You're not alone. Many business owners in the NDIS and Allied Health space, find themselves constantly reacting—putting out fires and jumping from one task to the next. But with the new financial year now underway, it's time to start the New Financial Year with intention and clarity.

Be Intentional: Plan, Don’t Wing It

One of the simplest yet most powerful habits you can develop is taking just a few minutes each day to set clear goals. These don’t need to be major milestones—just three focused actions each day that move you closer to where you want to go.

Write them down. Commit to them.

Even when unexpected things come up (and they always do), you’ll have made real progress by the end of the day.

Financial Preparation is Key

Being clear that your time is only part of the picture—now’s also the time to prepare financially for the year ahead. Start by putting a few practical measures in place:

• Create a budget for your business. Know your expenses, income targets, and how you’ll track against them.

• Prepare a cash flow forecast to anticipate any peaks and troughs before they hit.

• Set up separate bank accounts for things like tax, super, and other obligations. This helps you avoid surprises and keeps your main account clear.

• Block out time in your calendar to review your finances regularly weekly or fortnightly works well. If it’s not scheduled, it probably won’t happen.

Make Progress Visible

The best part? When you make this a habit, progress becomes visible and measurable. You’ll feel more in control and less overwhelmed.

So, what are three things you can do today to set yourself up for the new financial year? Write them down and take one step forward on each.

This will enable you to start the New Financial Year with intention and clarity.

Need a hand getting started?

Click Let’s Chat and we'll set up a time chat about your unique situation.

#NewFinancialYear #SmallBusinessTips #CashFlowPlanning #BudgetingForBusiness #TimeManagement #DailyGoals #NDISBusinessSupport #AlliedHealthBusiness #TakeAction

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So how can you determine if you have the right team in your NDIS, Allied Health or not-for-profit business?

Well, here’s some thoughts:

First you need to evaluate your team.

So, look at:

Skills and Qualifications:
Do your staff have the necessary skills and certifications. Check their work and contact the bodies that issued their certifications

Cultural Fit:
Do your team members align with your organisation’s values and mission. What do your staff value and do these align with the business?

Performance and Feedback:
Regularly review performance and gather feedback from clients and peers.  Have a performance review framework that checks in at least quarterly with staff.  Use a survey and calls to clients to understand what your clients think about your business.

Next, we look at what we need to do.

Here are 3 tips to resolve staffing issues:

Training and Development:
Invest in ongoing professional development to keep your team updated with the industry standards.

Effective Communication:
Open communication by having regular meetings and providing feedback to address issues early.

Recruitment Strategy:
Revise your recruitment process to attract the right talent with clear job descriptions and thorough interviews.

AccordinHaving the right team working with you ensures a cohesive, skilled, and motivated team dedicated to providing exceptional care to your clients.

If you need help with asking the right questions and assessing a candidate's suitability, I am available to support you with this important task.

Just reach out below https://bit.ly/HPAACall!

#NDISProviders #RecruitmentTips #BusinessSuccess #Higherpurposeaccounting

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• Why should I bother with a budget or cash flow forecast?
• How can I make sure there's enough money to pay my staff and myself?
• What's the right price for my product or service?

Businesses, particularly small ones can really struggle with managing the financial aspects especially meeting compliance deadlines for taxation and superannuation. 

Do you want to be in the position of having a tax debt?  Or not being able to pay your staff on time?

Budgeting (and cash flow forecasting) can be the difference between growth and sustainability or chaos and failure.  But where do you start? What do you need to include in a budget and cash flow forecast?

Before I answer these questions, let’s look at what each of these is in more detail.

What are budgets & cash flow forecasts?

A budget is an estimation of revenue and expenses over a specified future period and a means to track your progress.  These are usually created each year and referred to each month.   A cash flow forecast shows money coming in and out and the timing of it.  For example, you may invoice for one month but receive payment in the next month.  It is generally reviewed and adjusted on a weekly basis.

Why do I need them?

These tools keep us organised and give us something to aim for.  Each of these provides us with a framework to work with and help us avert issues like a cash deficit.   They also allow us to take advantage of new opportunities as these appear enabling us to grow our business and our wealth.

