Problems faced by new entrepreneurs. Eight problems of Russian organizations, or how to get rid of typical pathologies

Organizations seek to gain insight into uncertain conditions through analysis, attempting to reduce the multiple factors of the environment into a model that is understandable and can be acted upon.

The environments faced by organizations are not the same, so there are various levels uncertainties that can be classified based on the analysis of two characteristics:

the degree of simplicity or complexity of the situation;

Degrees of stability or instability (dynamism) of events.

The uncertainty of the external situation increases with the increase in dynamism or with the complication of its conditions. Degree of dynamism external environment determined by the pace and frequency of change.

Measurement of the uncertainty of the external environment according to the "simple-complex" principle refers to the number and dissimilarity of external elements associated with the activities of the organization: in a complex external environment, many different external elements interact that affect the organization.

Complexity can arise from differences in environmental elements faced by an organization (e.g., an international organization operating in many countries) as well as the amount of knowledge required to cope with the impact of the environment (e.g., a requirement for an aerospace company) .

It is not difficult to give examples of organizations operating in a simple environment. This could be, for example, a grocery store or a foreign language course. In such cases, the only really important external elements are a few competitors, suppliers and customers. Government regulation is minimal, and cultural changes have little impact.

Measurement of the uncertainty of the external environment according to the principle "stable-unstable". This characteristic is related to the rate of change in the external environment. Organizations may operate in situations where one or more factors change slowly or very quickly. For example, electronics companies operate in highly volatile or dynamic environments, while many municipal institutions(e.g. public schools or cleaning services) operate in a stable environment.

State "simple-stable environment"

It has the lowest level of uncertainty. The organization is facing an environment that is easy to understand and that does not change significantly. The only really important external elements are a few competitors, suppliers and customers. Government regulation is minimal, and cultural changes have little impact. Examples include, perhaps, suppliers of raw materials and some mass production companies. In this case, the technical processes are relatively simple, with only a few external elements to deal with. Competition and market issues may not change over time, and they are likely to be few in number.

The state of "complex-stable external environment" represents a somewhat higher level of uncertainty. In external audit, it is necessary to take into account a large number of factors, analyze and evaluate their impact on the effectiveness of the organization. However, in such an environment, external factors do not change quickly or unexpectedly. The activities of universities, electrical equipment companies, insurance companies are carried out precisely in such a complex stable environment. There are a large number of external elements, but although they change, the changes are relatively gradual and predictable.

The state is "simple-unstable". In such an external environment, there is a further increase in the level of uncertainty. While an organization may have only a few external influences, these changes are difficult to predict and react unexpectedly to the organization's initiatives. Examples of organizations operating in this type of external environment are manufacturers of fashionable clothes, personal computers, and show business. Organizations operating in this sector face ever-changing supply and demand.

The state of "difficult-unstable". The highest level of uncertainty occurs in a complex-unstable environment. The organization is affected by a large number of external factors, they often change and react sharply to the initiatives of the organization. When several factors change simultaneously, the external environment becomes "seething", or, as it is called, turbulent. Such an environment is faced, for example, by electronic firms and airlines. So, in the case of airlines: within just a few recent years they had to contend with the growth of regional airlines, deregulation, price wars, soaring fuel prices, crowded airports, changing consumer demand, and so on. Aerospace corporations, communications companies, pharmaceutical companies, and many others face similar situations.

Indicators of the complexity and instability of the external environment affect the organizational behavior of individual functional units of the organization in different ways. Consider, as an example, the impact of these indicators on the personnel department of an organization.

Simple and stable environment- the easiest for the work of the personnel department. Forecasting staffing requirements is relatively easy as it can be based on past trends. The need to change the methods of labor stimulation and motivation is insignificant due to low levels of competition. Sales revenues and profit levels are likely to remain constant, so the payroll does not change. Routine procedures for the search and selection of personnel are applied. It is relatively easy to evaluate information about the external environment, since the number of elements included is small.

Complex and stable environment.From the perspective of personnel management, this case also does not present serious problems. Predicting the need for additional labor is relatively easy due to the high level of stability and the relatively stable labor market. Evaluating information is much more difficult due to the significant number of elements involved. However, there is no serious need to change the policy regarding work with personnel, since the methods of work used are quite effective.

Simple and unstable environment.This case presents more significant problems. Due to the high level of dynamism of the market situation, forecasting the results of work is complicated. Evaluation problems are less significant due to the small number of operating elements. However, it may be necessary to revise and improve the methods of personnel selection, the system of bonuses and motivation.

Complex and unstable environment.This is the least favorable state of the external environment for the activities of the personnel service. It makes the workforce planning process extremely difficult. Predicting staffing changes is difficult due to the high level of complexity of the issues, the difficulty in collecting information and the inability to build on past trends. Personnel management, its planning is extremely complicated due to cyclical changes in the need for personnel due to market instability. It is very difficult to evaluate the information due to the large number of variables included. You will probably have to use the services of recruitment agencies more widely.

Self-employment involves the ability of business owners to solve certain problems. Let's see what difficulties we encounter along the way.

1. Taxes

Isn't it true that the main task of a businessman is to make money in all the right and wrong ways. Calculating taxes is the job of an accountant. But I do not know of any aspiring entrepreneur who would be able to hire such a person. This is pure insanity.

As a result, the entrepreneur becomes a victim of such a situation: financial incompetence + lack of extra money cause the newcomer to overpay taxes where they can save, make mistakes, which leads to significant fines.

And in the end, he winds himself with a web of debts, unsubmitted reports, that it is easier for him to reincarnate as a new individual entrepreneur than to spontaneously solve these problems.

2. Wage

More precisely, not the very fact of the presence of the labor force, but the effort to employ them. Because without such a person as an accountant simply can not do. And if we add the cost of one worker (taxes, contributions to various funds), then it becomes absolutely clear why in our country no one is eager to work “in the open”.

3. Tie on contractors

If you provide services through contractors, you will certainly encounter a trend: 95% of the consumers you lost, you lost because of intermediaries.

And you can try to argue to the client that you are not guilty that the plane did not depart at the specified time, but the airline is to blame for everything, or, for example, the gift was brought not for a birthday, but the next day, but all for the reason that the company "Holiday-holiday" was not going to cooperate with you.

The consumer will not return to you, will not find out who is right and who is not. And you won’t run away from the Prazdnik-Prazdnik corporation, because there are only 3 establishments in the town that provide services, and they all work poorly.

4. Lack of working capital

Let LLC "Horns and Hooves" sell blue buckets to dealers in bulk. That's just wholesale - from 5000 rubles, and you have 3000 rubles available. And at least hang yourself. But the demand for blue buckets has increased, and if you bought them now for 3,000 rubles, then tomorrow you would get 5,000 rubles.

But no, it won’t work, LLC “Horns and Hooves” rested against the horn, sorry, there are no discounts. So everywhere. Either you suffer losses, or you cry, you beg, you humiliate yourself, you beg.

5. Significant business support costs

Every day, one thing, then another: either the computer is broken and the printer does not print, or the modernized machine does not work on our electricity. Either pay for advertising about your company, for repairing a PC, for loading furniture, or for cleaning the premises.

Such costs are usually not large or one-time. But there are quite a lot of them, and they are periodically repeated. It would be great to do everything alone, but how to acquire talent and abilities.

