At a recent meeting of the ACCA Ireland Munster/Connaught Members’ Network at the Menlo Park Hotel, ACCA Ireland president Brian McEnery spoke about what small companies should do if they find themselves in difficult circumstances.
Mr McEnery is also one of the newly appointed directors of NAMA. “In times like these, small businesses need tight controls on debtor days and a solid retention of title clauses, which means making sure that ownership of your goods does not pass over to the buyer until full payment is made,” he told the meeting. “Regular weekly cash flow reports are vital to ensure that you are on track to pay employees and creditors.”
Mr McEnery also had a few words of advice about cash flow and urged business owners to be willing to make fundamental changes to their business if necessary. “Cash is king so you need to focus on what is bringing it in at the moment,” he said. “This may require a major shift and perhaps a complete change of focus if one particular area is not performing well, even if that was where you started originally. To paraphrase Charles Darwin it’s not the strongest of the species that survives or the most intelligent but the one most responsive to change.”
At the event, Gerry Loughnane, chairman of the ACCA Galway Network, echoed Mr McEnery’s comments. “In this particularly challenging time where Galway businesses are coming under increased pressure, it is important to embrace the changes that may be required within your business to ensure that small businesses remain a key part of our environment now and into the future,” Mr Loughnane said.