Banks, lenders and grant providers will also request you provide a budget and cash flow forecast when applying for funds to support working capital, purchasing assets and for project grant applications.

How do I put them together?

Putting together a budget and a cash flow forecast can seem complicated and daunting. But it really doesn’t have to be.  You just need to have a framework, some boundaries to work within and a template to complete.  Here’s some things you can do:

• Determine the number, frequency, and pricing of your offerings.
• Identify various expenses, including staff, rent, subscriptions, travel, utilities, and office-related costs.
• Break down your cash flow forecast on a weekly basis, while outlining your budget on a monthly and yearly scale.
• Create a checklist for all essential elements and document the assumptions you've relied on.
• Utilise a pre-designed budget and cash flow forecast template for enhanced organisation and efficiency.

- enter all income and expense categories for the year by month.  Total this by category, month and year.
- You may need to have separate sheets showing how the monthly figures come together (eg: x number of services @ $Y price each)

Now, how do I use them?

There’s not much point putting together a budget and cash flow forecast unless you are going to do something with them.  You’re just wasting your time!

So, how do I use each of these finely crafted documents?

Budget

With the budget you would want to:
- Add the budget to your accounting software
- Run a Profit and Loss report each month
- Compare your budget to the actual outcomes

Now you can then adjust for current and projected future outcomes.

Cash flow forecast

In the cash flow forecast you need to:
- review your cash coming and out of your bank account weekly
- compare this to the previous week’s forecast
- update your bank account opening balance for the week
- adjust your forecast for cash coming in and out for current and future weeks

From my experience, this can be a quite a challenge for many businesses, particularly smaller ones and not-for-profits. That’s why I created an online course with a simple but structured approach to budgeting.

The course takes participants through:
- understanding why we need a budget and what we need to include
- creating a robust budget and using it to make decisions
- how to monitor progress and cash flows in the business 

It’s quite comprehensive. So, participants can get assistance from me to plan the budget and review it as an extra to the course.

I always say that without a budget and cash flow forecast, you are doing things blindly!  So, will a budget and cash flow forecast save your business?  I truly believe it will!

So, what can I do now?

Book a 15 min chat to discuss how the Budgeting online course will help you create a budget that works for your business.

You’ll determine what revenue you’ll need to pay your staff, pay yourself and pay your expenses.  And, you’ll have cash flow to grow your business!  Click the link below to get started!

https://bit.ly/HPA15mCall

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Separate personal and business finances completely

That dinner you had wasn’t part of a meeting with client, yet you used your business card. Those computers that you bought were meant for work, but you ended up using your personal payment card. Yeah, you can pay yourself back from your business or pay back to your business from your personal account. But DON’T!

It’s that simple.

Personal and business finances should never ever be mixed together whatever the circumstances may be. Generally, when you spend on your business, you should record a transaction. If you don’t or if you combine personal and business finances, then things can become a pain pretty soon and it will be hell for you to track down all the expenses.

So, separate the two accounts right from the start and you’ll be saving yourself a good amount of time and pain in the future. And let’s not forget that this will be a huge help when you lodge your tax return.

Organise yourself!

For organising your finances that is. Spend around 15 to 30 minutes every week and the only thing that you should be doing during this time is to sort out your finances and make sure that they are in proper order.

And by the way, this little activity can even help you gain insights especially if you make good use of your accounting system.

Track salaries

Yes, there is a need to mention this separately. Whether you are the only one working or have a team of staff, track costs associated with salaries, benefits, leaves, overtime and other relevant expenses separately.  This will let you know if your labour costs are within the budget or outside it. Accordingly, you can decide if you should spend more on incentivising your team or if you need to cut down on some benefits.

Consult the professionals

We mentioned this at the start of our discussion, but let’s talk about it again for emphasis. Accountants are a vital part of any team.  They are an expert in maintaining accounting and finance systems and have done it for so many businesses just like yours. They know exactly what works, what doesn’t and which deductions you should utilise.

Agreed, you may want to refrain from hiring an accountant for anything other than tax and other compliance areas, but trust us, bring a professional accountant and trusted advisor on board and the improvements made will more than compensate for the investment!

So, there you have it - Separate, Track, Organise and Consult.  Then you will be well on your way to manging your finances effectively.

