Every business or organisation, no matter how big or how small…should have a manual of policies and procedures.

Policies are usually simple statements setting out how your business or organisation will conduct itself.  They don’t need to be long or complicated, just a guide to help with decision making.

Procedures are usually more detailed as they are the roadmap for implementing the policies of your business or organisation.  Procedures should include details of who does what, the steps required and include templates of any documents or forms which should be used.

A manual of policies and procedures is an important tool for a number of reasons:

– they give a workplace structure and a means for employees to measure their own performance

– they provide guidance and can be used in situations of training new staff or as a reference material for when “the boss is away”

– they can assist in times of emergency (professional, personal or natural disaster) to help keep a workplace operational

Small businesses may find standard policies and procedures on their state government business website, and non-profit organisations can access templates from a number of community websites…these can usually be adapted as required but provide a good starting point (much better than staring at a blank page!)

With particular emphasis on the area of finance – if you’d like to conduct a review of policies and procedures (either those already implemented or to look at what might be missing) within your business or organisation, or you’d like to introduce a policy and procedure manual, please contact The Tax Chic to arrange a consultation.

Regards

It’s Frivolous Friday!

One of my guilty pleasures is curling up on the couch with a hot drink or a glass of wine and watching a DVD.

I don’t watch a lot of television, in fact I find I go through stages where I don’t have much time to watch television, and it’s almost impossible to be home at the same time every week to watch the same show (and I’m yet to invest in a recorder as I can’t convince myself that I would remember to watch the shows I’ve recorded!)

So instead, I often turn to DVD’s of TV shows so I can watch an episode here and there when I have time…when Frivolous Friday calls, I’ll let you know what it is I’m watching…currently it’s one of my favourites…One Tree Hill…

Set in Tree Hill, North Carolina, One Tree Hill follows the lives of Lucas and Nathan Scott (…brothers to different mothers), along with their friends Haley, Brooke and Peyton.

Over the course of nine seasons…it starts in high school and follows them to graduation…then jumping ahead to the post college years, we meet them again as adults.

At times (OK, a lot of the time…) it’s far fetched and not realistic…but quite often it touches on some very important subjects (teen pregnancy, suicide, marriage, divorce, death and business…to name a few).

At the end of the day, if a TV show or a movie is mildly entertaining and can take me to another place, even if just for an hour or two, I’m pretty happy…so I’ve just put Season One back in the DVD player, and I’ll work my way through to Season Nine, that’ll keep me occupied!

Has anyone seen One Tree Hill?  Your thoughts?

Regards

I’ve always been a fan of planning…whenever I can!  Come away with me for a weekend and you’ll find I’m not kidding…I hate wasting time “deciding what to do”…and in business I’m not too keen on “just seeing where things end up”…I like to have a plan!

That’s not to say I can’t “go with the flow” when needed, but I believe that proper planning is business is paramount.

I’ve been lucky enough to discuss this exact topic with two new clients in the past week:

Case 1: this business was established a few months ago, and took off in an extraordinary manner!  So much so, that the owner was able to implement her sales system…but is yet to find the time to establish a good system to records payments…hence her contact with The Tax Chic!

Case 2: this business is in the process of being established with a likely launch date of August this year.  The owner of this new business is getting in on the front foot…she wants to know everything she needs to establish herself and have good procedures in place from the get go!

I thank these two women for putting their trust in The Tax Chic and Our Partner LMB Consulting…and I am very much looking forward to working with these business savvy women, assisting them to move their businesses forward and helping them “Connect with Numbers”!

Regards

If you’ve read about Who is The Tax Chic, then you’ll be aware that I have completed my Certificate IV in Training and Assessment.

Doing that course was part of my plan to “do something different”…to take my accounting and business knowledge and experience, and pass it onto the next generation of accountants!  Little did I know that it would also lead me here…

Upon completion of the course, and with the knowledge that I was also a fitness instructor, my teacher approached me to take on the training and assessing of their First Aid courses…this is something that never crossed my mind…but intrigued me at the same time as I’d only ever seen myself using this qualification in a “business sense”.

First Aid is a terrific skill that anyone can acquire, remember you don’t need to be a medical professional or a paramedic…look at me, I’m an accountant!

My classes are usually full of participants doing the training for work and study related purposes, but that’s not a requirement…anyone can participate, and I encourage everyone reading this to enrol in a course…even the most basic first aid skills may save a life!

At the very least, jump on the internet and enter the term “DRSABCD” into your search engine and do some reading…you might be inspired or at least learn a thing or two…

If you’re interested in attending a First Aid course with me as your trainer, drop me a line through the Contact Us page and I’ll be in touch.

Regards