Based on the model of development of the organization by stages of a living organism, we briefly formulate character traits all stages of organizational development. As organizations grow, they encounter certain pitfalls that must be avoided in order to continue to grow.

Russian business is very young. A large number of very young companies is one of the most important factors that determine the current style and current problems of Russian management. In the process of development, organizations go through a number of stages and face certain evolutionary “traps” that must be avoided in order to continue growing.

Changes in the organization do not occur according to formal logic schemes, they depend on many external factors. An organization can be likened to a living organism. Modeling of its development can be carried out using the theory of life cycles. Quite a few such models have been proposed: the Dawson model (considering the life cycles of state committees), the Lippit and Schmidt model (describing the development of a business organization), the Torbet model (based on the individual mentalities of organization members), as well as the models of Katz and Kann, Greisner, Kimberley, Adizes and etc.

One of the most adequate can be considered the Adizes life cycle model. Unlike others, it focuses not only on growth, but also on regression, organizational decline, and death. Adizes sees the process of organizational decline as consistent and predictable.

The main idea of ​​the model is to correlate the development of an organization with the development of a living organism. Therefore, the life cycle of an organization is divided into two phases - growth and aging. Growth begins with inception and ends with flowering, passing through stages such as "nursing", "infancy", "come on, come on", "youth". Aging begins with stabilization and ends with the "death" of the organization, passing through the stages of "aristocratism", "early bureaucratization", "bureaucratization". Progress from one stage to another occurs as a result of solving the key problems of each stage.

Adizes distinguishes two important parameters of the life of an organization - flexibility and controllability (manageability). Young organizations are very flexible and mobile, but poorly controlled. As an organization matures, the balance changes: controllability increases and flexibility decreases.

Each stage has its own difficulties, which can be conditionally divided into two categories: growing pains and organizational pathologies. The first includes problems caused by the immaturity of the company, which are very difficult to avoid. In a certain sense, this should not be done, since their competent overcoming contributes to proper organizational maturation.

With a competent strategy and tactics for the development of an organization, it can be in its heyday indefinitely, constantly generating new "curves" of the life cycle. The key task is to focus on the problems inherent in this stage of the organization's life cycle, solving them so that it can develop further.

On the basis of the model proposed by Adizes, one can try to formulate in a concise form the most characteristic features of all stages of the development of an organization.

Nursing (Courtship) - The birth of the organization. At this stage, the entrepreneur discusses the ideas of a new business and decides on its creation. Success requires a business idea and enthusiasm for it, a willingness to take the risk of starting a new business and a high level of commitment, financial support for a new business and a willingness of the market to accept a new product / service.

Infancy - the beginning of the company's activities. The characteristic features of the organization at this stage are a fuzzy structure, a small budget, the lack of well-established business processes, a democratic personalized organizational culture, weak subordination, and the absence of a system for hiring and evaluating the performance of tasks. Success requires constant cash flow and a founder's dedication to building a sustainable organization. When the cash flows and activities of the organization stabilize, the next stage of its development begins.

"Come on, come on" (Go-go) - rapid growth stage. The business idea begins to bear its first fruits, the lack of funds is overcome, and sales increase. The organization is working in "fire mode" to satisfy more and more new market demands. During this period, many extraordinary personalities can appear and “reveal” in the company. From time to time, a wide variety of heated discussions about ways of further development can arise between them.

One of the types of pathology at this stage of development may be the desire to embrace the immensity. To survive, an organization must clearly define what not to do. There is a need for an administrative subsystem - the transition from management "by intuition" to more professional actions. Otherwise, the organization may fall into a trap where the actions of the founder can lead to the death of his own creation. Overcoming the described problems, the organization moves to the next stage - adolescence.

Youth (Adolescence) - a period of spiritual rebirth of the organization. The business outgrows the individual abilities and capabilities of the founder. A new structure, style of work, organizational culture, basic business processes are being formed. This is a long and painful process associated with conflicts and contradictions, for example, between the old and the new team, between entrepreneurs, managers and specialists, between the founder and the organization as a whole, between the goals of the organization and the goals of its employees. An organization moves from one set of problems to another.

In many cases, it is at this stage that the emphasis changes - from development at any cost to improving the quality of work. Conflicts are possible between the needs of self-realization of bright personalities and the need for a technological organization of business processes. If the systematization and technologization of managerial activity has been successful, leadership has been institutionalized and constructively effective management has taken root, then the organization is moving to the next stage - flourishing.

Prime – the optimal point of the life cycle “curve”, where the organization achieves a balance between self-control and flexibility. The organization knows what it is doing, where it is going and how to achieve its goals. Blossoming is not a point, after which a fall immediately follows, but a process of growth. It is a measure of an organization's ability to achieve effective results in the short and long term. The company at the heyday stage is result-oriented and has a clear organizational structure and system of job responsibilities. Clear planning is combined with the ability to foresee the future and follow plans, there is an increase in sales and profits. At the same time, a network of new "infant" organizations is being created. If at this stage the organization is not replenished with new forces and cannot turn this point into a "long line", it goes to stabilization, which is the end of growth and the beginning of fall.

Stabilization is the first stage of aging in the life cycle of an organization. Still strong in terms of its internal organization, the company is already beginning to lose flexibility. The spirit of creativity is being lost, innovation is being curtailed, and the changes that led it to flourish are not encouraged. As soon as flexibility decreases, the organization becomes mature. It is still result-oriented, well organized and managed, but there is less conflict than in previous phases. In such organizations, there is an increased attachment and trust in the past. At the same time, the organization usually achieves a stable market position.

At this stage, administrators and financiers rise to prominence and begin to play a more important role than those involved in manufacturing, marketing, sales, and building relationships with consumers. The role of people working directly with customers becomes secondary. Various kinds of quantitative indicators are replacing flexible conceptual thinking. The organization is still growing, as evidenced by the increase in sales, but the main reason for the future decline is already emerging: the spirit of entrepreneurship is depleted. Increasingly, internal conflict-freeness and consistency are valued above effective work. The consequences of this process begin to manifest themselves far from immediately. If creativity is "idle" long enough, it can affect the organization's ability to meet customer needs. There is an elusive slip to the next stage - aristocracy.

Aristocracy - the control system and old traditions are being strengthened, formalism in relations is growing, personal interests predominate in the organizational culture to the detriment of the goals of the organization. There are further changes in the distribution of power: those who share money and other goods set the rules and play a more important role than people who grow businesses and produce. Leadership positions are increasingly being appointed on the basis of personal loyalty rather than professionalism. Careers in the organization begin to be successfully made not by bright, but, on the contrary, imperceptibly "gray" employees, an important advantage of which is the ability to "keep a low profile". Internal infrastructure divisions are becoming increasingly important - all kinds of economic services, financial and accounting divisions, legal and personnel services, all conceivable and unthinkable advisers to the first person: "astrologer-narcologist-psychologist-daughters-mothers-security guards-drivers" and other "trusted persons ". As a rule, there are fewer and fewer professionals among them.

All this is happening against the backdrop of an excess of funds, which are mainly invested not in the development of new areas, but in maintaining the existing "status quo". Much attention is paid to how people dress, how they address each other. External form holding a meeting and meeting prevails over the internal content. The priority of frankness and interest in discussing problems is gradually being replaced by the desire to observe personal interest. Most managers are no longer concerned with solving common business problems, but with expanding their own influence, in no way linking their well-being with a common cause. As a result, meetings lose their meaning, since nothing is frankly discussed at them. The aristocratic organization tends to deny the real state of affairs and behaves like an ostrich, blocking the discussion of real problems.