Higher Purpose Accounting can help you in setting up your accounting system and managing your finances. Visit our website or book in a call for more information.

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1. Invoice Each Day
It may seem that it is more efficient to invoice weekly, fortnightly or even monthly.  But remember once the service or product is provided you are entitled to be paid and cash flow will suffer the longer you take to get paid.

4. Paydown Debt
Debt can be helpful at times to help grow the business by financing assets or short-term needs.  This will benefit the business in the longer term.  But having debt like credit cards and overdrafts that don’t get paid off promptly or at all, are a recipe for disaster.  In the longer-term as the business becomes reliant on them for operations rather than growing the business.

6. Review and Systemise Your Processes
Every business is dynamic so what worked today may not be suitable for tomorrow.  Regularly reviewing your business and creating systems for repetitive tasks/processes is a must.  Otherwise, you run the risk of operating inefficiently and are unable to respond quickly to changes in your situation.

If you want more strategies, download My 7 Top Strategies to Improve Your Business Cash Flow in 7 Days. These strategies will help you get some structure around knowing and managing your cash flows in your business. And will save you time and give you peace of mind as well.

To download a copy and start implementing yourself, click this link:
https://www.higherpurposeaccounting.com.au/7Strats7Days

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This involves assessment and documentation of multiple processes, along with full reporting on all business operations - from the inside out.

Genuine quality control means there are no nasty surprises when the external auditor comes to call.

In an ideal world, every NDIS provider would use a failsafe system of internal audits to mitigate persistent risks in an increasingly complex industry. But the world of NDIS compliance is not ideal, and can be relied upon to change constantly.

Here are five ways internal audits can streamline organisational processes and empower NDIS service providers.

1. Go digital

Many providers in the disability arena are wary of doing away with paper-based audits.

Yet this stops them achieving optimal performance. After all, paper gets lost - thrown away or stored in the wrong filing cabinet. Store your data in the cloud and it provides you with a virtual office that is scalable and secure.

Manual, paper-based audits also tend to get done erratically, if at all – either forgotten or pushed back to another date. Time-poor staff spend valuable hours transposing data manually to collate results. It’s a laborious process.

Cloud-based audits allow employers to more effectively track, measure and assess performance.

2. Simplify risk assessment

The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission lays down strict guidelines concerning risk management in NDIS organisations.

Disability service providers now face a dizzying array of statutory reporting obligations relating to:

• Management of incidents, complaints, information and human resources.
• Work health and safety.
• Governance issues.

Smart assessment tools allow you to simplify and streamline your entire risk assessment process - identifying, documenting, evaluating, assessing and treating key risks proactively versus reactively in your organisation.

3. Pursue continuous improvement

NDIS disability service providers are now expected to demonstrate continuous improvement in every aspect of operation.

If your own self-auditing process is ad hoc, incomplete or messy, you won’t be able to document or prove your progress in any consistent way.

Beat your own benchmarks by using a digital internal auditing system which supports a Continuous Improvement plan.

4. Turn up the transparency

Disability service providers are in constant communication with clients, employees, contractors, auditors and the NDIS Commission – or they should be.

NDIS Practice Standards are cracking down on poor reporting practices, along with failure to document, communicate and act on a range of incidents and complaints.

A fit-for-purpose system with audit scheduling and tracking capability could effectively support one or many auditors in your organisation.

5. Provide the evidence

Disability service providers can no longer survive with sloppy work practices and gaps in documentation.

The Commission requires them to collect evidence, share results, show improvement and demonstrate compliance to external auditors – in a systematic way.

An evidence-based audit system ensures you can record critical data, rate performance, measure and review progress.

Blog provided by Centro Assist 12.2020

If you would like some assistance, get in touch. Click here!

To know more about what Higher Purpose Accounting Advisory can do for you, Click Here!

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Provide your feedback in this survey and be part of the movement in helping business thrive in the NDIS.

The survey will take about 4 minutes of your time to complete depending on your responses. Your time to complete this is greatly appreciated with a chance to receive a $100 gift card.

