Business, Equipment & Home Finance for SMEs
The team at The 500 Group, would like to extend our best wishes to our clients, suppliers and financiers for an amazing Festive Season and a prosperous 2019! With another year coming to a close it is important to reflect on: What has been achieved The challenges overcome The lessons learned Certainly 2018 has been [...]
In finance a good customer outcome is not necessarily always borrowing more or indeed reducing amortisation. Often a good customer outcome and the right thing is to reduce debt through amortisation. Good Customer Outcome - Poor Structure not a Lack of Intent! In our experience many business owners would like to reduce their debt! However, [...]
In an environment where there has been a lot of negative press, it is easy to lose sight of the good customer outcomes most brokers achieve on behalf of their clients! The value and balance brokers bring to the bank - client relationship. For many clients, a key frustration as their business grows and evolves, is [...]
A key to success is a clear Business Vision - knowing in advance the type of business you are trying to create. This is about being able to visualise, & importantly document, what your business will be like in granular detail – when it is operating precisely how you want it. A Business Vision is [...]
At The The 500 Group Group, we learned that one of the most powerful actions a business can take is to clearly define its Business Purpose! That is, why does the business exist? What is its reason for being? From the customer perspective, the products or the services a business sells are simply a means [...]
Real time accounting offers many benefits for business owners! It is something we implemented at The 500 Group some 12 months ago and advocate to our clients. From a business perspective, real time accounting: Puts you in control Provides “real time” financial information to help you make more informed business decisions Saves time and significantly [...]
Often when seeking finance from a Bank, clients are asked to prepare a cashflow forecast. Whilst most business owners will rightly seek assistance of their Accountant or Bookkeeper to prepare the forecasts, it is important to understand the process involved and to have input into their preparation. Why you need to prepare a cashflow forecast [...]
Increasingly when businesses look for funding from a Bank they will be asked to provide three way Financial Forecasts. In the past, often a simple cashflow forecast would have been sufficient, however whilst a cashflow forecast can be helpful as a guide – its ability to provide Lenders with a comprehensive overview of the future [...]
Often when lending against a business, a condition of approval set by the Banks will be that the business operate within and/or meet certain Financial Covenants. For business owners, unfamiliar with the concept Financial Covenants it can be a scary prospect! It can be hard enough to run a business, meet interest and repayment obligations, [...]
To enjoy business success there are four critical questions that need to be answered: Who - are our ideal customers or major customer groups? What - are the needs we meet or the problems we solve? How - do we do it? Why - should customers choose us and not our competition? Business Success Question [...]