A company may acquire other firms in an effort to gain new products and markets, or to "buy" entrepreneurship because it has significant cash resources. Decreased flexibility that begins as early as the heyday stage has a long-term aftereffect - eventually the ability to achieve results will also decrease.

The organization tries to maintain existing profits by increasing the prices of its products, while the quality of products may remain the same or begin to decline. But there comes a day when prices can no longer be raised. The true position comes to the surface suddenly.

Early bureaucracy - the stage when the organization "forgets" about what is being done and how and turns to the question "Who is to blame?". The search for specific culprits in the emergence of problems leads to frequent conflicts and managerial paranoia. The consumer is relegated to the background. Small details, subtleties of customer service go away. At this stage, the efficiency of work practically does not matter anymore. Those responsible for the problems are simply “appointed” by the decision of the owner or manager. The struggle for survival begins not for the corporation, but for everyone who works in it.

Entrepreneurs capable of generating business are leaving or being pushed aside. minor roles. There are more and more administrators able to divide money and set rules. The company turns itself into a stronghold of bureaucracy, with no obvious focus on results and customer satisfaction.

Bureaucratization and death (Bureaucracy and death) - at the last stage of its development, the organization no longer has a working team, no orientation to results, no inclination to change. It does not create the resources necessary for its self-preservation and is therefore doomed. Focused on rules and procedures, on mindless control, the company has little contact with the outside world, and customers have to work hard to get through the existing bureaucratic obstacles in the organization. Clients leave, and if the state or the owner, for some reason, does not wish to prolong this agony, the organization dies.

In real life, it is difficult to single out a "chemically pure" state: in the activities of almost any organization, there are usually characteristic features of several stages of development. In this case, as a rule, the features of two or three neighboring stages are noticeable, but in small "doses" elements of almost all stages can be present. So, if an organization is at the stage of stabilization, then according to some parameters it will correspond to the stage of prosperity, according to others - to the stage of aristocracy, but according to the prevailing part of the processes, it will still be at the stage of stabilization. Although this does not exclude individual elements, such as the infant stage.

A competent definition of the stage of the life cycle of an organization allows you to more accurately determine the constructiveness of using various management technologies and the prospects for attracting certain managers to work in the company.

In general, two opposite trends are observed in the life of companies. On the one hand, studies have shown that companies that took leading positions in the first half of the 20th century continued to occupy them until the beginning of the next. Of the 25 brands that were at the top of the US market in 1923, 20 were still in first place in 1999. Four moved to second place and one to fifth. On the other hand, an analysis of the published list of the 500 largest companies in the world showed that half of the companies from the 1980 list had already ceased to exist ten years later. At the same time, Western analysts noted that the average life expectancy of companies from the lists of the largest is approximately 40-50 years. Longevity studies of companies in Japan and Europe have shown that the average life of firms is 12.5 years. Based on these trends, we can conclude that climbing a mountain is more difficult than staying on it. If you become a leader, you are more likely to be a leader for a long time if you survive.

Any person who has own business will run into problems sooner or later. Someone will easily solve them, gain experience and become stronger, for someone they will become a straw that breaks the camel's back, and then their business will go to the bottom. Much depends on how a person perceives the difficulties that have arisen.

Right attitude towards business problems will be able to see in them the consequences of their own decisions. In any case, every situation has a reason that caused it. Remove the cause and the problem will go away.

Key Business Issues

Problem number 1. The owner of the business and his employees run the business without pleasure.

This problem can be fixed in two ways:

1. Eliminate envy. You don't need to compare yourself to other people and try to be something you are not. Envy brings destruction to business, relationships and the very personality of a person. Remember, from the outside you can always see who is who in reality.
2. Also, the loss of pleasure signals that the purpose and meaning of the business is lost. In this case, usually the business itself has no problems, it is the difficulty of the owner and employees. The solution may be to sell the business, find new tasks for yourself and for the business, or find a person and transfer the authority to manage the business to him.

Problem number 2. Lack of working capital or a small flow of money.

There are three ways to solve this problem:

1. It is necessary to determine the most marginal products and focus on selling them. As a rule, the owners try to get income from all the goods presented in the business, but this path is time-consuming and does not guarantee success. It is much faster and more profitable to find a buyer for a cash item. Profits from these transactions can be used to grow your business and expand your customer base.
2. Launching the sale of a locomotive product that will be of interest to customers. By focusing on the promotion of such a product, you can beat off the costs of its launch. When buyers begin to consistently purchase locomotive goods, it is worth starting to expand the sales line. Thus, advertising costs will be reduced and the average check will be increased.
3. Find a reason to monetize your customers. Refuse loans and credits, try to make them pay you. Usually during such searches, answers are found for other problems in the business.

Problem number 3. If there is a high income, there is still a shortage of funds.

There are two versions of this problem:

1. One of the key reasons for losing money is non-core assets. They account for up to 80% of the leakage of funds from the business. People invest in those areas in which they are poorly versed or do not understand at all. The reason for such “investments” lies either in greed and the desire to earn quick money, or following the advice of friends. It is necessary to invest only in the business that you personally know. There are enough problems and just nuances in any field.
2. Bad accounting. The turnover of one person in the company was more than 15 million rubles a month, which allowed him to think of himself as a wealthy person. At the same time, spending and lifestyle were appropriate. However, during the audit, it turned out that disorderly investments, the presence of loans, strange obligations to banks, accounts receivable and the banal theft of employees raised the issue of bankruptcy before the company, and made the owner a debtor. You need to keep a very careful and scrupulous account of all income and expenses, and only after that evaluate your wealth.

Problem number 4. Relationships between company employees.

It is no secret that all sorts of intrigues and intrigues are widespread inside the business, sometimes people slide into rudeness and aggression. An unhealthy climate within an organization puts an increased burden on its employees. Working in a hostile, hostile and conflict environment, people expend much more energy.

Three steps will help you solve this problem:

1. It is necessary to reduce the level of criticism to the minimum possible. The amount of it directly affects relationships and problems with people. Many people prefer to give paychecks in envelopes to minimize envy strife.
2. Make the heads of departments responsible for the microclimate in their team. The most problematic are those companies where the whole range of issues is solved by only one person - the owner of the business. This structure is also called the "sun".
3. Unite the team with a common cause. When people work towards a common goal, it greatly increases their effectiveness and reduces tension in relationships. Everyone knows what and for what he does. At the same time, there can be any goals: market leadership, introduction of a new product, application of new quality standards, etc. The only thing that matters is the presence of motivating energy for this purpose.

Problem number 5. Professional development of employees.

Before offering a person to take advanced training courses, it is worth considering whether he is suitable for this. According to the level of suitability for training employees can be divided into three categories:

1. Person "+" - has a desire to learn, is positive.
2. A “-” person has no desire to learn, while being emotionally neutral.
3. A person "0" - this type, in addition to negative emotions, is also not adapted to study.

Considering these types of employees, you will never run into a problem in choosing one of them who will most effectively recoup the money spent on his education.

Problem number 6. The presence of high competition.

