We are not at the end

of the financial year

yet, but we're close.

We have about a month,

I reckon, until the end

of the financial year.

And I just wanted to

talk to you about 10

questions you might

want to ask yourself

as a small business

owner, preparing

yourself for the end

of the financial year.

Before I do that,

what I do want to

say is the end of

the financial year

is when people have

spare cash sitting in

their line items in a

corporate environment.

People are willing

to spend some money

because it's tax

expense and they can

get their money back.

And so if you

have any offers

that you can start

putting out there,

circulating, telling

people about now is

the time to do it.

Last ditch effort,

last little hustle

to get those dollars

in before the end of

the financial year.

What I would also say

is if you've been in

business a couple of

years and you're using

a software accounting

like a Xero or a Myob,

there is normally a

little function called

the budget variance.

And about this time

of year, I fill out

my budget variance.

It helps me work out

What my goals are

going to be from a

financial perspective

from total revenue,

what my expenses are

going to be, and then I

can forecast backwards.

It's an excellent

tool when you need to

compare your profit

and loss, which

you should be doing

fairly regularly,

and also your budget

and your sales

and your expenses.

So they're my tips.

Get your budget

variance going.

If you don't know

how to do that,

don't Talk to your

friendly bookkeeper

or your accountant,

and they will show

you how to do that.

So let's dive in.

What are the 10

questions I think

business owners

should be asking?

Question number one,

have I maximised all

my tax deductions?

You know, you need to

review your expenses.

I review my expenses

weekly just to

make sure you're

claiming everything

allowable under your

business structure.

Make sure you talk

to your bookkeeper or

your accountant and

find out what it is.

You might be leaving

money on the table.

Number two.

Are my financial

records up to date?

You've got to make sure

that your transactions,

your receipts,

your equipment,

your supplies, that

all might offer

tax advantages for

the current year.

You need to make

sure that everything

is up to date.

Yeah, everything

is up to date.

There's nothing worse

than messy books.

Number three, do I

need to make any last

minute purchases?

Oh, that's the fun bit.

Head down to

Officeworks.

Not really, maybe.

Anyway, purchasing

necessary equipment or

supplies now might make

it easier for getting

back on your tax.

Number four, is

there any income

I should defer?

Most people wouldn't

defer income, but if

you're expecting a

higher income next

year, you might push

that out or you might

bring it forward.

For me, I work

with corporates.

And so when I,

, message them about now

to say, Hey, end of

the year is coming up.

There's always money

left in the training

and development budget.

Would you like

to spend that?

They either

say yes or no.

And if they say yes,

sometimes they say,

send an invoice through

now and we'll start

the work in three weeks

or whatever it is.

, and that is useful.

Sometimes they might

say, yes, I do, but

I don't want to start

it till next quarter.

So having those

conversations is

always handy as well.

Number five, have you

reviewed your business

plan and budget?

One, let me go back.

Have you got a

business plan?

There are many

people that I speak

to who don't have

a business plan.

I normally send them

to Julie Doyle and she

owns a company called

It's Not a Hobby.

And she helps people

put business plans

together, which helps

them clarify what

they're in business

for, what their

vision, their mission,

their values are.

And also what

their goals are.

What kind of expenses,

what kind of revenue

they need, what

expenses they have.

So you can't really

review that unless

you've got it.

So if you don't have

a business plan,

get one and align it

to your budget, the

budget variance that

I just spoke about.

You know, having a

look at how well you,

adhere to your budget

this year and making

adjustments for next

year, based on some

data, Oh my goodness.

Music to my ears.

Number six.

Music Am I on track

with my retirement

contributions?

Now, I know you're

saying, Emma,

that's so far off.

I know I hear you,

but actually it's

compounded interest.

So if you have been

paying yourself, which

you should be paying

yourself, and you've

been paying yourself

superannuation,

which you should have

been doing, how do

you make sure that

you are maximizing

those contributions?

Uh, Number seven, this

is if you have payroll,

should I adjust

payroll withholdings?

So if you anticipate

a tax liability

or adjusting the

withholdings can,

prevent owing a

large sum of money,

uh, , et cetera,

et cetera, you've

got to have enough

money in your kitty.

You've got to make

sure that you've got

enough money so that

you can pay your

bills when they're

a lot of people get.

stuck with BAS

or payroll or

superannuation, you got

to keep those aside.

As an aside on that,

I have three bank

accounts operating.

My first bank account

is a daily operating

bank account.

all our revenue

goes into that.

Our second

one is profit.

Each week I look at

our bank account and

take a percentage and

put it into our profit

account and the third

bank account is for GST

and tax and so making

sure that you've got a

number of accounts so

you can separate them

out is often really,

really useful as well.

That's just what I do.

Other people use

profit first and

they say to use

seven bank accounts.

That will do my

tiny mind in.

But, , having some

separate bank accounts

are really helpful.

And if you're not

putting any money

into a profit

account, please

start doing that.

