Marc O’Dwyer, CEO of Big Red Cloud said in response to Budget 2021: “The CRSS and the reduction in the VAT rate will of course be music to the worried ears of some of our struggling businesses around the country. It has to be said that the CRSS is a really good initiative and will hopefully be effective in providing the intended support to SMEs.

“Borrowers are typically couples in their 40s or they are single. They would have borrowed for their houses when they were 28-32,” says Trevor Grant, of Affinity Advisors and chairman of the Association of Irish Mortgage Advisors.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/personal-finance/switching-your-mortgage-could-mean-substantial-savings-1.4373798?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Fpersonal-finance%2Fswitching-your-mortgage-could-mean-substantial-savings-1.4373798

Guest blog by Michael Kavanagh, CEO of the Association of Compliance Officers of Ireland (ACOI)

In recent months, much has been made of the value of having a good Business Continuity Plan (BCP), with the COVID-19 pandemic illustrating just how important business continuity planning is in helping firms respond effectively to crisis and remain operational.

Our belief in the importance of BCPs is supported by our members, the majority of whom have utilized business continuity planning to a great extent. We recently conducted a survey of our members, to explore the effectiveness of such strategies in helping businesses prepare for, and stave off, the worse of a crisis.

Business continuity planning has been effective across 91% of our members, with almost half of businesses saying that they will need to tweak their planning in response as they move forward. The COVID crisis has been a unique and unprecedented shock and while businesses are learning to adapt, the outlook is extremely uncertain.

We recommend all businesses conduct a thorough review of their response strategy and further engage in business continuity planning if they have not already done so. In effect, Business Continuity (BC) refers to maintaining business functions or quickly resuming them in the event of a major disruption, such as we have experienced in recent months with the pandemic, or perhaps a natural disaster, malicious attack, or cybercrime. An effective BCP outlines the procedures and instructions an organisation should follow in such an event, and covers areas such as human resources, IT, business processes, assets, and any other areas which determine the continuity of the business.

Top considerations for an effective BCP:

• Identify key business areas and critical functions – people, places, systems.
• Conduct a full business impact analysis with complete, end-to-end reviews of business critical processes. This would include planning for remote workforces, for cybersecurity events, ensuring that plans for regular back up of critical data and systems are in place, and ensuring that appropriate testing of support capabilities and resources is conducted.
• The plan document should detail how firms will maintain IT and business operations and services in the event of a disruption. For critical systems and dependent services, firms should ensure that 24/7 support capabilities are in place.
• Liaise with human resources to identify where staff are and where they would need to be to ensure safety and enable business continuity, as well as to devise alternative, possible remote working solutions in the event of a business disruption.
• Implement financial management measures with financial teams to help to manage future costs for the long-term health of the business and jobs security.
• Don’t wait until a crisis arrives to test your plan – generate scenarios and test your system recovery procedures with staff.
• Create a communications plan, identify a compliance officer to assist with communication, and review your BCP annually to ensure it remains relevant and effective.

What we have found from our research is that the skills of a compliance professional are very much in line with those needed to produce and manage an effective Business Continuity Plan. Those organisations that already have compliance professionals in place may benefit from immediate access to required skillsets, such as risk-assessment, attention to detail and excellent communication skills.

CEO of the Association of Compliance Officers of Ireland (ACOI) Michael Kavanagh said, “The results are encouraging, particularly in light of the economic outlook for Ireland in 2021, and given what businesses have already been through over the last 4 or 5 months. That 64% of respondents believe firms in the financial services sector will recruit in 2021 shows signs of optimism and confidence.”

https://www.businessworld.ie/financial-news/64-of-financial-services-firms-expect-to-recruit-in-2021-574500.html

“Before the Covid crisis, people who qualified for the Central Bank exemptions could typically get them,” said Trevor Grant, chairman of the Association of Irish Mortgage Advisors (AIMA). “Once Covid happened, the banks largely stopped giving exemptions.”

Your money: Seven things you must know on the new mortgage playing field

Meanwhile, Trevor Grant Chair of The Association of Irish Mortgage Advisors said that the figures indicate “a relatively robust property market which does not appear, at this time, to be heading for the big drop that some predicted.”

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/munster/arid-40049816.html

A basic Irish funeral can cost anywhere from €2,950 to €7,500 and more, according to a 2018 review by insurer Royal London. Having to purchase funeral items and services while grieving is hard, never more so than during a pandemic. Pricing is something no one really talks about. Two-thirds of people underestimate funeral costs, according to the Royal London survey, so the bill can be a shock.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/financial-services/how-to-arrange-a-funeral-and-keep-the-costs-within-reason-1.4340200

More than nine in every 10 businesses believe their business continuity plans have been successful during COVID-19, according to a new survey from the Association of Compliance Officers of Ireland (ACOI).