This problem can be solved using three steps:

1. Figure out what aspect of your business needs to be developed to stay ahead of the competition. Any scarce resource with a 95% probability can be replenished by properly conducting business negotiations. You need to either become a good negotiator or find one.
2. Since the market is not rubber, an increase in your sales automatically leads to a decrease in your competitors. You only need to determine the most attractive product or service for your current and potential customers.
3. It is necessary to ensure that the market is saturated with information about your offer. Ideally, there should be information about it both in text and in audio and video formats. The more you know about it, the greater the chances of making a profit. For such an information attack, the budget may not be very large.

How Successful Businessmen Solve Problems: Case Studies of Well-Known Companies

The editors of the Commercial Director magazine interviewed Yaroslav Glazunov, the author of the Anti-Titanic bestseller, who collaborates with the leaders of the largest Russian and international organizations. Using the example of Alfa Group, Sberbank, Severstal and others, you will learn how a manager should act in difficult circumstances for the company in order not to lose business.

What problems in business arise from a lack of control

There are a lot of problems that businessmen have to face. But their main reason is precisely the lack of possessory control. Good and timely, it often not only solves actual problem, but also removes the very cause of its occurrence.

Situation 1. The collapse of the business after the owner transfers control to an outside manager and the owner leaves the director's post.

Solution to the problem. Many entrepreneurs believe that it is enough to control only the appointed director, how he fulfills the plan and solves various issues. However, this is completely insufficient, since the real management of the business lies with the director, and not with the owner. An entrepreneur needs to personally inspect all aspects of their business. To do this, you need to have a built-in system that allows you to receive information about the current level of cases in a timely manner.

Situation 2. The owner of the business has fears of losing his company if a hired director manages it.

Solution to the problem. Before handing over the reins of government, it is necessary to establish a system of control on the part of the owner. If everything is built correctly, then the success of the company will depend more on the owner than on the director.

Situation 3. If there are several owners in the organization, any of them may aspire to take the post of top manager. At the same time, each owner has his own position, different from others, on a number of key issues. This state of affairs leads to a slowdown in the development of the company.

Solution to the problem. One of the owners must act as the owner and develop a control system for the organization. To do this, you can connect other owners, which will positively affect relationships and the ability to make joint decisions.

Situation 4. The CEO of a company is its owner. At the same time, business results are not in the best condition, and the pace of development is also falling. Nevertheless, the owner believes that he fully controls the development of the enterprise, but in fact the lion's share of time is spent on solving managerial problems.

Solution to the problem. The speed of business development and its efficiency directly depend on the control of the entrepreneur. If the owner performs managerial functions, then, as a rule, there is no time left for directorial activities. In this case, it is necessary to separate these two roles and give the owner functions all the time necessary to fulfill them.

Situation 5. The business owner is the chairman of the board of directors. Thus, he influences the strategic issues of his firm, but operational information often does not reach him. This state of affairs leads to a delay in the decisions of the owner, and the current ones are carried out independently of him, often going against the strategic plans of the manager. The owner is limited in his ability to influence what is happening in the company.

Solution to the problem. In this case, there are errors in the construction of possessory control. A properly built structure creates the foundation for operational work. It is necessary to carefully work out the entire management system in order to be able to direct the activities of the business according to the requirements of the owner.

Situation 6. To control several of his enterprises, their owner created a management company. However, this did not lead to noticeable improvements; employees of organizations exist in a certain “vacuum”. Considerable time is spent on solving administrative and legal issues.

Solution to the problem. A business needs ownership control, while a management company provides managerial control. And even it will still be an object requiring possessory control. In this situation, a system is needed that will allow the owner to manage both all his enterprises and the management company that oversees them.

Situation 7. The owner wants to buy or create a new business. At the same time, he doubts his ability to make this business successful and properly build his work.

Solution to the problem. You shouldn't start a business if you can't manage it. If you still take the risk, then later this business may go to those who control it better than you. It is better to create an enterprise from the very beginning under an effective system of possessory control, so as not to waste time on reworking.

Situation 8. The business owner wants to get rid of it. He no longer wants to spend resources on it and manage it. At the same time, he wants to receive a solid reward for the creation and development of this business.

Solution to the problem. For a profitable sale of a business, it is necessary to maximize its financial performance and bring the company to a state of affairs in which it will be the least dependent on its current owner. It is necessary to separate the functions of the owner from the functions of the manager. This is possible with the establishment of a working system of possessory control.

Situation 9. The business has a number of founders or shareholders, while the director is actually entrusted with the functions of the owner. Top managers of the organization perform their duties well, but their actions are not consistent with the overall development strategy.

Solution to the problem. Since in this case the functions of the owner are dispersed among the top managers of the company, their implementation is practically not coordinated. The director needs to create a separate direction to perform these functions, organize and independently establish a system of possessory control.

Situation 10. The organization has branches and subsidiaries. Their work reflects the interests of their leaders more than their owners. It is necessary to control these organizations.

Solution to the problem. Control over subsidiaries and branches is organized by the type of ownership through a similar system. The fear of losing a business forces its owners to act as a manager in their own firm. At the same time, they want to throw off this burden. It is human nature to be afraid of losing what he has, and the larger and more successful his business, the greater the fear of losing it may be. And sometimes it happens that this fear materializes and the owner really loses his business.

• Director Mistakes: 10 Mistakes That Led to Crash

Expert opinion

Problems in business in personnel management

Anna Safonova,

Korn Ferry Hay Group expert, Moscow

Through 600 surveys conducted by our firm in 2012-14, we received information from 400 organizations and 5 million employees worldwide. The analysis of this information allowed us to identify four main problems in the field of personnel management, which occur regardless of the country where the company is located.

Below we have given the data of the most characteristic problems in business in Russia. According to this information, there is a problem of diametrically opposed views among company directors and employees. Leaders of organizations are firmly convinced of the correctness of the chosen policy, while employees face the opposite every day.

We labeled this discrepancy as a challenge, as it shows the way to business development. The given complexities of personnel management also negatively affect his participation in the work process. Those companies with the highest employee engagement show an almost fivefold profit gap compared to organizations with low employee engagement. Successful firms also have 54% lower employee turnover.

Problem number 1. Cooperation.

Approximately eight out of ten managers (81%) are classified as strong side their work team friendly teamwork. At the same time, 38% of employees report weak support for other departments of the organization. 32% of respondents admit that cooperation and discussion of new ideas are completely unenthusiastic. The forecast for this problem is not very favorable: due to the presence of people of different generations in the company’s staff, as well as those who are used to working remotely, the difficulties in personnel management will only grow.

Problem number 2. Honesty and openness.

Less than half of the employees in the company (46%) see the relationship between the results of their activities and wages. 47% of respondents are convinced that their work is not paid adequately. At the same time, 41% find non-obvious ways career development in the organization, and 36% even state that the company's management distorts information about changes.

Problem number 3. Culture of innovation.

39% of employees surveyed say that their company does not welcome the use of new methods and ways of working. A little less than a third of employees (31%) talk about the problem of the impossibility of implementing their ideas.

Problem number 4. Performance.

According to 47% of respondents, the number of employees in their department does not correspond to the volume of work, and 43% believe that the entire structure of the company is not built optimally .

