It's essential for success in business that you work on your people. There is a lot to consider here. From selection to training and culture right through to managed exits, remuneration and reward. Your business goals and strategy may need to be clearer than they currently are so that you can best organise your people for success.

Most of your team are aligned to the business vision, goals and are engaged in their work. But you can do better here. Clarify the vision, challenge the people. How is the culture? Does it support your strategy? How are you organised? Think about the areas where you can you make sustainable improvement.

You have the right people in the right roles and they are kicking goals! Well done. Now ask questions rather than give answers to further develop an innovative culture. Challenge your team. Think about how you can develop and retain your talent further so that your business can sustainably succeed.

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Information is late coming to you, and its quality is questionable. You need it quicker and you need it to be right. Review your technology, your processes and explore cloud accounting solutions. If it's not your strength, get help from your adviser and consider an outsourced CFO service.

The numbers look pretty good but perhaps you are not 100% confident that it’s the right information or that it supports your strategy completely. Is it current, automated, streamlined and visual and does it provide insights to your business performance so that you can improve?

You receive information from your team, on time, with quality and confidence, in a streamlined process, plus you understand what that means to your business. Well done. Challenge the business to do it faster and leaner or to support new initiatives in your strategy.

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Are you running your business or is your business running you? Choose some big ticket items to tackle first, share the work around your team, and consider getting help on disciplines that aren't your strongest.

Being in control of your business tends to ebb and flow. Eliminate, automate or delegate. Prioritise, outsource, and don't feel bad about taking time out to work on the business to gain a fresh perspective.

You run a tight ship and your leadership steers the business well. Well done! Leading by example, explaining the business’s vision, and communicating effectively is no easy feat. What would happen if you weren't there?

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You have a whole bunch of unprofitable customers that are draining resources and creating inconsistencies with pricing and maybe service levels too. Review your customer segmentation and price strategy to improve profitability. Don't be afraid to reassess long standing relationships.

Your customers are a mixed bag. You have some great customers who are easy to work with, who value your product/service and are profitable. But, you also have a few tail customers that are consuming more resource than they're paying for. Review your customer segmentation strategy and avoid over/under servicing your customers.

Your customer base is solid! Your customers are pretty easy to work with, they value your product/service and they are profitable. High fives all round.

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Your cashflow is not flowing as well as you'd like. In fact, there's periods of drought. Try focussing on collection, syncing your credit terms to your suppliers, organise your books and review your position with your adviser.

Your cash flow is OK but maybe there are a few stalls and splutters. Try being really diligent with your late payment follow ups and ensure the payment terms are very clear to customers. Focus on cash flow reporting and review continually.

Although it's never easy, your cash flow is well managed. Well done.

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You may be preoccupied with metrics that don't impact your profitability. Perhaps it's getting more revenue from new customers, not paying enough attention to existing customers or even just cost cutting. Try focusing on the profitable sections of your customer base and understand what's working there and try to apply it across the business.

You're going well but there are fluctuations between your key profit drivers. Work towards targeting your best and most profitable customers, instead of trying to please the price sensitive ones. This will lead to long term profits and long term relationships.

You understand your profit drivers (price, variable costs, fixed costs, and sales volume) and how they affect your business's financial performance. Regardless of these drivers, ensure profitability is your focus for success.

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Are you breaking even, or are costs blowing out even further? You need to focus on those cost variances to your budget to find out what's happening and where you need to focus.

You have varying outcomes when comparing your costs to your revenue. Perhaps your revenue is high, but some of your costs are too high? How are those cost variances to your budget? Managing costs and revenue to maximize profit is key and planning and disciplined review is key.

Your business is cost efficient. You know your expected costs and manage the unexpected ones well. The revenue is steadily increasing whilst managing your costs. Well played.

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Your profitability is not where you want it to be. Perhaps you're starting up, or you've hit a rough spot, regardless it's time to get your profitability back on track. Review your price strategy, your cost structure and your cash flow. Sync it all to your financial plan.

Your profitability is OK, but perhaps could be improved? Maybe some products and/or services are lucrative and others are losing you money. Consider looking at your pricing and bundling of your products/services as well as your overheads and direct costs. Compare to your budget and get the right team around the insights you gain.

Well done, your bottom line is looking very healthy. Your pricing is on point and you are meeting your revenue and costs targets.

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Your budgeting and forecasting efforts are few and far between. Start with a simple and concise budget representing the key aspects of your business.

You have a budget but you don't compare it to your results and/or don't review this regularly to determine what needs changing in your business.

You are profitable and you regularly compare this to what you forecasted and the results are pretty close to what you expected.

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Your tax returns are possibly incomplete, other tax matters like indirect taxes may not have been considered, or you don’t know what is coming up. Tax is one of your largest costs and needs to be managed, so seek appropriate advice or better educate yourself.

You're fairly confident your tax outcome is optimised. Focus on planning ahead to minimise potential nasty surprises and review at least annually.

You are confident that you and your business have an optimal tax outcome and that you are comfortable with all other taxation aspects of your business like indirect taxes. Your adviser explains the tax implications to your business's structure and how it connects to the bigger picture and your position is regularly reviewed.

