now!

Over the course of the last year things have gradually fallen into place and so it seemed like a good time to refresh my business plan to fill in the gaps in the previous one, and set new targets for the next few years.

I have developed my own template for my clients’ Business Plans; a bit more personal and detailed than some of the generic internet ones but basically covering the same material. So, I worked through it and finally came to the mission statement (I think you should leave the Mission Statement to last, because sometimes it’s difficult to understand what’s important until you have focused deeply on what you want to achieve and how you’re going to do that.

Initially I thought that I might just write a sentence, but I have recently read “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” which extols the benefits of having a Mission Statement that means something to use as a guide to what really matters. So I really thought about it and lo and behold I settled on:

“I will help small businesses control their outcomes by taking the time to understand their practices and problems and by respecting their hard work and their trust in me. ”

This reflects my clients’ feedback on how they feel about the way I work, but most importantly I feel that if I can stay true to this I will be really proud of and fulfilled by what I do.

With a Business Plan that’s written down I have the ability to look back in one, two or even five years and see how the actual progress compared to my plan.

So, to answer my original question, I think my Business Plan is better for having a statement at the beginning that sums up, in one sentence, what it is that’s important to me and what I’m aiming for.