structure & risk

 

Structures & Ownership

As your business develops, you have different taxation, legal and financial considerations that may influence the way your business is structured. Some of these can’t be easily changed once the business has acquired retained earnings without incurring additional tax liabilities. This is a consideration that should be discussed with legal and financial advisors when you plan your vision and future growth strategies. A good business coach will discuss this at the outset of the program.

Capital Funding

Have you planned how to raise funds needed to deliver your vision? Will you invest directly from personal resources, attract others to invest, borrow from banks or other financiers or just provide a little seed capital and fund through growth and careful profit planning feeding a healthy proportion back into the growth capital needs of the business? Clearly something to consider early in the planning phase of your growth plan, but sadly, something that is rarely considered.

Risk Management

Every business has legal risks. Many can be covered by insurances. Others can be self-insured or mitigated through careful operations planning. It is vital you consider all risks and take relevant legal advice to be sure you have the appropriate mitigation strategies in place.

A recent risk that has been highlighted, is cyber security risks. While criminals seem to be targeting high profile organisations, the technology used is highly sophisticated and you need to consider what financial and legal risks you face in the event your systems are hacked and the private information of people is stolen on your watch or you are locked out and cannot operate your business.

Intellectual Property

Do you have security over your trademarks, product and service branding, inventions and concepts that uniquely define your business or are they loosely protected and available for a smart competitor to take away by stealthfully removing them from you? UGG Boots used to be an internationally recognized brand of an Australian company until they entered the USA market without taking necessary precautions and a clever operator registered an international Trade Mark of the same name in the USA. They now can only sell under that name in Australia.