Service To Arrest Business Failure

Illawarra Mercury

Wednesday May 31, 2006

By GREG ELLIS

HORIZON Credit Union has responded to the latest statistics on the failure rate of small to medium-sized businesses with the launch of a new benchmarking service.

With over 60 per cent of new businesses closing their doors within the first three years, the new service offered by Horizon is designed to help small to medium-sized businesses identify where they need to focus their efforts to improve the bottom line.

It also hopes to help smaller businesses eliminate trial and error.

The Horizon benchmarking process is provided free of charge and helps South Coast businesses discover where they stand in relation to their competitors.

Horizon loan manager Bill Taylor said by comparing the best practices and processes of other businesses in the same industry, problem areas could be identified and solutions found to achieve better performance and profitability.

"Using a specialised software program especially designed for small to medium businesses, Horizon enters the financial data and analyses performance against specific industry averages," Mr Taylor said.

"The result is a commentary of the key areas of a business which need attention as well as suggested strategies for improvement.

"Benchmarking can also assist anyone thinking about opening a new business or purchasing an existing one."

© 2006 Illawarra Mercury

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