• Business management problems: how mentality affects work

The main problems of medium-sized businesses that most managers face

Problem 1. Lack of business development planning

The launched project required a lot of effort. Purchase and installation of equipment, search for personnel, negotiating with suppliers and potential customers, general debugging of production. And after all this - the desired success and the first profit. And it's okay that the income turned out to be slightly less than originally calculated. Another production line is being prepared for launch, personnel are being recruited, and new markets are being sought. As a result, there are already five lines operating in several shifts, and there is a long line of people wishing to purchase products. But the profit does not think to grow, but on the contrary, it is declining. As a result, all the forces of the company are not focused on development, but on maintaining profitability. The introduction of new lines does not give results, and the introduction of the last of them leads to the collapse of the business.

The reason for the problem lies in the fact that every business lives within strictly allotted boundaries. And every owner, after some time, runs into these boundaries, which can be overcome only with the help of quality, and not quantitative changes. And it is necessary to prepare for such changes before the business is faced with this need. To do this, you need to answer five simple questions:

1. What is your business goal for the next year or two?
2. What opportunities does this goal offer?
3. Given the new opportunities, what will be the long-term goal?
4. Is a long-term goal good enough to spend so much time on it?
5. What is currently being done and what is not being done to achieve the long-term goal?

Problem 2: Lack of time to think about strategy

It is quite natural that during a 12-hour working day, in which one has to solve hundreds of issues and problems and hold dozens of meetings, there is no time for strategic planning. And the point may not be in the randomness of information and not in an optimally built control system. Sometimes the business owner manages the work of a dozen heads of departments. And this is despite the fact that in every textbook there is such a thing as a "controllability norm", according to which one manager should not have more than 7 subordinates. But this reason is not the only one that affects time. The main reason is the growth crisis.

When a business is in its infancy, the owner is also the top manager who manages everything. However, over time, the business begins to grow, and accordingly, the information flow increases with the number of problems that need to be solved. In addition, there are other promising directions, branches grow, and a small business turns into a serious company.

In order not to lose it at this moment, the owner needs to gradually switch to corporate management. To do this, you need to find qualified managers and create the right motivation for them. At the same time, top managers should not only look for profit growth and achieve short-term success, but should also bring value in the long term.

Another nuance is that while the business is not very large, the owner manages the process of sale or production. To do this, certain tools are used and key indicators are introduced. But when the enterprise expands, branches begin to grow, independent projects appear, the central office must reorient itself to the financial management structure. The main concern of such a structure is the investment portfolio and capital structure instead of production and sales. And if at the beginning of your journey you needed qualified production workers and salespeople, now you also need financiers.

Problem 3. Lack of order in financial relations

It is sometimes very tempting to see your own pocket in your businesses and their accounts. Entrepreneurs who do business in this way are bound to run into problems. Obscure financial relationships between subsidiaries, in which everyone owes everything to everyone, and the profit of one firm goes to cover the losses of another, does not make it possible to clearly understand the level of efficiency of a single firm or division.

In this situation, the situation will be improved by the introduction of a transparent and adequate system of accounting and systematization of internal corporate information. In such a system, information will be understandable, relevant, reliable and comparable. Only after these measures it will be possible to understand the exact financial indicators of firms and projects, allowing to correctly assess their feasibility.

• How to Achieve Your Goal: The Complete Guide

Problem 4. Misuse of own and borrowed funds

There are a number of misconceptions, one of which sounds like "money is yours and someone else's." And according to this logic, other people's money should be given away, but not your own. If you turn to financiers, they will say that any money has its price. The price of other people's money, for example, loans, is their interest. One's money can be valued in terms of the profit it can bring when deposited in a bank. This is a pretty simple explanation.

If it’s a little more difficult to approach, then this is called WACC (weight average cost of capital) and will be determined through special formulas and coefficients. The general meaning of this scheme is that if your business, which is run on your own money, makes a profit less than the WACC value, then it is unprofitable. If you want to roughly estimate your business, imagine that you borrowed money from yourself at 23% per annum (which is the average WACC rate). Does it bring profit in such conditions?

Another misconception is the notion that credit is always bad. Here is one practical example: the owner of a Russian travel holding uses only his own funds. He was asked to answer three questions:

1. “How much could you invest in your business while maintaining your current income level?” “About $1 million.”
2. “What is the average annual profit of your business?” - "About 30-35%".
3. “What percentage did the borrowed funds require” - “No more than 15%”.

In answering the last question, the businessman realized that stereotypes and misconceptions had reduced his annual profit by about $150,000. The discussion of finance can be endless, but it must be understood that not all money is the same. For qualitative transformations, you need to correctly understand the nature of money.

Problem 5. Investing in a loss-making enterprise

How to understand whether it is worth investing time and money in a business? For a competent capitalist, not so much profit is an indicator, but the growth in the price of the business itself. Of course, a professional valuation of the company will require significant funds, however, you need to have at least a rough idea of ​​its price. The financiers we talked about above should help you with this.

The most commonly used method of valuation in the absence of a secondary market for shares is the method of discounted cash flows generated by the company. There are situations when an increase in profits does not exclude a decrease in the value of the business as a whole. For example, the emergence of more profitable and less risky projects that lead to an increase in the value of your money.

Several options for behavior with a decrease in the value of the company:

• sale of property and liquidation;
• business sale;
• mergers and acquisitions;
• investments.

Let's talk separately about mergers and acquisitions. An interesting point: the billion-dollar business sees three-quarters of failed M&A contracts. As a result of such transactions, the combined firm has a lower value than the combined value of the individual firms before the merger. In a business with a turnover of up to $ 100 million a year, the picture is exactly the opposite - only one in four transactions fail. The reason for this difference is that two medium-sized companies, when combined, receive a higher level than competitors, and the realization of the opened prospects compensates for the costs of the merger and organizational issues. Sometimes it is so profitable that a business takeover is carried out with the help of loans.

Problem 6. Insufficient investment attractiveness of the business

In this case, an interesting paradox is observed: in the presence of enterprises in need of funds, banks cannot invest their money in profitable and interesting projects. It's all about investment attractiveness.

A properly organized investment process makes Russian projects quite attractive not only for local investors, but also for foreign ones. A variety of financial instruments will help to correctly build the optimal capital structure for your project, but it is necessary to use them correctly, taking into account individual characteristics. Let's describe a few simple things.

When creating an investment memorandum (which is the basis for raising funds), imagine the type of investor who is most likely to be interested in your project. The industry and financial investors will have different interests. Take their place and evaluate the attractiveness of your project from their point of view.

7 major challenges for small businesses

Small business development problems can be divided into several groups:

1. Organizational, which are associated with registration, registration, opening an account, etc.
2. Logistical: shortage of equipment, lack of suitable premises for production, unskilled personnel, etc.
3. Financial, as well as problems of capitalization of savings: it is difficult to form start-up capital or legalize it to start a business, difficulties in listing suppliers.
4. Credit insecurity.

For a healthy business activity, it is necessary to optimally combine the interests of consumers, the state and business entities. To do this, an effective small business regulatory framework should be in place that will stimulate business growth and create a favorable environment for those wishing to start or continue a business.

The main problems of small business:

1. Insufficient funding

Lack of funds is a serious problem of modern business. At the same time, the type of these funds - own or borrowed - does not play significant role. Experts speak of only partial (up to 30%) satisfaction with small business loans, and if you look at microcredits, the situation will be even worse - satisfaction will be only 10%. The most difficult thing is to get a loan for a novice businessman.