Privacy
Please be assured your response is secure and the information provided will only be used to develop services critical to helping NDIS Providers improve their service delivery and administration.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CMW3XMX

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Open a separate bank account

Once your business is registered, earning income and paying expenses, you need a place where you can record and manage these. Open a separate bank account for the purpose so that distinct records are maintained. Don’t forget that this will make your life so much easier when it’s tax time, for GST accounting and for tracking and setting aside monies for staff related expenses.

You can initially start with a basic account, and then later on, move to an interest earning savings account.  Needless to say, do some shopping around here and compare offers from various banks. Go with the one that is more affordable whilst meeting your needs.

Keep a track of your expenses

From day one you need to keep good records of your expenses and spend wisely in the areas which will set the foundation for the future. You may be generating income but if you are spending money fasting than you are earning, you will come into trouble in the future with cash flow.

Establish a proper system to organise your receipts and maintain your records making sure that you are safely storing expense records for your tax deductions and for for later referral.  These days you can scan and store documents within your accounting software.

Set up a bookkeeping system

Bookkeeping is the process of recording daily transactions, categorising them and then reconciling the records with bank statements.  Choose appropriate accounting software, and decide if you want to recruit someone for the job or outsource the task.

Generally, it is best to hand over all your bookkeeping to a third party so that you can focus on your core business.  It is a false economy to try to do it yourself!

Establish a payroll system

You hire one person at the start, then two, and eventually a team. And some of them may be part time employees as well.  Consider whether your staff should be independent contractors or employees. The amount of work to be carried out and the type will help you decide here - remember if you only need one or two people part-time, it will be less compliance to have them as contractors who can invoice you as each project is completed.  That said, check with your tax account that you are meeting the compliance requirements for a contractor or an employee and organise someone to process payroll if this is the road you take.

Decide how you want to be paid

Are your sales rolling in? Great! Decide acceptable payment options. If you’d be willing to accept credit and debit cards, you’ll have to set up a merchant account or sign up with a payment processor. Also, consider automated debtor collection if you raise invoices and accept payment by EFT.

Determine tax obligations

Tax obligations widely vary depending upon your type of business structure.  Income tax, GST, FBT, PAYG may apply - talk to an accountant or a tax expert, and they’ll guide you through what is required for each type.

Re-evaluate your methods

Re-evaluate your accounting procedures and systems every now and then. If you are using the right methods and appropriate solutions, you are saving time and increasing efficiency.  Also ask for some advice from an accountant bookkeeper or business owners in your industry to determine how you are going and what you could improve.

Higher Purpose Accounting can help you in setting up your system and managing your finances. Visit our website or give us a call on 0434 349 704 for more information.

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Understand working capital

Do you truly understand your working capital? Working capital is your current assets minus your current liabilities and includes cash, inventory, accounts receivable and payable, payroll, loans/credit and unpaid taxes.

Now, have you decided the amount that you consider to be required? Before you do anything else, make sure that you have the answers to following questions:

• What should be your minimum inventory level?
• When do you invoice customers, how regularly and how long does it take for them to pay you?
• How much do your customers owe you? Or do you owe them any products or services for advanced payments made?
• How long does order preparation or service delivery take place, right from when you pay your suppliers to getting payments from your clients?

Have enough cash on hand

The next step is to ascertain that you have cash on hand to meet your basic expenses.  Do you have some kind of buffer in the form of a term deposit, an overdraft, revolving credit facility or even personal funds?  Having enough cash to cover 6 months operating expenses is a good buffer to call upon when unexpected times come and you need access to additional cash.  Remember, when you do this you’ll need to identify where you could generate extra sales easily and look to delay non-discretionary expenditure.

 Plan for the future

At least for this year anyway.  Predict your incoming and outgoing cash flows for the next few months. Ascertain that you have or would have enough funds through this time to keep your business running. If you can’t forecast sales, then plan your outgoing cash flows first. Now figure out the amount of income that you need for your outgoings.  That’s the target that you should have in mind.   Next year you will have more data and experience so you should be able to plan for a longer time frame.

And then plan for the month

Great, you have a yearly plan. Now let’s work on a month by month plan.  Do you have enough cash to meet all your expenses by the 20^th of this month?  Create a plan for every month from now onward, and if you’ll ever have to face a shortage, you’ll know sooner rather than later and make the necessary adjustments before issues arise that negatively affect your business.  Excel is great for this or you could use the function available in many of the cloud based accounting systems.

