New Contract Opportunity For Procurement Consultants

Posted on by
Reply
Tender alerts services by BSS Management Consultancy

Helping you bid for contracts successfully- sign up for our course and alert services

Main Contract Detail
Buyer:
Liverpool City Council
Title:
Procurement Improvement Programme
Category/Categories:
show categoriesAdditional Categorisation(s):
None
Summary:
The overall objective of this procurement exercise is to improve the existing centralized model to access substantial price savings and introduce process efficiencies.

To achieve these two major goals, the decision has been taken to appoint a consultant change manager who, supported by their own consultant team, will be engaged full-time in Liverpool for a continuous 6 to 9 month period to deliver change management services in respect of the Authority’s strategic procurement function and exchequer management services;

- to implement a PP2P (Procurement and Procure to Pay) improvement programme

- to deliver a corporate procurement function able to better exploit modern procurement techniques and technologies; and

- to deliver sustainable savings and process efficiencies, in support of the Authorities medium term financial plan.

Thereafter, the Authority may further utilize such consultant change management services on an ad hoc part-time basis over the remaining framework term.
Contact:
Mr. Paul Jones
Email Address:
Paul.Jones3@Liverpool.gov.uk
Telephone:
0151 233 2719
Fax:
0151 233 5421
Address:
1st floor Millennium House
60 Victoria Street
Liverpool
Merseyside
L1 6AJ
United Kingdom
Key Dates
Estimated contract start date:
07/05/2012
Estimated contract end date:
02/05/2016
Expression of interest start date:
24/02/2012 09:00
Expression of interest end date:
26/03/2012 12:00

The expression of interest window is currently closed.
Other Information
Estimated Value (£):
495000
Contract Period:
48 (months)
Anticipated Extension Period:
0 (months)
Number of Anticipated Extensions:
0
Options

New Public Sector Contract Opportunity For Diversity Training

Posted on by
Reply
Bidding For Public Sector Contracts

Tender Alerts Service To Help You Access UK Wide Public Sector Contracts

Buyer:
Lake District National Park
Title:
Equality & Diversity Training
Category/Categories:
show categoriesAdditional Categorisation(s):
None
Summary:
Equality and Diversity Training
Contact:
Miss Liz Bamber
Email Address:
liz.bamber@lakedistrict.gov.uk
Telephone:
01539 724555
Fax:
01539 740822
Address:
Murley Moss
Oxenholme Road
Kendal
Cumbria
LA9 7RL
United Kingdom
Key Dates
Estimated contract start date:
02/04/2012
Estimated contract end date:
03/12/2012
Expression of interest start date:
08/02/2012 00:00
Expression of interest end date:
18/02/2012 00:00
Other Information
Estimated Value (£):
6000
Contract Period:
9 (months)
Anticipated Extension Period:
3 (months)
Number of Anticipated Extensions:
0

To find out more about our Tender Alert Services Click here

http://www.businessservicessupport.com/news_detail.php?id=13

New Contract Opportunity Published

Posted on by
2

Stockton Borough Council
Title:
TVU Innovation Fund – Search for a Deliverer
Category/Categories:
show categoriesAdditional Categorisation(s):
None
Summary:
On 12 May 2011, the Government announced a package of measures to help to address youth unemployment. These included a new ‘Innovation Fund’ of up to £30 million over three years for social investment projects, paid on an outcome funded basis. The projects will support young people aged 14 and over who are disadvantaged or at risk of disadvantage. TVU is intending to submit a Tees Valley-wide application under Round 2 of the initiative and has already alerted DWP of that intention. We expect this bidding round to take place January/February 2012, with contracts to be awarded ‘mid-2012’. See http://www.dwp.gov.uk/supplying-dwp/what-we-buy/welfare-to-work-ser vi ces/innovation-fund/

TVU is now offering an exciting opportunity for organisations to express an interest in becoming a ‘Delivery’ partner to join TVU to become the ‘Social Investment Partnership’ at the heart of the Tees Valley application.