The main problem of small business in Russia is that a large proportion of entrepreneurs do not use borrowed funds and loans due to poor security. Another reason is the high risks of lending to small businesses, while the costs of the bank will practically not differ in the case of a small or large loan.

However, it should be noted that with the growth of experience in lending to small entrepreneurs, banks begin to assess risks more correctly and, in general, build a more loyal system of lending to small and medium-sized businesses. The procedures for obtaining a loan are simplified, conditions, including interest rates, terms and commissions, become softer.

1. Excessive government regulation

One of the most significant problems of business organization, which entrepreneurs talk about, is excessive government interference in doing business. Owners note a large number of administrative barriers - inspections from supervisory and regulatory organizations, lengthy procedures for approvals and obtaining permits.

Both entrepreneurs themselves and experts point to a direct relationship between the state of the business environment and the emergence of new jobs. Business comfort, as well as the efficiency of job creation, are directly related to the number of obstacles in creating a new company, obtaining licenses, loans, property rights, searching for personnel, etc. If the current prohibitions and restrictions are removed, then small business will show significant growth and efficiency. including the creation of jobs.

1. High level of taxation

Another significant problem of business development in Russia is the level of current taxation. Also, a lot of negative reviews are collected by the tax and accounting reporting system.

However, it is worth noting a significant reduction in the tax burden after the introduction of a special regime for the payment of UTII and a simplified taxation system. Most entrepreneurs have taken advantage of these innovations, although the new scheme has its limitations and disadvantages. But one should not expect that any steps will be taken in the near future to further ease small business in the form, for example, of raising the income threshold, allowing the use of a simplified taxation system.

1. Lack of suitable premises

Quite often, a business owner faces the problem of access to certain real estate. There is a shortage of non-residential premises suitable for doing business on the market.

This problem in business has a strong impact on the development of innovative and productive organizations. At the same time, the problem of shortage of non-residential premises is experienced not only by novice businessmen, but also by successful companies that want to expand their activities.

1. The problem of marketing goods and services

Often, entrepreneurs face such a business development problem as selling their products, difficulties with advertising and promoting their product, lack of customers, and difficulties in finding suppliers. The chances of making the wrong decision and, as a result, incurring financial losses, are affected by the weak dissemination of market research among private entrepreneurs.

The organization, as a rule, does not have the financial ability to carry out a full-fledged advertising of its services. The only place where you can talk about your products and make useful contacts is exhibition and fair events. Consequently, businessmen are very interested in holding such.

1. The need for reliable information

pledge right decisions and the normal operation of the organization as a whole is to obtain up-to-date and most complete information about the nuances of doing business.

At the moment, the amount of information necessary for entrepreneurship is constantly growing on the Internet. Thanks to this, entrepreneurs can use up-to-date data on a wide range of issues. The Internet also allows you to search for partners and improve your own skills through remote learning and online consulting.

1. Insufficient level of personnel qualification

The lack of qualified personnel is a common business management problem. In a competitive market, the best specialists leave for more favorable financial conditions. The information environment around the business is constantly changing, so the manager should be aware of the latest trends in his field, he should be a good professional. To do this, he needs to constantly improve himself and bring his employees to a higher level.

Approximately half of the businessmen surveyed, who had to close their firms, called the main reason for this not only the influence of external factors, but also the low qualification level of their employees and their own.

Thus, increasing the level of knowledge of employees - modern problem small business. The solution to this business problem is to conduct seminars, trainings, distance and distance learning, consultations and round tables.

• Sales training: what you need to know before starting

Problems of small and medium-sized businesses in the production sector

1. Problems with the sale of products.

Naturally, a small manufacturing company without the opportunity to sell its products will inevitably go to the bottom. Those enterprises that do not experience difficulties with sales, as a rule, have difficulties with the correct assessment of the sales market in other regions. Such firms know their counterparties well, but have little idea of ​​general trends. Thus, things are going well until similar products or competitors appear on the market.

A more serious problem in business is that organizations quite often lack a specialist in charge of product sales. And when such an important issue is given at the mercy of everyone little by little, it seems that no one is doing this. The results of such activities will be far from ideal.

Manufacturing firms tend to concentrate more directly on the production process, as it is the most technically complex. But modern realities are such that without sensible commercial director the company's success will be short-lived.

1. Funding problems.

There are very few firms that do not experience problems with working capital and credit burden. This situation hinders the development of business, slows down its modernization, and in the most severe cases can lead to a shortage of funds for the purchase of raw materials. The reason for such business problems of the company is not only and not so much in the mismanagement of funds, but in the lack of revenue. And this indicates marketing problems and the complexity of sales.

1. Staffing problems.

Financial - these are the main problems of small businesses that directly affect the salaries of employees and, as a result, limit the company in choosing specialists. Low wages discourage the most qualified applicants and workers.

This does not mean that small firms employ entirely unskilled personnel. It is not uncommon to find specialists who bring their firms a lot of income. These people know and love their job.

But what is typical for small businesses is that such specialists are usually close to or have already crossed the retirement age. The enterprise must be ready to replace them with minimal losses, which means that you need to think in advance about training or finding the right specialist. And in this matter, many firms show little success. Their personnel reserve is at a low level, since its training requires substantial funds.

Moreover, in a number of firms there is a lack of managerial skills among senior managers, and some of them themselves admit this. Thus, this problem pulls a number of others.

1. Management problems.

At the very beginning of activity, when a company consists of a close group of people united by one goal, there is no need to delineate areas of responsibility, write clear rules for interaction, etc. Any issue can be resolved in a discussion, and it works well. But as soon as the company has grown and all the problems of business processes are solved according to the established rules, then these rules should be documented. At this stage, the company's management will no longer be able to devote time to each problem and keep it under control. As soon as the number of employees exceeds 50 people, it is worth taking the time to describe the rules of work.

However, few firms, reaching this number, spend their time on this. Most of them do not draw up the rules for the implementation of processes, plans and facts of economic activity.

One of the rules of management theory says: "We cannot manage what we cannot measure." If you do not fix and analyze, for example, equipment breakdowns, then each subsequent failure will occur suddenly and cause more loss than the time spent on timely maintenance and repair.

Thus, if certain facts are not recorded anywhere, then statistics are not kept on them, and in the future it is impossible to analyze and identify trends in problems. Without this kind of documentation, managing a firm becomes almost impossible.

The lack of a management system is a serious problem for the development of small and medium businesses. At the same time, many business owners do not see the need for "breeding such a bureaucracy." However, complaints about managers who work in "firefighting" mode are a sure sign that the company needs to maintain certain procedures that will be automatically performed by employees, instead of shifting the problem onto the shoulders of management.

1. Problems with automation.

Many firms show a low level of automation of accounting operations. AND we are talking not about accounting, but more about accounting for the movement of raw materials, production processes, etc.

What damage does it cause to the firm? It is impossible to generate valid reports from paper documents that will allow you to understand the current state of affairs in the organization. If you use plain Excel, and even more so special programs, then such reports are made in a matter of seconds. Thus, one of the main problems of small business is solved, and managers are always aware of current affairs in the enterprise and have the necessary information for quality management.

