Let your systems and processes do the heavy lifting for you
As if managing a smooth business operation that keeps your teams and clients happy isn’t challenging enough, there’s the whole legal side of things that demands your attention too, on a daily basis.
That gut feeling “Are we ticking all the boxes on legal compliance, and what (if anything) are we missing!?” …does this sound familiar?
If you’re not 100% confident that your business is ticking all the boxes, we’ve put together some handy tips to take away some worry, and help you tighten up areas that may need a little more work to keep your business on the right track.
What does legal compliance mean?
Legal compliance is the act of complying with the rules and regulations for your business, its associated industry, and government/IRD rules and regulations. (nofussbusiness.nz)
This has multiple implications for each individual business and the rules and regulations differ between industries.
Falling short on legal compliance is not a position any business owner wants to find themselves in, as legal liabilities can include hefty fines and penalties or even jailtime for those who fail to meet requirements.
So ultimately, it’s a matter of doing your research in your area of operations and making sure you meet the requirements – even as a smaller business owner it’s your responsibility to ensure your company’s up to date with legal policy and procedure.
tpk.gov.nz
Areas of legal compliance in your business
Legal compliance filters down into many areas of business that you might not have considered, such as:
- financial and accounting requirements
- record reporting
- health and safety regulations
- data protection
- employment law
- tax law
- cybersecurity
- Intellectual Property (IP) law
- environmental responsibilities.
5 tips for streamlining your legal compliance responsibilities
- Document policies and procedures
By ensuring that your legal requirements are documented and applied across your business, you can manage your teams’ outputs as you go. Keeping these documents up to date, user friendly and accessible to your staff is crucial for that process to flow efficiently. See our helpful guide on how to write effective SOPs for your business.
2. Adopt systems software and processes
If you’re not already doing this, it will save you endless time, frustration and eliminate costly mistakes! Online business management software such as Xero or MYOB are great resources for cashflow, bookkeeping and payroll and automate many tasks that you may well be spending hours of time or paying someone to manage manually.
3. Keep up to date with business and financial records
Again, as with your policies and procedures, maintaining thorough and transparent records and staying organised (instead of rushing to collect everything together come audit time) will make life so much easier for you as you go. This way, you can adapt with any policy changes if they arise.
4. Stay current with business laws and regulations
Regulations are changing all the time and it pays to be in the know. Regularly checking-up on government compliance updates will mean that there will be no nasty surprises come audit time.
5. Schedule compliance audits regularly
And on the topic of audits, if you create systems in advance that work for you (and use them as you go), then audits should be a breeze and take a fraction of the time it might normally take you.
Cyber Security
Did you know that 43% of cyber attacks target small businesses?
By implementing strong security measures, you can reduce the risk of a cyber attack and ensure the safety of your sensitive data and customers information.
Broadband Search and their in-depth research and analysis on cyber security for business owners provide complex information that can help you stay ahead of the game.
Is your business legally compliant?
If you’re feeling like you’ve got your work cut out for you, don’t let overwhelm stop you from taking the next steps. You can give yourself a break and bring in the admin experts to take care of the legal side.
Whether you need support in:
- researching your legal business requirements
- drafting health and safety policies or user manuals
- creating digital paperwork filing systems
- automating your systems and processes
- data documentation.
Freelancer PA has you covered, to make the entire process stress-free and streamlined as possible to bring your business compliance into the green.
Register for your free 30-minute offloading session
Our free 30-minute offloading session is an opportunity for you to offload what’s holding you back, areas of business support you’d like more information on, and we’ll give you no obligation advice on next steps to help you on your way in achieving your business goals.
Interested to see how we can help? Register today for your free 30-minute offloading session.
