It’s that time of year, when Business Link Magazine invites the region’s business leaders to offer up their predictions for the year ahead.
It has become something of a tradition, given that we’ve been doing this now for over 30 years.
Here we speak to David Marshall, commercial finance consultant at Sterling Commercial Finance.
One of the few things I feel confident in predicting for 2022 is that widespread uncertainty will provide a challenging backdrop for businesses.
In November, while there was still much turbulence around, we were just beginning to see a path towards some sort of normality. While there was always the fear of a further mutation of the Coronavirus, the actual announcement of the Omicron variant was the last thing any of us wanted to hear.
Working from home, lockdowns, inflation, higher interest rates, shortages (materials and labour) etc. are all potential challenges. I predict that those businesses that plan for the best, but prepare for the worst will be best placed to deal with 2022.
As ever, cash continues to be King, and having a base case financial forecast for the year that is regularly updated, and can be stress tested with different scenarios, will assist in decision making. Running a rolling 13-week cash flow forecast will help identify pinch points and can of itself be a call to action.
So whatever 2022 may throw at you, I predict financial planning, careful cash management, managing key relationships with staff, suppliers, customers and drawing on the skills of your external professional team as required, will all be time well spent.