• Organization management system in modern business conditions

Social problems in business in Russia

In the West, business is also perceived as an institution public relations, therefore, has a certain social responsibility. In the Russian Federation, the problem of social responsibility of business is far from being so widespread, but a certain direction is already being felt. Those firms that are not indifferent to reputation and important prospects are beginning to adopt Western experience in this area. There is social responsibility in the work of these organizations, they publish public reports on the actions taken. Such activities in the future should give impetus to solving many business problems in Russia through the development of legislation in this area.

Directions for promoting social reports in Russia:

1. Leading positions of large organizations in the creation and publication of open reporting.
2. Smooth implementation international standards and a gradual shift from occasional to organized reporting.
3. Transition from environmental reports to comprehensive sustainability reporting.

If you take a close look at the domestic business, you can see that large corporations show a social burden, formal non-financial reporting that meets international standards. These organizations do not lack funding, they have a desire to create a certain image for themselves in front of Western partners, investors and clients.

Charity and patronage as a type of social responsibility of business are typical for all regions of the Russian Federation. But only half of the businessmen decide to disclose information about such activities. Thus, we can conclude that business in Russia has a positive view of social responsibility in their work. However, underdeveloped economic conditions, weak legislation in this area and a lack of opportunities for developing social responsibility prevent domestic business from making a qualitative breakthrough and achieving full compliance with Western standards.

Below is a list of some business problems and ways to solve them, thanks to which it is possible to achieve approximation to world standards in the field of social responsibility of business:

State action:

• Creation of a favorable environment for the activities of non-profit organizations in the social sphere.
• Development of a legislative framework for the sphere of social responsibility of business, as well as for the favorable development of the business itself.
• Stimulation by positive ways of doing socially oriented business.
• Adoption and adaptation of international practices in the field of social responsibility and business reporting.

Actions by organizations:

• Quality and environmental safety of goods and production itself.
• Openness to each participant of the business process.
• Publication of corporate reports; more transparent business activities in general.
• Use of both local and international practices in the field of social responsibility; maintaining non-financial reporting.
• Creation of decent working conditions for the company's employees; opening of new jobs.
• Participation of business in the charitable and social sphere.

The implementation of the above points is a solution to one of the problems of Russian business, and will also help your business develop its own practice of social responsibility and form a positive image.

• A positive image of the organization is a competitive advantage and a sales stimulator

Expert opinion

Lack of social responsibility does not allow the company to enter into profitable contracts

Vadim Medvedev,

CEO«Pressto Public Communications», Moscow

Our company can refuse a profitable deal only because of the discrepancy between the terms of the offer and our concepts of social responsibility.

Since the scope of our activity is pharmaceuticals, we try to tell the widest possible range of people about the properties of our product. After all, drugs directly affect the health and life of people. In our work, we have often encountered such cases when our responsibility influenced the path of development. In one of the situations, we were forced to refuse cooperation with one of the drug manufacturers, as our study revealed a discrepancy between the claimed pharmacological properties of the drug from this company and the real ones. In order not to expose our clients to misinformation, we have refused to work together.

One of our strict principles is not to cooperate with dietary supplement manufacturers. At the moment, there is no strict framework for testing products of this kind, which means that there can be no confidence in the quality and safety of these products. Also, the conditions for registration of dietary supplements are much simpler than for drugs. An unscrupulous manufacturer has many ways to put his drug on the market. Under these conditions, our company made such a radical decision, although we are convinced that there is a fair share of high-quality and safe dietary supplements.

Information about experts

Vladimir Medvedev, General Director of Pressto Public Communications, Moscow. Pressto Public Communications. Field of activity: public relations. Form of organization: CJSC. Location: Moscow. Number of employees: 30. Main clients: Microgen, Egis, GSK, Roche.

Anna Safonova, Expert of Korn Ferry Hay Group, Moscow. Korn Ferry Hay Group is a global consulting company that helps organizations ensure the quality and effectiveness of human capital. The Korn Ferry Hay Group has over 70 years of experience in analyzing organisations, roles and rewards in the context of business priorities. The company traces its history back to 1943 and has information about management practices in 144 countries around the world.

Yulia Khachaturyan, General Director of NIKA, RISK PLAN

Economist's Handbook No. 12 2015; No. 1 2016

Name of publications in the journal "Enterprise risks and ways to minimize them", "Enterprise risks: analysis and minimization"

There are many risks that a business may face. This is the risk that the company's products will not be in demand; risks associated with competition; risks associated with the possible commission of fraud in the company; risks of loss of expensive assets; tax risks; risks associated with personnel and counterparties, etc. It is difficult to enumerate all possible business risks. Their analysis and minimization is a fundamental amount of work that should be carried out at the enterprise. In this article, we will focus only on some of them (it is impossible to grasp the immensity). First of all, we will pay attention to some general points related to working with risks.

Any risk has a qualitative and quantitative assessment. In other words, you must assess the likelihood of its occurrence and exactly what potential financial harm it can bring with it. In order to systematize such work, as a rule, a map (matrix) of risks is compiled. They describe the type of risk, its qualitative and quantitative characteristics. In order not to describe qualitative and quantitative risks in words, numerical values ​​can be used. For example, a value of 10 will be the highest probability of some risk, and a value of 1, respectively, the lowest. The same is true with the financial harm that may occur as a result of the realization of the risk. For example, a risk due to which losses may occur in the amount of 50-60 million per year will have a score of 10, 40-50 - a score of 9, etc. There is also such a thing as "tolerance" to risk. When all the risks are identified and described, it is necessary to determine which of them the management of the enterprise is loyal to, and which the business itself can easily survive. As for other risks, it will be necessary to foresee measures in advance to avoid or minimize them. In addition, it should be borne in mind that the adoption of measures to minimize risks involves the incurring of certain costs. And if these costs are higher than the financial losses from possible risks, then it is better to refrain from minimizing them. So, very often enterprises do not develop countermeasures against theft of low-value items or measures to save stationery. There are various methods of risk analysis that allow to give them qualitative and quantitative characteristics.

A fragment of the risk matrix might look like this.

Risk Qualitative and quantitative characteristics

1 Use of corruption schemes,

related to procurement 5/5

2 Tax risks 7/1

3 Risks of loss of fixed assets 9/2

This snippet is provided as an example. If the enterprise is large, the types of risks can be expanded into subtypes, or the reasons for the occurrence of a particular risk can be indicated in the table.

For example, tax risks are the risks associated with the possible recognition of the received tax benefit as unjustified; risk of recognition of the transaction as invalid by the tax authorities; risks of recognition of costs as unreasonable, etc.

The risks of loss of fixed assets can also be divided into losses due to the imposition of penalties on them in civil law claims; due to the imposition of a penalty on them in connection with tax arrears; causing damage by employees of the enterprise or third parties, etc. In this article, we will describe some of the risks of the enterprise and measures to combat them.

Risks associated with fraud

Fraud is possible in any business. Let's take a typical situation - procurement-related fraud. When it comes to procurements carried out by a state organization, there are fewer opportunities for fraud, because there is a fairly large legal framework that regulates the process of their implementation. And then, the implementation of corruption and there is possible. In a private organization, there are much more opportunities for deceiving the owner. The essence of the scheme is that for a certain remuneration paid to the procurement manager by counterparties, he buys their goods, although other suppliers could offer more favorable working conditions for the enterprise (kickback).