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You have some information about your business, but perhaps not enough and it's late. The reports can be difficult to understand and not timely enough to make real action on the results. Review your information needs and consider outsourced CFO services.

You have cloud based accounting systems, but you aren't 100% sure that you receive relevant information on time. Perhaps it's the accuracy of the transactional information, the accounts team managing it or the original set up. Regardless, revisit the system set up, ensure it's aligned to your strategy and ensure you are receiving relevant and timely insights into your business.

Your accounting systems work well. There's zero maintenance and support dependence, and you have regular and accurate financial information allowing you to run your business effectively. Time to challenge the status quo, get a deeper team around the financial insights and push your strategy further.

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You want to grow your business, but perhaps it just feels like a dream?! Don't let your business fall behind. Find time to work ON your business, not just IN it.

Sounds like you may have a loose/relaxed plan for growing your business which is a good start. But the best businesses have well organised plans and review processes. Ensure you have covered all bases by having the right team around you and are working through your strategies to a disciplined execution timetable.

Congratulations! You have a growth plan in place with measurable goals and allocated responsibilities and an achievable timeline.

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Perhaps you don't have a good relationship (or any relationship) with a banking adviser and/or don't have a proactive set of eyes on your funding arrangements. It may be time to explore other banking relationships or review your funding strategies.

Your banking/funding arrangements are probably optimised, however, perhaps it's been a while since it's been reviewed, or you may want to know what alternate options there are? Periodic review is essential.

You have a great relationship with your bank as well as your business adviser. You have access to a range of tailored banking solutions that are tailored to your business. Can these grow with you?

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Your business plan could use some love. Try setting some SMART goals and create a timeline with some smaller actionable steps.

Your business plan is a bit hit and miss. You have goals but have lost some focus on these. Set aside some time and work ON the business, not just IN it. Get an advice team around you to review progress and adjust.

Your business plan is on track. Your goals are clear, realistic, and specific. Great job. What's next?

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You're possibly not aware of the risks in your business, not sure how to tackle them, or haven't put in place contingency plans. It's never too late to mitigate risk in your business, and if this isn't your area of expertise, seek help.

You're fairly aware of the risks that could have an impact on your business. Ensure you review these formally and regularly.

There's no risky business where you're concerned. You've identified your risks and have a contingency plan in place to manage the likelihood of these risks occurring. Have you thought about business succession?

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You've either thought about putting business insurance in place or it's been a while since you've reviewed it. Regardless, protecting your livelihood can ensure that you, your employees and any members of the public (with whom you interact in your business) are protected.

You have some business insurances in place, but perhaps it been a while since it's been reviewed or, the business has had a variety of changes and new risks have emerged. Ensure you get your insurances and your operating structures reviewed regularly as businesses change frequently.

Running a business faces many types of risks and you are proactive in managing this risk, reducing uncertainties and are protecting your livelihood.

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What does your business look like without you? This is possibly your biggest procrastination point. Ensure you seek advice as succession planning is a multidisciplinary process.

You have a succession plan, which is a great start. Maybe you just need to get ball rolling a little faster? Start with what you want to achieve, i.e. retirement and your vision for the future of your business. Seek advice as succession planning is a multidisciplinary process.

Although it's not in place just yet, all successors of the succession plan are aware of the plan. There are efforts toward communication with all stakeholders and advisers are appointed. When you aren't there, will it all happen perfectly?

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You may or may not have the plan organised, but any kind of plan needs to be communicated early to avoid losing key staff and get them on board with your vision.

You have communicated your plan somewhat, but be aware that communication breakdown is one of the biggest threats to a smooth transition of a business. Ensure your goals and vision are very clear, and that you are keeping the right people in the loop at the right time.

Your stakeholders are all 'in the loop' and there are preparations for all involved parties to take over the business. All commercial and funding arrangements are in place. Well done.

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Process... What process? You're pretty much handling your business activities via instinct or reactively. Kudos to you for getting this far, however, you cant grow like this. Your business will be more successful and worth more if all key staff can answer the question "how do we do it here"!

You have some of your processes documented and some of them are not. Or perhaps they're a little outdated, or not available to all your team members. Try getting staff involved in continually updating and documenting processes, add them to your intranet/employee handbook or centralised storage location and encourage team discussions to get input from the right people - your team.

Process is your middle name. If there's a way to do an activity, then it's captured and communicated to your staff. There is one way to it. Ensure these processes are kept up to date and are in a central place for all staff to access and update.

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Now that you've been in business for a while, your existing business structure might not be in sync with your evolving goals. It's essential to review this as there are benefits to various business structures or even a combination of business structures that you may be able to take advantage of.

If it isn't broke, don't fix it? Well maybe the goalposts have moved and the risks and rewards are now really different compared to when you started. Your goals and your business have evolved. It's essential to periodically review your structure.

Your business has the most optimal structure in place, allowing for future succession, tax flexibility and efficiency, as well as wealth facilitation and protection. And you reviewed all this recently - well done!

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