With experts predicting that the UK’s economy will undergo rapid growth as it recovers from the pandemic, you need to make plans for your business if you want to capitalise on this growth.
Having a detailed strategy to grow your business will increase the likelihood that you will achieve your business objectives and exceed your targets. With a wealth of experience and commercial expertise, an Experienced Finance Director (EFD) is a highly valuable asset to any company looking to grow, especially during a time of economic turbulence.
Forecasted economic growth
Despite the UK’s GDP contracting by 9.9% in 2020, economists are optimistic that the economy will bounce back this year. Assuming the vaccine rollout continues to be successful and allows the government to fully lift restrictions, the economy is expected to grow at a record pace. The Bank of England predicts that the UK economy will grow by roughly 7.25% this year, its strongest year of economic growth since the Second World War.
Your business needs a growth strategy
Demanding careful consideration, a growth strategy will provide your business with a long-term goal and outline the actions you will take to achieve this. Crafting a more detailed underlying plan of action ensures you know how to grow and have the resources in place to facilitate this growth. By clearly defining your objectives, target audience and identifying growth opportunities, you can create a results-driven plan that will bring in the increased revenue needed to expand your operations.
Meticulous planning and the execution of a calculated strategy will drive success and enable your business to grow to its fullest potential. However, flexibility is essential, and no plan should be rigidly adhered to. Rather, it should be used to measure improvement and as a benchmark against which progress can be evaluated. Since market uncertainty is a potential headache for all businesses, you must adapt to the different economic conditions which could emerge during the year.
Hiring an experienced finance director will help
To create a strong growth strategy, your business must be equipped with accurate financial information and realistic forecasts. That is where an EFD comes in. Embedding seamlessly into your business, they will gain a deep understanding of your business’ drivers and performance and use their commercial acumen to help you develop your strategy. With a wealth of experience, EFDs are experts in creating and measuring strategic performance and helping Directors make better decisions. Liaising with all key stakeholders in the business, the EFD will identify the best ways to reduce costs, increase profits and grow revenues.
With expertise in financial forecasting, they will create detailed, realistic budgets and forecasts in an integrated Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet and Cashflow model based on actual historic data and known changes and trends in the business and the wider marketplace. These forecasts can then be used as a benchmark to measure performance.
Managing resources
Specialising in resource planning and managing change, EFD’s have helped numerous business owners plan and deliver growth strategies that enhance business value. For instance, operational scalability is highly important and must be planned in when formulating a growth strategy. You must have the resources needed to grow your business, whether that is more capital, stock, or staff. An EFD can support this by:
- Interrogating and challenging the strategic plan
- Creating detailed, realistic budgets supporting the strategic plan
- Raising essential capital needed to grow your business
- Negotiating better rates with suppliers to secure more stock
- Aiding the recruitment process to bring the most suitable people into your business
How Dartcell can help you grow
As the economy recovers to pre-pandemic levels, your business should be ready to take advantage of the opportunities to grow that will inevitably become available. Partnering with businesses on an interim or part-time basis, a Dartcell EFD will provide top-level commercial guidance and sound financial analysis. Based on historical financial data, your dedicated EFD will help you create a detailed plan and accompanying financial forecast to enable your business to grow as the economy recovers. If required, they will negotiate with lenders and raise additional finance to invest in your company’s growth and they will measure your performance against the plan as the strategy is executed. Our EFD will help ensure your business takes advantage of the economic bounceback and grows to its full potential.
If you need support in growing your business as the economy recovers, please contact us.