I have touched on these topics before and it is time to get into them again. Over the last few years, I have had clients that reduced the value of their business. They have ignored a basic tenet of building a company to maximize business value for their eventual transition, exit or succession plan. Call it compliance or risk management or government interference. It really doesn’t matter what you call it – but it is simply part of doing business. You don’t need compliance disaster. Turn it into disaster profitability!
You know it – you just don’t get around to it. And when you ignore it, bad things happen.
Take a look at these compliance disaster OSHA enforcement news releases.
And more compliance disaster, do your own research: EPA Statistics and Facilities.
Can you afford to be fined, hire attorneys, reassign your employees from their core work and more? To the tune of thousands, tens of thousands or millions of dollars? And even if you can afford to pay these expenses, the impact on the value of your business can be devastating. It is money gone from the bottom line, it is money you no longer have to invest and most likely the compliance issues are public knowledge. Less to invest, less to save, your image damaged, customers, possible employees leaving you.
I have seen organizations deal with very costly problems with the IRS, OSHA, DOJ and DOL. See this blog on an OSHA disaster. Not only were there fines for the infractions, there were repeat infractions!
You will make more money!
If you implement many of these compliance procedures the right way, your operations will run more smoothly, you will make fewer mistakes and your employees will be better at their jobs. This will turn into customer satisfaction, customer retention and top/bottom-line growth. It all fits together, you just need to focus. You will also be building a lot of the business infrastructure that may reduce the risk of lawsuits in many areas.
There can be a big benefit to these efforts – I have seen it first-hand. When I work with clients on compliance and procedures, they inevitably find more efficient ways to accomplish their work. They engage with customers and build relationships. They improve all areas of the business and build value.
Having the policies and procedures in place with regular reviews can avoid compliance disaster along with the fines, legal fees and more. It is not enough to get procedures in place and forget about them. Any time is a great time to look at building your infrastructure and business process improvement to reduce your exposure. It is not difficult, it takes a plan. You can’t do it all at once, but get a start now. It will cost you some money but not nearly as much as ignoring these requirements.
You are building something significant for your future – protect it!
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David Shavzin, CMC
770-329-5224
[email protected]
The Value Track
Succession Planning / Exit Planning, Building Transferable Value for Sale
Atlanta, Georgia
Our BLOG // LinkedIn // www.GetOnTheValueTrack.com