March 2007

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article was first published in the Eastern Daily Press' 'The Business'  on 14 March 2007</I></div> <bR> <div> Getting the most from your assets</div> <bR> <div> I recently helped deliver a financial and commercial awareness programme to non-financial managers in a large, regionally-headquartered business.  Its primary objective was to give delegates a fundamental understanding of how a business functions and to qualify why it is so important that everyone in an organisation takes responsibility for cost and asset management.  At the end of the two-day workshop, the managers were more equipped for and were set the task of developing a range of ideas of how better to utilise the assets of the business and control its costs.  In six weeks, they reassemble in front of their top management to seek the support and resources necessary to implement projects and make changes that will bring substantial bottom line benefits to the company.  </div> <bR> <div> Then, a few days ago, I spoke to a local business networking breakfast group about some of the mentoring and coaching work I do with the owners and managers of smaller businesses.  Chatting afterwards to one business owner, the related topics of time management and task completion entered the conversation.  How, he asked, does one successfully juggle the range of conflicting priorities that are faced by the typical owner-manager?  For many businesspeople, it often feels like there are simply too many things to do in a limited amount of time with the result that, all too often, little or nothing of importance actually gets done.  How many times do you find yourself putting off that annoyingly difficult little task for yet another day?   </div> <bR> <div> Sitting now at my laptop with another column to write, I realised that these seemingly unrelated events have a common connection.  The assets of a business are not only tangible things like buildings and machinery and computers and inventory and cash in the bank.  They include the people and their skills and they include time.</div> <bR> <div> The delegates on the financial awareness course were introduced to some key business measures such as working capital, stock turnover, debtors' collection period and various liquidity ratios.  This was done not to transform them into accountants, but to help them understand one of the most important concepts that puts business profit and performance into perspective - return on investment.  This measure can be calculated in a number of ways, including return on equity, return on capital employed and return on assets.  In terms of performance improvement, getting more from the assets employed in a business is vital.  The profitability and cash generation capability of a business can usually be improved more by controlling and reducing costs and the amount of assets utilised than by increasing sales.</div> <bR> <div> So, when faced with a plethora of tasks to be completed and a finite amount of time in which to do them, be strict with yourself and concentrate only on those activities that are really important to the achievement of your aims, and you'll find your list of things to do shrinking appreciably.  Then, treat your time and your skills as assets just as you would equipment or cash and give the highest priority to those actions that yield the highest return on your investment.  It will pay off.</div> </td> <td valign="top" width=180 BGCOLOR="#CC3333" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>