Review your existing systems

Analyse your existing finance and other administrative systems which are not great for many of the small businesses that we have come across. When do you invoice and do you do this regularly? How soon do you get your receivables? How do you collect – direct debit or monthly account and is follow-up automated?  What reports do you use to know what you owe to suppliers and what your customers owe to you?

Ensure your customers can pay you easily

How many payment options do you accept? Allow customers to pay you through any means that they find convenient. Accept credit cards, PayPal, EFTPOS and see if payments can be automated. Fees you incur having these are small compared to time spent chasing up outstanding amounts.

Bring in an expert from outside

The best tip that we can give you is to use professional accounting, advisory and bookkeeping services, experts who will reduce unnecessary expenses, save you time, automate your systems and optimise your finances.

If you would like to know more about any of the items mentioned in this article, please use the Higher Purpose Accounting Contact Form at:

http://www.higherpurposeaccounting.com.au/

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While there isn't a fool-proof plan to reach small business startup success, there are common and costly mistakes many new business owners make that can negatively impact their businesses.

Here are 10 of the most common mistakes to avoid as you start your small business.

1  Skipping the Planning Phase

Planning may be tedious, but without a solid plan for your business that includes business idea research and market potential, you will be operating in the dark. The most important plans to consider include a business plan, a financial plan, and a marketing plan.

2  Not Setting Goals

Goals can give you direction when you first start your business, then keep you on track during the day-to-day operations. By making sure your goals are SMART goals, you can identify where you want to go and outline specific steps that you will take to get there.

3  Undervaluing Your Products or Services

Many times, lack of confidence in our ability and fear of failure causes us to under-price our products and services. This is a dangerous path to take because it undermines the unique value you bring to the table and opens up the possibility of resentment and frustration. Recovering from undervaluing your products and servicess is a long road, so you should explore the market thoroughly as you start your business to identify the best price entry point for what you're selling.

4  Avoiding New Technology

As small business owners, technology can provide new opportunities, help us do our work more efficiently and even help us save money.  New technology may be intimidating, and require time to learn and understand, and require a financial investment but an unwillingness to adapt to technological advances can hurt your business in the short- and long-term.

5  Being Afraid of Marketing

Marketing can take many forms from word of mouth referrals, to traditional advertising, to social media marketing. There aren't any set rules when it comes to marketing; the best type of marketing for you depends on your business and your target audience. The mistake is assuming you don't need to market and that business will come to you.

6  Not Knowing Who Your Ideal Customer Is

One vital part of any successful marketing campaign is understanding who your ideal customer is. It's not enough to create a marketing budget and try a little bit of everything. You need to do market research to identify who you are trying to reach (your customer avatar), where you can find them and how they will react to your marketing activities.

7  Overspending

Starting a business doesn't have to require a large investment, but some new business owners feel that they need to spend a lot to purchase the best of the best everything from marketing help, to equipment, to software at the start up stage.  There are usually other, less expensive but equally viable options available, if you're willing to do the research.  And allways measure your return on  investment from each item.  Creating and sticking to a business budget to curb overspending is always an excellent idea.

8  Underspending

Some small business owners who don't overspend fall on the other end of the spectrum and refuse to spend much on anything. While there are certainly ways to start and grow a business with limited funds, going too far and not investing any kind of capital in your business can severely limit your potential for success.

9  Doing It All Alone

A small business owner may be willing to learn how to be a jack of all trades, but it doesn't have to be that way. Effective delegation can be one of the best ways for new small business owners to build their businesses, free up their time for business activities that require their unique expertise, and build a team positioned for future success.

10  Not Making a Commitment

Starting a business requires a number of success-oriented character traits such as drive, dedication and a serious sense of commitment. Small business owners need to be willing to make sacrifices, put in the time necessary, and face challenges head-on if they want their businesses to be successful.

We all make mistakes. The key is being aware of them and consistently working to make smart, well-informed decisions in your business. If you can do that, and remain resilient when you do make a mistake, success will be within your reach.

To learn more Contact us today

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