Contact:
Miss Irene Sams
Email Address:
irene.sams@teesvalleyunlimited.gov.uk
Telephone:
01642524431
Address:
Cavendish House
Teesdale Business Park
Stockton-on-Tees
Cleveland
TS17 6QY
United Kingdom
Key Dates
Estimated contract start date:
29/02/2012
Estimated contract end date:
31/03/2015
Expression of interest start date:
18/01/2012 16:00
Expression of interest end date:
08/02/2012 16:00

The expression of interest window is currently closed.
Other Information
Contract Period:
36 (months)
Anticipated Extension Period:
0 (months)
Number of Anticipated Extensions:
0

How to source finance for a business- part 1

Posted on by
2

Raising Finance For Small Business

How to raise finance for a small business- part one

If you are a non financial expert or manager, you need to understand how to assess the financial health of a business you are in charge of or have invested in. Your accountant can help you put together your financial statements as part of your business engagement. However, your accountant has no legal obligation to analyse and evaluate the health status of your business. If you approach a bank for a loan or even investors for equity capital, they have every right to analyse and evaluate your financial statements and many of the tools shared in this article will be used.

Financial evaluation tools are designed to assess profitability and efficiency, as well as effective use of funds. To start off, we will look at some of the profitability and efficiency ratios. One thing you ought to remember is this, none of the results from these tools must be viewed in isolation of past performance and sector financial profile. A result of 8% profit margin does not indicate strengths or weakness until it is compared to the sector average profile. If the average profit margin in the sector is 7% this indicates that the business is above the average in so far as efficiency and profitability is concerned. The corollary is equally true. In this respect, not only should you seek to find out what the sector average is for your business you must also compare current years performance with the past to determine whether the trend is improving or weakening. Here are the main ratios used to evaluate financial statements.

• Gross Profit Margin %- This ratio measures the profitability of a business. It is achieved by dividing the gross profit (or operating surplus in the case of a voluntary organisation) by the total turnover multiplied by 100. A high margin indicates that the business is using its resources efficiently. In short, the business is financially efficient. Assuming the gross profit margin of a business is 60%, it implies that for every £1 generated in turnover, £0.60 is gross profit. An increasing margin is one way to improve the overall financial efficiency and credit worthiness of a business. A falling margin has a direct impact on cash flow. A falling margin (for instance from 60% to 10%) will reduce the business’ capacity to meet its obligations to pay lenders’ interest on outstanding debts.

• Net Profit Margin %- This ratio (like the gross profit margin) measures the profitability of a business.
Like the gross profit margin, the net profit (or surplus in the case of a voluntary organisation) is divided by the total turnover and multiplied by 100. An increasing margin indicates that the business is profitable.

• Expenditure as a percentage of income/turnover %-
This ratio measures the proportion of turnover that is spent on various types of expenditure. For instance, suppose we want to know whether or not the administration cost is efficiently managed, one way to make such an evaluation is to compare administration cost as a % of turnover. After all, if our sales activities are increasing we will expect administration cost to increase and vice versa.
We can check the trend over the last five years to see whether there is any discernable pattern. If we identify anomalies, we can investigate them and take corrective actions.

• Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation cover (EBITDA cover) %- This ratio measures whether a business has the capacity to service its debts. Earnings are determined by adding back depreciation, amortisation and interest payments to the net profit or surplus of the business. EBITDA cover is determined by dividing earnings by interest payment multiplied by 100. A Result that is below 100% is an indication that the business is not generating sufficient profit (surplus) to meet lenders’ interests on outstanding debts. A business should generate at least 100% EBITDA cover if it is to be deemed viable. If EBITDA is consistently below 100%, it is an early warning sign that the business is not generating adequate profits to pay interest on its debts.
• In this event the business will need to draw on cash reserves accumulated over the years or new capital investment to meet its liabilities as they fall due.

Another point to note is that, most lenders would like to see a business generating an EBITDA Cover of more than 100%. But be aware of the fact that banks will have their own financial ratios for monitoring the financial health of a business. For instance, most banks use a ratio known as interest cover. This is akin to EBITDA cover but tremendous variation exists in its determination. Always ask your bank for a detailed breakdown of the financial ratios used to monitor your business’ financial health. And most importantly, ensure you manage your business to achieve those targets.

