Budgets – empty promises or realistic goals.

It’s not even a month (at the time of writing) since the Chancellor gave the country his Budget on 20^th March 2013 and already – much to his silent joy no doubt – it has been overshadowed by no less than the death of Margaret Thatcher and the petulant threats of thermo nuclear war.

Those of you who enjoy the odd ale or two are ‘regularly’ reminded of ‘The Chancellor’s Penny’ as that rather eccentric one penny change is dropped into the charity pot on the bar. Was this swelling of bar-top charity donation the covert intention of a secretly altruistic Chancellor or just the cynical by-product of straw-clutch planning?

So, this is the oblivion in which GB Limited’s budget planning was so gratefully lost, but how different really is it from our own business budgets and objective planning.

OK, we don’t have excuses such as these to blot from our minds the actions needed to deliver ‘the plan’. We might find the need to tidy the office; have lunch with Barry; or spend an afternoon fiddling with our profile on LinkedIn to ignore business strategy. Heaven forefend the opportunity to divert from our daily needs now afforded by the death of capital opportunity, entrepreneurial resolve and true 20^th Century leadership - MTRIP. 

Writing realistic Budgets in business need not be daunting. Just as planning the resolve and employing the techniques to deliver it is not something that you have to do alone - so often the case in a small or medium sized enterprise.

Reeves (Kent’s award winning accountants) gave a superb analysis of the Chancellor’s Budget and its affects on business, private finance and corporate planning at their Breakfast Seminar the morning after Osborne’s speech. So popular is this annual post-budget event, that finding a venue to address and entertain 300 plus good Kentish folk has become quite a challenge, even for such stalwart advocates of business, tax and wealth as Reeves.

Tim Levey (Partner and ‘Bean Multiplier’ – according to LinkedIn) and Clive Relf (Tax & Development Partner Reeves) at the Reeves Budget Breakfast  2013.

This year’s breakfast was held at Maidstone Studios – big venue, big audience, big subject - and quite a change from the Studio’s normal ‘Catch the Red Box’ Celebrity Panel Game:

Reeves is a Partner Service of intime PROFIT. Tim Levey of Reeves is a regular attendee of and speaker at intime PROFIT Seminars. On 11^th April his subject was The Budget and matters relating to Tax and its essential effects on small businesses and their owner / managers. As usual, Tim’s presentation (delivery and content) was entertaining and well received. It provoked thought and generated a lively question and answer session to the benefit of us all.

Ears were well and truly pricked and one or two of us checked “…yes it was 11^th April not 1^st…” when, on the subject of Company Cars and low emission g/km tax breaks, the Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid (below) was introduced as the tax busting car of choice. Its CO2 emissions of just 71 g/km beat the Lexus CT200h (87) and the Audi A3 (166) by far. As Porsche strap-line this global cooling run-around … it offers ‘Thrilling Contradictions’.

For more information on The Budget, Tax and Porsches – contact Tim directly @ tim.levey@reeves.co.

www.reeves.co

As if by chance, the theme of this month’s intime PROFIT Dramatic Business Growth Seminar was ‘Planning for Growth’. As well as the essential big picture budgeting and planning, as ever, the Seminar was realistic. As with each of these monthly Seminars, it remembers that we are all busy people and the business planning text book is sometimes more practically used to stop the table from rocking or stem the chilling draft from the broken window.

Intime PROFIT clients, delegates, attendees, successes need healthy sugar cubes soaked in PRAGMATISM to help the corporate medicine of BUDGETING and PLANNING to go down. Personally, I have attended many seminars in vast halls with buckets full of ‘the right way’ thrown over me and my fellow couple of hundred delegates, then left with little other than a furrowed brow. It’s just noise.

With intime, the Seminars are bite-sized gatherings of 12 to 15 business owners and managers, enjoying relevant, digestible and deliverable ideas, thoughts and techniques to help plan and deliver achievable goals.

You know the old adage – I’m too busy working IN my business to make time to work ON it.

Well, with intime PROFIT this is time well spent that offers real, achievable opportunities. If you haven’t been to an intime Seminar before, you’re in luck – your first Seminar is FREE.

Let’s leave you with a story you may know – but it’s worth reminding you (as always):

I was walking through the woods when I came across a woodsman sawing at the trunk of a tree. “How do” I said, “Aw do” the woodsman returned.

I sat, poured a cup from my flask as the day was warm and I’d travelled far. The water was refreshing and I offered some to the hard working chap as he sawed forth and back at the tree. “Here, take a cup, rest a while” said I.

The woodsman shook his head, the sweat flying from his reddened brow. “Can’t stop” said he “too busy.” I sat, drank, then broke a crust of bread from the loaf I carried in my bag. “Here, take some bread to fuel you” I said. “Can’t stop” said he “this ‘as to come down today.” I tarried, he sawed, yet there was little or no impression on the tree. “Why don’t you stop, take drink and food whilst I sharpen that saw for you. It won’t take long and you’ll be able to cut down that tree and many more besides long before this day is done?”

“How can I possibly afford to stop, not even for a moment, even to let you help sharpen my saw - are you blind? Can’t you see? I’m too busy cutting down this tree!”

If you want help to budget; to plan with achievable pragmatism; or to sharpen your business saw:

To find out more about intime PROFIT:

our One-to-One,

our Seminars and

our Marketing support services –

write to intime@intimeprofit.com or

call us on 08456 437 497.

www.intimeprofit.com