capacity managing your business. Therefore, it is critical that you understand all legal obligations imposed on your role. In order to limit your potential exposure to personal liability, you should obtain proper advice in respect of the primary legislation that applies to the activities of the company and the obligations that are imposed by the legislation on both the business and the directors. You are unlikely to get in trouble if you are careful in dealing with the business and on its behalf to others. If you ensure that proper procedures exist and are followed in time; keep yourself informed about the financial position; give the interests of the company, its shareholders and its creditors top priority; understand your legal obligations and get professional advice when in doubt. Please note this article does not cover the whole of the relevant law regarding your obligations as a director of a small business. Obtaining appropriate legal advice is recommended in respect of the matters set out in this publication. More information can be obtained from www.asic.gov.au.
Improve project planning and optimise your profit margins For architecture and engineering firms it is difficult to protect margins. Some expected revenue gets lost in the project planning stage, compromising the profitability of future tasks. So what can we do to improve project planning and manage margins? Top challenges Many firms struggle to protect their margins; some of the main reasons are: •
Lack of visibility into information: some firms end up having more than three systems to manage projects.
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Inefficient or inaccurate tracking and reporting: leads to costly mistakes and overspending in unidentified places.
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Managing delivery to meet customer expectations: this becomes especially tricky when dealing with constant project scope changes.
Top performers in architecture and engineering industries rely on a combination of technologies and improved processes to deliver projects to deadline and below budget. At the same time, they have to manage back of house processes that are very time consuming.