• Gearing ratio- This evaluates the proportion of a business capital that is financed by private loans. Remember a business can either be financed by debts, public grants, and/or private funds (equity etc). Where a business is partly financed by private borrowings (debts), it is obliged to pay interest on the outstanding debts as well as repay part of the capital of the debt. Therefore, regardless of whether or not the business is profitable, it is still liable to pay its lenders’ debts, which if unpaid can trigger repossession of the assets used as collateral for the loans. For that reason, the gearing ratio is very vital in understanding how much exposure a business has to its lenders. The gearing ratio measures the total outstanding debts as a percentage of total capital invested in the business. Total capital is measured as the total bank borrowings, shareholders capital and accumulated profits or surpluses. Gearing measures a business’ reliance on loans to finance its operations.
The higher the gearing, the greater the exposure of the business to higher interest rates.
In the event of a downturn in the market, the business will still be liable to pay interest to its lenders. While interest on debts is required to be paid irrespective of the performance of the business, dividends to shareholders can be postponed or delayed. Against this background, it is worth noting that interest on borrowed finance is relatively cheaper than the returns expected by shareholders for their investment.

Now that you have this information to hand, do remember to check this out before you approach a bank or investor. Remember, if you know what the problem is fix it before you it too late. To find out more about our finance and business training courses visit us at http://www.businessservicessupport.com/training-courses/financing-a-business-successfully-.html

Finance For Non Financial Managers- What is Income?

Posted on by
2
Finance For Non Finance Managers Training & Resources

Finance For Non Financial Managers Resources & Training

What is income? How is it calculated? Very often, non financial managers and experts make the mistake of calculating income as the amount of cash received, totally oblivious to credit sales. This is not correct because strictly speaking income is related to services or products that are delivered and accepted by customers without any dispute in return for a fee. As long as the services or products have been delivered in line with the requirements agreed between the two parties and the customer accepts the goods and services thereby accepting liability to make payment immediately or sometime in the near future, income has materialise. So the key to determining what is income can be summed up as delivery of goods and services by the supplying organisation and acceptance by the buying organisation. When these two activities have occurred, cash need not be paid by the buying organisation or individual to determine income. Cash may be paid immediately or not as the case may be where the supplying organisation offers credit for 30 days (shorter or longer). Another important point to note is when the activity takes place. This determines the period the income arise. In short, if the activity takes place in 2011 and buyer make payment the following year, the income is accounted for in 2011 not the date the cash was received in relation to the transaction. Use this as a generic approach to guide you and you will always get it right.

It is important to note that what constitutes income for an organisation is very much dependent on the nature of the business. For commercial profit making organisations, income will be the sale value of services or products in money’s worth. For public sector or voluntary organisations (such as charities), income will mainly be the sum total of fees, grants and voluntary donations received during the year as well as the value of any services or products sold in money’s worth. In the case of the governmental accounts, income will be mainly derived from revenue collected through tax assessments and other levies paid by individuals and businesses.

The size of an organisation’s income is dependent on a number of factors:

Commercial profit making businesses

• The size of the market the business operates (i.e. the number of people and/or businesses who need the products or services of the organisation and have the means to pay for them).

• The size of the business clients or customer base in relation to the overall market size – as defined in the previous point. This represents the demand for the business’ services or products.

• The price customers are charged for products or services. It is important to note that the price customers are charged will be influenced by the costs of producing the products, the business’ profit margin policy (i.e. how much profit is required), the quality of the products relative to products from competitors and the intensity of competition in the market.

Profit margin is simply the difference between the selling price and the cost of producing the goods or services sold.

Non commercial not for profit businesses

• The range and level of services provided
• The importance of the organisation’s services or products as perceived by governmental bodies and other funders.
• The financial resources of funders/ governmental bodies giving grants, relative to the demands on their funds.
• In the case of services or products being sold in return for money consideration, the amount customers are willing and able to pay, the number of customers and any regulatory restrictions placed on the organization.

