Talk to your bank as you rebuild your financial future.
Now you’re focusing on getting your agribusiness or farm finances back in shape, your bank is ready to help you to keep moving forward.
If you have your business finances back on track, it’s essential to take stock of what else has changed and accept how you may need to adjust your operational and financial habits.
It’s a good idea to seek independent advice from an accountant or rural business advisor about restructuring your operation.
You may also qualify for a loan from the Regional Investment Corporation or state-based regional assistance grants or loans. Rural Financial Counselling can help navigate what’s available.
Helping you to move forward
While getting back on track may appear to be a tough task, there are several steps you can take to help get your agribusiness or farm finances and wellbeing back on track.
1. Assess your situation
The best way to start is to assess where you stand right now, and where financially you’d like to land in the future.
You should define your short and long-term goals, factor in the financial and other risks that may affect you and determine the potential returns. Doing this will provide you with a better idea of the viability of your operation.
It will also help you build greater resilience into your business as you’ll be better prepared for unexpected events and downturns in the future.
2. Set realistic goals
Naturally, you will want to get your finances back on track as soon as possible. But you’ll have to be patient and face certain realities, especially if you’ve suffered a serious disruption.
Even though you may want to get up and running as quickly as possible, you’ll still need to improve your credit score if you want a bank to refinance your operation. If your expectations are unrealistic then you could become discouraged. It makes sense to establish a more realistic timeframe and work towards that as a goal.
3. Learn more and seek advice
Organise regular planning and strategy sessions with professional business and rural advisors.
They will help you to develop a comprehensive business management plan for the future.
You can also talk to your bank about how they can help get your business back on track. Your bank may be able to provide you with practical tools or introduce you to sponsored training opportunities to help you understand business management and risk.
There are plenty of online resources that cover various aspects of business finance and managing debt.
Where to find free independent information and help
Please reach out if you’re worried about your financial situation. Rural Financial Counselling (1300 771 741) services can provide you with free, confidential planning and support to help make better informed financial decisions for you and your business.