‘The fact that 47% of respondents said their plan needed a lot of tweaking is testament to the unique and unprecedented shock this crisis has been to the business community,’ ACOI chief executive Michael Kavanagh sai

While there have been a raft of financial measures introduced by Government to help aid businesses affected by COVID-19, and particularly as part of the recent July Stimulus Package, one that will be of particular interest to Ireland’s struggling micro-enterprise sector is the Enterprise Support Grant, restructured as the Enterprise Support Grant for businesses impacted by COVID-19. The Grant has been recently revamped and will now apply as a once-off payment to eligible small businesses to assist with their re-opening costs. Plumbers, beauticians, taxi drivers and micro-entrepreneurs of all kinds read on…

The most vulnerable economic group to the damage wrought by the COVID pandemic has been sole traders and micro-enterprises. These enterprises form the back-bone of Ireland’s economy, with micro-enterprises i.e. those with less than 10 employees, accounting for 92.1% of all enterprises in the country in 2017[1]. For many of these sole-traders and small firms, the ability to bounce back from the pandemic will likely be highly contingent upon financial support and aid from the Government.

One of the most recent supports announced by Government has been the extension of the Enterprise Support Grant (ESG) to assist eligible business owners, who have come off the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) in recent weeks, to restart their business via a once-off payment. The grant, administered by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, has hitherto been in place to provide financial support to new businesses and entrepreneurs in conjunction with the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance (BTWEA) scheme. This program helps eligible individuals who are in receipt of certain social welfare payments and who have a business idea, to get set up and become self-employed. While the primary focus of the ESG prior to the pandemic was to support enterprises set up under the BTWEA scheme, it has now been extended to support self-employed people who were in receipt of the PUP but who have since closed their payment on, or after, the 18th May 2020.

Wider access to this grant will provide an important source of financial support to many professionals such as electricians, hairdressers, gardeners, and many others, who want to restart their business but who may be facing hefty opening costs incurred by PPE, cleaning and sanitary products, compliance costs, and signage to name a few.

What is the Enterprise Support Grant for businesses impacted by COVID-19?

The grant is a once-off payment, available to an upper ceiling of €1,000, which is aimed specifically at helping those businesses and business owners who had to close due to the pandemic with their reopening costs. Applications for the scheme opened on the 14th August.

Who is eligible?

Business owners in receipt of the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment or Jobseeker’s Benefit or Jobseeker’s Allowance who closed their claim on, or after, the 18th May can apply for the scheme. Businesses which are not liable for commercial rates, and therefore which cannot be considered for the COVID-19 Business Restart Grant or other re-opening grants, are also eligible.

Additional eligibility requirements ask that applicants:

• Are fully tax and PRSI compliant
• Employ less than 10 people
• Have an annual turnover of less than €1million

What costs are eligible? (this is not an exhaustive list – further inquiries should be directed to your local Enterprise Office)

The Department states that eligible costs must be related to the restart of an applying business. Costs incurred since 13^th March can be included in applications and include the following areas:

• Capital costs incurred for the purchase of equipment including signage and PPE

• Repairs, maintenance, and installation of safety measures

• Business training, mentoring and coaching

• Advertising and marketing

• Salaries (accompanied by payslips where the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme is not payable)

• Vehicle running costs including fuel

• Accountancy and related services, and legal advice

• Public liability and indemnity insurance costs

What costs are not eligible? (not an exhaustive list)

• Van insurance
• Building/premises rental costs
• Cost of travel (airline tickets, business trips, foreign travel, conferences)
• Insurance (except public liability)
• Personal clothing and uniforms (except protective clothing)
• Professional development programmes and membership fees arranged by professional and regulatory bodies
• Purchase of any type of vehicle
• Renovations to premises (not owned by the jobseeker)
• Stock-in-trade
• Training or education other than that specified
• Utility costs (electricity, water supply, communications such as telephone and broadband), connection or supply and local authority rates

Where to apply

Applicants can download the COVID-19 ESG 1 application form and return it their local Intreo Centre. Applicants are asked to retain all receipts and invoices in respect of the payment for a duration of one year from payment date for possible inspection.

To conclude, we can consider the results of the latest Business Impact of COVID-19 Survey from the CSO, which was published recently. The report showed that more than four in ten (44.5%) micro-enterprises have restarting trading up to the 28^th of June. That’s very positive news. While it’s apparent that the road to recovery will be a long one for Ireland’s micro-enterprises, it has begun, and these types of measures and supports, which importantly are grant aid rather than loan based, will go a long way to helping our vulnerable business communities get back on their feet.

[1] https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-bii/businessinireland2017/smallandmediumenterprises/

The price of gold surged to over $2,000 per ounce, supported by growing demand for gold in Ireland, the UK and globally as the pandemic takes its toll on economic growth and the finances of nations globally.

According to Mark O’Byrne, the Research Director of GoldCore, Ireland’s longest established gold broker “Gold has surged to new record highs in all major currencies this week including new record highs in euros at €1,720 per ounce due to concerns about the outlook for the Eurozone economy and the euro.”