I am regularly asked to undertake a “Business Appraisal.” What is this?

An appraisal of this nature looks in detail at all aspects of the business and its resources particularly the people within it and their aspirations. The review will look at costs of labour and machinery as well as all other costs - administration, rent and finance. Through my experience and benchmarking your figures against a real database of other clients and standard data that I can share with you, I will be able to make sound recommendations for you and for the future.

A cashflow projection driven by a sound budget is an integral part of any appraisal. However, I also prepare budgets and cashflows for a range of businesses on an annual basis and for many, this is an important part of annual planning and a time for considered reflection to look at last year’s costs and outputs against budget and, most importantly, to consider in detail the year in prospect. This is the ideal time for the business managers to meet together and discuss their plans and proposals for the future and together with capital expenditure plans, repair obligations and the like, bring these all together into the budget.

Many businesses benefit simply by making the time to discuss the future in a structured manner; I can help to facilitate that as, believe it or not, I am used to dealing with families that do not routinely talk about their work as a business! I am also used to working as a director, whether the place of work is in the boardroom or in the kitchen.