The government
• The amount of revenue generated from taxation and other levies imposed on individuals and businesses.
The amount generated will depend on the tax rates, size of business profits and individual earnings/profits, government economic policies, as well as the number of taxes and efficacy of the tax system.

Having a good understanding of the relationships between the factors that determine the size of a business income goes a long way in helping users of financial statements to analyse the financial performance of the business.

Let us now look at a few examples to strengthen our understanding of income determination for the purpose of the financial statement.

Example 1- Illustrates how a private restaurant will determine its income

A restaurant provides a range of meals to customers. Customers can either buy their meals and eat in the restaurant or take their meals home. The restaurant charges a fixed price for eating in or take away meals. During the course of the year, the restaurant sells 200,000 meals at an average price of £10 per meal. Assuming all meals were sold on a cash basis (i.e. no credit was given to any customer), the income of the restaurant is simply:

No of meals sold multiply by the average price per meal.
This is £10 x 200,000 = £2,000,000

Let us look at another example involving credit and cash sales

Example 2

Suppose the restaurant in example 1 sold 100,000 in cash and the remainder 100,000 on credit at an average price of £10 per meal. Suppose its accounting year is 1st January to 31st December. At the end of the financial year (i.e. 31st December), although the restaurant sold all 200,000 meals, only 100,000 meals were paid for fully. 100,000 meals valuing £100,000 still remains unpaid.

The total income of the restaurant is still the total meals sold (200,000) multiply by the average selling price of £10 per meal.

Notice nothing has changed as far as the total income calculation is concerned

Looking at both examples, the total income is not restricted to services or products that customers actually paid for. The total income is the value of the services or products sold during the financial year for which the financial statement is prepared. This is an area that sometimes confuses non-financial experts, as they sometimes feel the income should be restricted to the cash received for services provided during the year. This is not the case when preparing the profit and loss accounts or income and expenditure accounts.

In preparing financial statements, accountants are guided by a principle known as the accrual principle. There is no need to be confused or worried about this term.
It simply means that the value of all services or products provided to customers should be accounted for in the financial year they occur. Similarly, the value of all services or products received from suppliers must be accounted for in the financial year they occur regardless of whether the business has paid for them or not.

Let us now turn our attention to the non-commercial /not for profit businesses. We have already seen that the income of this type of business can vary considerably. Income sources can include grants, donations from the public, legacy from supporters, fundraising income, and sale of second hand products or gifts.
The nature of the main income source tends to be voluntary. As a result the amounts pledged cannot be demanded if not paid. For instance, if a supporter pledges £5,000 and fails to pay the pledge, the organisation cannot demand the payment as in the case of a commercial business that provides services in return for cash consideration. For that reason, income is normally limited to actual cash received during the course of the year except where there is a contractual agreement, with a governmental body or a reputable organisation, to provide services in return for grants. In such cases, the grant donors will put in place systems of accountability that will ensure that the voluntary organisation provides the level and quality of services it expects for the market concerned. Where such an arrangement exists, then income will be determined on an accrual basis. This implies, the value of the grants for the contracted services delivered during the year will be quantified and recorded as income irrespective of whether the grants have been paid or not.

I do hope this article has helped you understand how income is calculated and how to interpret income in financial statements.

Attending training courses such as Finance For Non Financial Managers delivered by organisations like ours can help you quickly learn the tools of the game and apply the skills correctly within your organisation. To find out more about how we can assist you, visit us at

http://www.businessservicessupport.com/training-courses/finance-for-non-finance-managers.html

Author: Sheila Elliott FCCA, MBA- Founder of BSS Management Consultancy and author of My Business Is My Business.

