Happy New Year from TBOS and Fund My Contractor! It's another year and at TBOS we always sit down to review our business plans and objectives for the year ahead. Many recruiters and agency owners will do the same and we thought we would give some ideas of some New Year resolutions you may want to consider:-

Start up your own Recruitment Agency

How about being your own boss for 2015? Starting your own recruitment agency is an option for recruitment consultants who have a had a great 2014 working for an agency but only seeing 30-35% of the business they brought in go onto their pay packet. If this is the case then setting up your own agency would mean that a larger amount of the profits can end up in your pocket instead of your boss'. As long as you have the skills and motivation this can be a great time to get started.

TBOS has helped set up over 100 new recruitment agencies and can give help and advice for any potential new agency owners.

Outsource your Agency Back Office and Accounts

By using an outsourcing company to look after your back office and accounts function of your agency can significantly reduce personnel costs and eliminate HR issues. Leaving the administrative function to an outsourcing company will allow you to concentrate on the management of your recruiters and improving sales of your agency. Outsourcing can also bring additional services to your agency that you would normally have to hire as additional staff for such as credit controllers, bookkeepers and management accountants at a fraction of the cost.

TBOS currently looks after the back office and accounts outsourcing of over 60 agencies recruitment agencies providing a fully comprehensive service eliminating the need for internal staff and external accountants.

Review your Invoice Finance Arrangement

Each year when your car insurance needs renewing you shop around to get the best possible price from a number of providers. As this month's guest article demonstrates, many recruitment agencies on an annual basis will automatically renew their invoice finance policy with the same provider on the same pricing which is crazy. Getting quotes from other providers can save you thousands of pounds and might provide further funds and greater protection.

TBOS has relationships with many invoice finance companies and brokers to review your invoice finance arrangements to see if you are getting the best price. If you are also using a Pay-And-Bill provider being charged between 4-6% we may also be able to save you even more money.

Start making Contract Placements

Over the past 12 months TBOS and Fund My Contractor have noticed that the number of contract placements has significantly increased and many of our permanent agencies are starting to expand into the contract market. As funding is now easily available from invoice finance companies it may be the time for you to review your clients and market and see if there is an opportunity to provide this additional service. Contractors can provide your agency with stability of ongoing profits and improve your turnover making your agency more saleable.

Using Fund My Contractor can help with the administrative and funding burden when starting in the contractor market and is a good incubator before signing up for a long-term invoice finance arrangement.

Expand into International Markets

With the confidence in international economies on the rise it may be an idea to see if the placements you are making in the UK can be offered to international clients in your industry. Some countries are in need of the skills that your contractors can provide due to internal shortfalls which can lead to you charging premium fees and making larger profits. Many invoice finance companies can provide international funding. Opening and managing international bank accounts is becoming simpler using online systems which means that raising currency invoices to overseas clients can easily be done.

TBOS and Fund My Contractor have lots of experience in invoicing overseas and has full currency capabilities with its systems.

TBOS provides a comprehensive back office and accounts service which also includes a full time telephone and email service, invoicing, payroll, payments, credit control bookkeeping, management reporting, VAT and year end statutory work.

Fund My Contractor provides a Short Term Funding Solution for Contract Placements. It is ideal for new start recruitment agencies or permanent only agencies who are looking for administrative and funding support for contract placements.