Brexit - The next steps for Irish Companies

There is still no certainty as to how Brexit will transpire, but Irish businesses should plan for the possibility of a ‘hard Brexit’ and act accordingly. If it turns out to be something softer, which is possible, that would be a bonus. The mantra should be to plan for the worst and hope for the best.

Brexit: The next Step for Irish Businesses?

While there is uncertainty around Brexit and the final outcome of the negotiation process, it is good practice for businesses to perform ongoing health checks. There are many uncertainties but proactively planning now, starting with a fitness test of your current business model with Brexit in mind, will help you be ready for whatever the outcome will be.  Time is marching on and Irish Companies are still grappling with uncertainty. Given this, planning for a Hard Brexit remains a prudent assumption.

Here are a few ideas that you may want to consider:

Create baseline assumptions

Each organisation should be able to quickly define a set of basic assumptions to forecast their Brexit planning. Everyone in the organisation needs to understand and use the same set of assumptions in all planning and strategy work. Keeping your assumptions concise allows for straightforward periodic reviews and simple modifications as the Brexit process becomes clearer.

Analyse your business

Using these assumptions, work through the core elements of your Profit & Loss. What are the impacts of the assumptions on your operating model? What is the impact on your cost base? What impact will there be on your working capital requirements? This allows you to assess the financial impact on your business and highlight where the areas of greatest risk are.

Define Your Brexit action plan

Once you have developed your detailed risk analysis based on your assumptions, you should be able to identify the areas where changes will most effect your organisation and develop suitable mitigating actions to reduce the impact of Brexit on your business.

Brexit Advisory Clinics – Enterprise Ireland

Enterprise Ireland is encouraging companies to be pro-active in their preparations and are running a series of Brexit Advisory Clinics to support this. These clinics are designed to help companies plan and take immediate action to effectively mitigate the risks and avail of the opportunities that Brexit poses, increasing a business’s resilience and making practical business sense, irrespective of Brexit.

Enterprise Ireland is encouraging companies to develop their capabilities in 3 specific operational areas:

Financial and Currency Management - Managing a volatile exchange rate and implementing best practice for financial management for SMEs in uncertain times.

Strategic Sourcing - Understanding and reviewing your sourcing arrangements to reduce costs, increase efficiency and identify alternative suppliers with better supplier management.

Customs, Transport and Logistics - Implementing more efficient transport and logistics arrangements and preparing for import and export procedures (customs declarations and administration etc.) with the UK if necessary.

These free events are open to all and involve 2 streams of activities running in parallel throughout the day: 1) One to one 40-minute meetings with independent experts in the 3 business areas, 2) 90-minute seminars on each of the 3 business areas.

For more information on how to future proof your business contact Jim Doyle on 053 9170507 or email jim@rda.ie