Website: http://www.businessservicessupport.com/training-courses/finance-for-non-finance-managers.html

[url= http://www.businessservicessupport.com]Business Training and Consultancy Services[/url]

SMEs Should Approach Their Marketing Like Doctors To Boost Their ROI

Posted on by
2
Marketing Tips and Strategies

How to market your services effectively

At a time when many small businesses are struggling to get more customers it is important that decision makers have a clear understanding of what it takes to improve their returns on marketing investment (ROI). If your marketing sucks it is more than likely you are still in the dark about the dynamics of the seven Ps in the marketing matrix. Until you have a good understanding of this concept, you will not cherish every time spent improving different aspects of your business before rushing head on promoting prematurely to your market. The sad truth is that, so called marketing experts of our days don’t always understand some of these concepts either. They often focus on finishing a project in haste in order to get their next customer. Pressing on with marketing your business without all the elements in the jigsaw puzzle in place is equivalent to cooking a meal with some of the essential ingredients missing.

For marketing novice, spending hard earned cash in so called adverting and PR marketing without understanding the dynamics of the seven Ps, the result can be a very painful experience. Making the mistake that being activity focus is synonymous to productivity and success is very often an expensive game with huge costs on the balance sheet of a business. Your marketing strategy should aim to cover a minimum of seven key areas with each element supporting the other. All throughout, you need to remember that trust and confidence in your business’ capacity to deliver its products and services is the key barrier between you and the results you are seeking to attain. Make no mistake, your target market will sniff at your business activities to smell the stuff it is made off. It is for you to perfume your marketing efforts and business with the best fragrance available or face the consequences of losing your prospects to your competitors. Other common challenges enshrined in marketing is the need to understand the purchasing power of the market, as well as the consequences of information overload, perception and the importance of your product’s accessibility. If you are selling a luxury accommodation, you have no business talking about it with people looking for cheap accommodation. No one will spend their invaluable time and money polishing a wet shoe in expectation that it will shine. It is damn right waste of time and something you should never engage in. Similarly don’t underestimate the power of perception. Just because you love your products and think it is great does not mean the market feel the same way about it- this is call perception-intangible in nature and very difficult to change once formed. The aim of your marketing strategy is to demonstrate that you understand the needs of your market and that your products and services are the solution to ease the pain they currently feel. Tricky but doable. In short, your product and services should be the prescription the doctor orders to free the market from its current disease whether it be lack of knowledge if you are a training provider or lack of self esteem if you are an image consultant. Think of your business as the doctor who can diagnose the ailment and come up with the right solution and you will get the overall concept of how best to approach your marketing.

With this in mind, you should always endeavour through your communication to show how your services or products will benefit your market. This sounds simple but yet challenging as most businesses are geared up to talk about the features of their products and their business as suppose to focusing on what in it for their customers. Expression of words through written and verbal communication also runs the risk of being misinterpreted where there is lack of synchronicity between the spirit communicating. At the very basic, before you embark on marketing your products and services, take a step back and critically review all the seven Ps listed below. Become your own consultant or get an independent consultant to help you out.

1. Products- Ask yourself this question- what problem is my target market experiencing and what benefits does my products offer the market? Don’t move an inch if you cannot answer this question. It is a fundamental question which cannot be neglected. If you are a trainer, your trainees must have a pain they want to free themselves off. Of course this is manifested by a lack of success in an area due to limited skills. This failure is creating frustration in their lives in that they are unable to meet their desired goals. You qualify to gain access to their time because your training programmes represent a solution to help them meet their goals which is important to them through the transfer of knowledge to them. The benefits of your training is to help them achieve success in the areas they find challenging. Your training course titles including its delivery modality are features of your product. Always seek to find out what is important to the market and link your benefits to what they deemed important. Do you get this? I do hope so. If you are selling a drill, your target market’s real need is a hole on a wall. Your products should provide them with a hole very fast and moreover it must be easy and safe to use. What your market wants is a hole and the drill is a means of achieving it. Your marketing message should state clearly how fast you can get a hole on the wall with your products. Thereafter, you can focus on the features of your drill.

