In a nutshell – May

Welcome to the first edition of “In a nutshell”, MJH’s monthly round up of what’s been going on both at MJH and in the wider business community.

Like many of you, I greeted the dawn of 2020 with such optimism for what I believed would be a great year; one in which personal ambitions would be achieved and business targets smashed.

Fast forward 13 weeks to the beginning of May, and here we are, in the middle of a worldwide lockdown as Governments around the globe wrestle to contain the spread of Coronavirus.

“Lockdown” will certainly be the word by which we remember 2020 in the years to come; with businesses temporarily closed, schools out forcing parents to become home tutors, events postponed, sporting fixtures abandoned and wide ranging restrictions on our movements.

Drastic times call for drastic measures, and this response has been nothing short of that. There are some who disagree with the scale and pace of the Government’s programme and the debate as to whether it has been too slow or fast will surely rage on. But there is one thing that we can be sure of, and that is, social distancing is going to be around for a while yet.

With that in mind, it would be so easy to become negative and resentful, but we must resist that natural temptation and embrace the effort, doing what we can to help and protect the more vulnerable in our communities.

As Rishi Sunak declared a few weeks ago,

“Now more than any time in our history, we will be judged by our capacity for compassion. When this is over, and it will be over, we want to look back on this moment and remember the many small acts of kindness, done by us and to us”

At MJH, we have done our utmost to remain as approachable as ever. Despite the challenges faced by working remotely, we have still been able to deliver the excellent and responsive service on which we pride ourselves and for this, I owe a debt of gratitude to our wonderful team.

Now more than ever, business owners and individuals are concerned about their finances and how they can steer their businesses through these unprecedented times.

The Government’s support is extensive, but crucially business owners need to ensure they are taking full advantage of what’s available. Be sure to visit our website to find out more – http://www.mjhaccountants.co.uk/category/covid-19/

Businesses must also try to help themselves and think ‘outside the box’, for example, we have a food wholesaler client whose customers were mainly hotels and restaurants before the pandemic but he transformed his business overnight into the home delivery of grocery packs which proved very successful.

Businesses should also review their expenditure and ‘cut’ non-essential items such as subscriptions they’re not using and look at negotiating payment holidays with suppliers, bankers and landlords.

Directors who usually take dividends could look at their personal expenditure to see if they could reduce what they draw from the company in the short term to reduce the burden.

In summary, we will emerge from this battle, the world will return to normality and business will thrive once again.

How you approach this crisis will play a pivotal role in determining whether your business will emerge too; if you’re proactive and think outside the box, cut your costs as much as possible and work out how your business can operate in a new socially distanced world, you will be fine.

If you keep waking up doing the same thing and hoping the “good old days” will return, your chances are much slimmer.

Humanity has spent centuries evolving and adapting. Never have evolution and adaptation been more important to our survival.

Best wishes,

Mark

Stay safe and Stay at home wherever possible