Even if it's 1 percent

a week or 2 percent

a week and watch that

compound profit grow.

Amazing.

Do I have any

outstanding invoices?

The amount of

people who don't

pay their bills on

time, especially

the small businesses

is outrageous.

If you work in

corporate, their

terms are normally 30.

Sometimes 90 days.

I have some corporates

I work with and their

terms are 90 days.

That's a long time in

small business land.

So I know

that going in.

It's very clear.

We're up front

about it.

And so I.

plan for that.

I plan for not getting

paid for a little bit

of time, but there

are some outstanding

invoices where

you're like, I just

need to follow up.

You need to follow

up those outstanding

invoices and get

them in this side of

the financial year.

Making sure that

you're collecting on

outstanding invoices

can, of course,

improve your year

end cash position.

And that's what we

want, but it'd have

cash in your bank

account that someone

else's, right?

Number nine.

How is my cashflow

management going?

Oh my goodness.

Assessing, whether

you need to make

adjustments to cashflow

to smooth it out.

, considering any

seasonal cycles in

your business, there

might be some times

for us, December and

January are pretty

quiet, and that's

great from a delivery

perspective because it

helps us take a breath

and have a break.

But it does mean that

there's less money

in the bank accounts

in those months.

And that's okay.

can I make

that cash up?

What else can I do

with that revenue?

If for instance, you

have a business and

in July and August,

it's very quiet.

What else can you do

in the other months

to buffer that to make

sure that you've got

enough money in the

bank account on that?

A lot of people talk

about, , monthly

recurring revenue,

which is awesome.

If you've got a program

that serves that well.

So monthly recurring

revenue is so revenue

raiser, which is my

group coaching program.

People pay certain

amount of money a

month and that goes

across six months.

So that smooths

out my cashflow

for six months.

That's a really great

way of making sure that

you have some buffer

in your bank account.

I'll talk about buffer

in a minute though.

And then finally, what

are my financial goals

for the next year?

This is my

favorite bit.

It's about setting

your new goals.

clear goals, measurable

goals, , that can

help you guide your

business through

the coming year.

So I sit down and I go,

okay, what is working?

What programs

are working?

What programs do

I need to kill?

What programs are

bringing me joy and

how do I keep them?

And what programs are,

uh, commercially smart

to keep running with?

Sometimes it's not

always about return

on investment from a

dollar perspective.

Sometimes it's just

about positioning

or visibility.

And so you can make

those trade offs.

What I do want to

talk about though

is a buffer.

I have a lot of

conversations with

a lot of women.

And what we know is

that 92 percent of

women in Australia

earn less than

$100,000 a year.

92%!

Wowzers, it

blows my mind.

But then if I am

talking to people, some

of these women don't

know how much money

they need to make, so

they're not clear on

how much money they

need to make, and they

don't have a buffer, to

help them when things

are a bit quieter and

they talk about what

they need as a family.

What I would like

women to get to is go

have a conversation

with your partner and

say, how much money

do I need to put into

the family coffers

or the family bucket?

Great.

Then you've got that.

Then you can work back

to how much money you

need to bring into the

whole business, which

helps you go, money

is taken care of from

a family perspective

and my business

can grow this way.

And then we put

that one or two

percent profit in

to keep as a buffer.

When you have a buffer,

oh my goodness, so

many things happen.

So you need to decide

what your buffer is

for us at Emma McQueen.

It's six months worth

of expenses in a bucket

to make sure that

if something happens

to me or something

happens to Serena or

our suppliers that

we're taking care of.

So six months.

So I worked really

hard to get that six

months buffer up and

I don't go below that.

But what that has done

for me is help me not

have sleepless nights.

It's helped me

go on holidays.

It's helped me

be creative in

my business.

It's helped me not sit

there and go, I have

to do this because

it's going to bring

in this much money.

I don't have to

do that anymore.

And the buffer

is absolutely

game changing.

So if you don't have

a buffer of money,

please figure out how

you might do that.

And maybe, maybe

that's the way you

start with your

budgeting for 2025.

There are my 10

questions to yourself

at the end of the

financial year.

I hope those 10

questions have helped.

I know we don't love

talking about money,

but let's get a little

bit commercially

smart, yeah?

So that we can actually

talk about money.

Money is not

a dirty word.

Money gives us choice,

freedom, flexibility.

It gives us all

the things that we

are all craving.

And we just have

to get better at

looking at it.

Digesting the data,

if you, , if you get

stuck asking someone

to help you understand

your numbers.

So you're a better

businesswoman

because that's what

this is all about.

So what do you

need to do?

Do you need to go

back, put me on

pause and answer each

question specifically?

Oh my goodness.

You would get a gold

star if you did that.

And I want to

hear about it.

I want to hear if

you go through all 10

questions, what you

come up with, uh, you

don't have to share

the answers with me.

Just let me know that

you've done them.

Thank you so much.

Good luck for the

next financial year.

Hey.