2. Price- for the best part this represents a cost to your target market who will be actively looking for alternatives to meet their needs at a lower price. Don’t we all do this. But make no mistake, price being the cost to the market is only one side to the cost equation. The time it takes to access the products and services in terms of distance or delivery turnaround period is also equally important in the costs factor. So when you are focusing on the packaging of your products, bear in mind the concept of price is two-fold from the perspective of the market. Taking account of the most common view point of pricing, you must ensure that your products is competitively priced. This does not mean it should be cheap; cheap does not necessarily lead to satisfying the needs of your market which was covered in the earlier paragraph. Similarly, if your price does not reflect the socio economic status of the market, there is a risk of sending unclear and mixed messages about your business to the market. For instance, if your market is too wide and include low income, middle income and high income buyers, unless you provide diverse products and services to meet the needs of individuals in the different income bracket, there is a risk your products and services will be perceived as too expensive by some or too cheap by others. This is where branding can help tremendously.
3.
4. Place- the products and services should be easily accessible by your market. Do remember that the cost of your services and products as far as the market is concerned is not merely what you charge for them. The costs of your products and services include hidden costs such as the time it takes to travel to your business to get the services- the cost of car parking space, waiting time for the services etc. All these factors will make a difference to the attractiveness of your services and products. You cannot possibly consider your services to be cheaper than another supplier simply because you charge $2 less than the other, when it will cost customers $5 in travelling time and car parking space not to mention the long waiting time they may experience if your business do not have adequate number of staff to deliver the services. What this means is that you should actively look at how you can reduce hidden costs to your market in order to make the product accessible and attractive. For businesses with international focus, you may opt to use local distributor, faster and reliable courier services that are competitively price, advance technology to reduce time spent on travelling, the list continues.

5. Physical- the physical condition of the premises and website for today’s business environment is critical in marketing. Before a client or customer visits your physical location these days, your website will be their first point of contact. Does the website reflect your business vision and goals. Does it look like what you really want the prospects to think about your business. If it is too cramp and disorganised, prospects may be put off and take their custom elsewhere no matter whether your products and services are easily accessible and competitively priced. Be warned, do not invest heavily, financially, on your website if your physical premises is in a damn right state. A friend of mine made the mistake of equating a beautiful website with a plush restaurant that he can entertain his friends for an evening meal. He was severely disappointed when he arrived there and off course he did not close the deal with the restaurant. Your physical premises represents part of your business and communicates to your prospects who you are and what you can offer. Remember trust and confidence are critical in the marketing equation. Also remember, that marketing is also about telling a story to persuade and influence buyers to purchase your services or products. In practice it is possible for a business to possess great products and services, that are priced competitively but fails to generate leads and sales due to the negative perception arising from poor quality premises and website. So watch out.

6. People- Who are the faces of your business. People matters. When all is done well, if you do not have the right people attitude, no matter how well all other parts of the matrix is fixed, retention of customers will be a serious challenge. After your prospects have sniffed all the other bits about your business, rest assured they are sniffing your people too. Are they reliable? Are they confident? Are they trustworthy? What is the evidence to support my thinking about them? These are just some of the questions flying in their minds consciously and unconsciously. If your staff are polite, professional, helpful and possess great attitude, you will not find it difficult to market effectively assuming all the other elements of the marketing equation have been taken care of sufficiently.

7. Processes- this is concerned with the procedures and protocol that are in place to transact with customers. They include things like payment system such as Paypal or 2CO, customer record cards, appointment cards, price list, risk management, feedback forms, vouchers, referral forms and the like. The quality of these processes will help your business convey a positive or negative message. Your aim is to convey a positive message and to that end you should spend time improving each aspect of your systems and processes.

8. Promotion- Well, unless all the above are fixed, rushing to promote is a bit of a premature gesture. You may be able to get away with it initially but it won’t last. You will soon know when you check your results – the report card for your business is your financial statement which shows you how well you are doing. Your promotion must be targeted at the market using clear communication that speaks to the heart and mind of the prospects. At the top of the communication strategy is the need to be benefit focused- from the buyers’ perspective. Your product being the pill prescribed by you the doctor is of no use to the market, if all you talk about in your promo is related to your business- it age, success stories, the team etc. Remember, your target market is the most important factor in your promotional communication. Stay clear of describing features of the products until you have first grab their attention with your benefit offerings.

For more information about how we can help you, visit http://www.businessservicessupport.com