Leveraging EOFY to Protect and Maximise Your Business's Potential

As the end of the financial year (EOFY) approaches, it's crucial for businesses to take time out now to reflect on their performance over the last year, review and ensure compliance with their legal and financial obligations, and to put in place strategies for continued success.

At Advantage Partners Lawyers, we understand the importance of leveraging this period to protect and maximise your business's potential for a successful new financial year. In this article, we provide a few practical insights, strategies, and tips to empower you to take action.

Review and Optimise Your Contracts & Processes:

Now is the time to review your existing agreements and processes. A few steps you can take here include:

1.     Brainstorming what you understand are the various risks in your business (legal, financial, operational, brand) and assess whether your existing agreements and processes adequately address them.

2.     Identifying actual problems faced over the last year and then evaluating how effectively these problems were resolved using your existing agreements or processes. Were there any missing agreements or terms that would have changed the outcome or sped up or resulted in a better result?

3.     Evaluating what has worked and what hasn't, considering both your legal and business needs.

When doing the above make sure you Involve your team members and business lawyers in this process to gain their practical experiences and insights. Collaboration ensures that you gather all relevant information, identify the real risks and gaps, and then create legally and practically sound solutions that will work for your particular situation.

Conduct a Comprehensive Legal Compliance Check:

Connected with the above step, take advantage of the EOFY to conduct a thorough legal compliance check. Ensure you are aware of the current laws you need to abide by and review your business practices, policies, and procedures to align with these legal requirements.

It's also essential to stay informed about any upcoming changes, to be proactive in protecting both your business and yourself. Unfortunately, ignorance is no excuse and can have disastrous – financial, legal and brand consequences.

Laws change constantly, with new laws or amendments being introduced, such as the upcoming Unfair Term Law changes (major changes coming November 2023 that you need to get ahead of to avoid engaging in conduct that is about to become illegal.)  Additionally, court cases can add to and/or change perceptions on certain laws that may impact your documents, processes and systems.

We can help you identify and rectify compliance gaps or risks. You can either start with our free Legal Health Check, or, if you want tailored advice and strategies to quickly protect your specific business while also exploring any potential business opportunities you may have, book a Strategy Session with our experts now, and enjoy the added benefit of claiming the costs this tax year.

Protect Your Intellectual Property (IP):

Understanding and safeguarding your IP is an essential element for maintaining business value and gaining a competitive edge. To assist with this,  steps you can take now including the conducting of an annual IP audit to:

1.     Identify everything that makes up your IP;

2.     Ensure that for each of the above items you can prove your ownership rights, especially when you've collaborated with and/or had another’s involvement in their development or update, whether or not they have been paid for this.

3.     Determine whether the different IP can or should be registered?

4.     If they are registered, are they up to date and what coverage do they actually provide (Sometimes you may have gone to all the effort to get registration but what you have registered is not what you need or only goes part of the way).

5.     Ensure you have the supporting documents, notices and processes in place to ensure ongoing protection.

6.     See if there is any infringement action taking place and as such a need for you to take action as to protect and enforce your rights.

This is also a great time to explore licensing or franchise opportunities to potentially help you effectively monetise your intellectual assets. Book a Strategy Session with us to discuss how we can assist you in understanding and protecting your valuable IP, while also exploring different business opportunities.

Tax Planning and Compliance:

Take advantage of the EOFY to engage in tax planning and ensure compliance with relevant tax laws. Collaborating with tax experts can provide strategic advice on minimising tax liabilities, maximising deductions, and capitalising on available incentives.

Evaluate your financial records, assess potential tax risks, and proactively address any issues. It may be that to avoid unnecessary costs or liabilities you may need to get certain documents ie loans, service agreements etc in place before end of financial year

A proactive approach here  will help you avoid additional costs, penalties and legal complications. Our team can work alongside your accountants. An additional benefit is that by taking action now, you can claim your legal expenses quicker.

Next Steps:

These tips and strategies are just a starting point to ensure that you and your business are in the best position come July 1, 2023.

For more information on how to prepare for EOFY or to get in touch, contact us.

Our experienced business lawyers can not only ensure compliance with current laws and regulations, but also optimise your contracts, processes, and systems to strengthen your legal position, business and personal protections, and uncover potential business opportunities.

Contact us now and you can get access our free Legal Health Check to help you identify priorities, alternatively, book a Strategy Session with one of our experts to receive fast and tailored strategies and solutions, and get the added benefit of claiming your costs now.

We are here to help you maximise your business's potential and achieve your goals. Get in touch now.

Please note that this is a general and brief update, it does not purport to be comprehensive legal advice of all information and/or relevant to your circumstances. Consequently, specific legal advice for each of your circumstances should be obtained first before taking or not taking any action with respect to this area.