The system for counteracting such a risk consists of two parts, as a rule.

The first part is to develop a procedure for selecting suppliers for the enterprise and fix it in a local regulatory act. If such a procedure is violated, this will be a reason to check whether the procurement manager is committing corrupt acts.

The second part of the measures is the periodic rotation of the staff of the procurement department (in order for the rotation to be legal, personnel documents must be correctly drawn up). Why is rotation effective as a measure to combat corruption schemes in the field of procurement? Yes, because the old partners do not have any agreements with the employee who, as a result of the reshuffle of employees, will supervise work with them and, possibly, in order to increase work efficiency, will select new suppliers. Sanctioning can also be used as a countermeasure against this risk. Validation involves the approval of purchases by someone else other than the manager making them. Another example is the fraud of the head of the organization.

Services company 1 hired a hired director. The latter registered a firm 2 that provides similar services, but for a slightly lower fee. Each potential client who came to company 1 following an ad was offered to conclude an agreement with company 2.

Agree, it’s very convenient, you don’t have to spend money on advertising, rent a room, etc., you just need to sit like a fisherman with nets on the shore and take all the fish for yourself. One day, it seemed suspicious to the shareholders that, despite their best efforts, their business was unprofitable, and they exposed the whole scheme. The presence of this risk could also be pre-calculated and minimized. In particular, the director of the enterprise could be checked for the presence of his own business and the scope of this business; in addition, timely control over the situation (the owners should have wondered earlier why their business is not generating income) would help to avoid such negative consequences. When analyzing the risks associated with potential fraudulent activities, it is necessary to take into account their specifics.

Firstly, the budget of the enterprise should include funds for the investigation of fraud; signs of fraud must be clearly identified.

It is also necessary to understand that in fraudulent schemes very often high-ranking officials of the organization are involved, so the person who identifies such schemes and conducts an internal investigation must have a certain degree of independence and powers that the owner has vested in him (otherwise, a situation may arise when the person conducting such risk assessment and investigation will simply be dismissed from the organization). Significant risks of the enterprise are associated with the lack of an effective financial control system. Example When scheduling vacations, many people don't think about whether vacation pay is paid in advance or not. (True, accountants are more concerned about this situation, as a rule, than personnel officers, and for good reason). After all, some courts consider that the amount of vacation pay paid in advance is not refundable. Or issuing excess money for entertainment expenses, etc.

Of course, it is necessary to analyze how large such overpayments can be, whether it is worth minimizing the risks associated with them. So, for example, the obligation to provide leave after or before the expiration of 6 months of work arises from the employer in certain cases. Employees working in the company's second and next years, receive vacation, according to the vacation schedule. To minimize the risks associated with the payment of extra vacation pay, you can draw up a schedule according to which the minimum number of vacations will be provided in advance. Risks associated with an incorrectly constructed motivation system and associated with incorrect intra-company pricing

The most common mistake employers make when trying to cut costs is cutting wages to very low levels.

As a result, the costs of the enterprise, on the contrary, can become excessively large.

Firstly, this is due to the fact that non-market wages are the reason for the flight of personnel (as a result, the cost of finding a new one increases).

Secondly, in order to retain staff, department heads are often forced to add indicators for which bonuses, bonuses, etc. are paid to employees.

Third, the lack of motivation to keep at work leads to the commission of fraud and theft. Depending on the specifics of the enterprise and the work of a particular employee, this may be theft of finished products from production; theft of gasoline; sale of unrecorded goods; serving restaurant customers without issuing a check, etc., etc.

Another common mistake when building a motivation system is incorrect budgeting by financial responsibility centers.

Recall that any division of an organization can be either a revenue center (for example, a sales department), or a cost center, or a profit center, or an investment center. Sometimes also in the implementation of budgeting for the Central Federal District use such a term as "marginal income center". What does this term mean? In economics, there is the concept of "marginal profit". On the basis of this term, the term "marginal income center" began to be used in the literature and practice of budgeting work. And yet, the content component of this term is somewhat different depending on which specialist you will come across with an explanation. There are experts who believe that marginal income centers are subdivisions that are created at those companies that carry out several types of activities, and in which subdivisions are narrow areas for the production and sale of products (services) of a certain range. In other literature, you may come across a slightly different understanding of the term “marginal income center”, as a center that is not only responsible for income from its activities, but also has the ability to directly influence the cost of the product (service) that it sells (chooses suppliers, purchasing prices, etc.). If this is not possible, then it will not be the center of marginal income, but will simply be the center of income. However, regardless of the terminology and formulations, the meaning of building a motivation system, depending on which particular responsibility center a particular unit belongs to, is simple. If a department is responsible for generating income, its wages must and depend on that income; if costs depend on the department, then, accordingly, additional bonuses can be paid for cost savings. If both income and expenses depend on the unit, then the material motivation of the employees of such a department must be built on the basis of profit. However, not everything is as simple as it looks at first glance. And errors in budgeting by responsibility centers are often significant. As a result, the motivation system becomes ineffective, which ultimately leads to financial losses.

The network had several independent retail stores. When building a motivation system, each store was assigned the status of "profit center". However, in practice, the shops were not. The range of products sold was determined centrally, at the main office. The management of the store performed only administrative functions, so the profit of the store practically did not depend on it. Example Material remuneration of the purchasing department employees was made dependent on the amount of money saved on purchases. As a result, the quality of the purchased products deteriorated noticeably and the buyers refused to work with the supplier. In fact, it was correct to refer the purchasing department to the cost center in budgeting by responsibility centers. However, such a frontal decision in building a motivation system was not reasonable. It would be more correct to build a motivation system depending on the effectiveness of the observance by an employee of the purchasing department of the price-quality ratio. Of course, building a motivation system in this way is more difficult, but also more effective.

The author of this article gave only two examples of incorrect budgeting by responsibility centers. There may be many more errors. What can they lead to? To the fact that the departments responsible for de facto income will not be motivated to earn money for the enterprise; the departments responsible for spending - the motivation to carry them out effectively; for the investment centers of the enterprise - to make competent investments, for the production departments (regardless of which responsibility center they belong to) to produce more quality products. As a result, this leads to financial losses for the organization. Issues of intra-company pricing are closely related to the issues of budgeting in the Central Federal District. We are talking about settlements within the enterprise, sometimes carried out only on paper, and not between settlements between third parties.

Let us give a specific example of intra-company pricing and its connection with budgeting in the Central Federal District.

Let's say the company has a division number 1, which is engaged in the production of parts. The material for the production of these parts is purchased by the head of this department, without using the services of the purchasing department (accordingly, he has the authority to select suppliers and looks at both purchase prices and the quality of the material). The parts produced by shop 1 can be sold on the market as an independent product, or they can be “sold” to the production of another division of the organization, which will assemble an already more expensive product from these parts, for example, equipment. The selling price for both the end buyer and the subdivision of its organization that is engaged in assembly is set by subdivision No. 1 independently (naturally, in this case, the actual process of purchasing goods from one subdivision by another will not be formalized. Calculations will be carried out only on paper). In order to build a motivation system in practice, it is important for us that since department No. 1 has the ability to determine the amount of material purchases and the market price of the product, then the amount of its additional remuneration (bonuses, bonuses) can be tied to the difference between them. If we deprive workshop No. 1 of the opportunity to determine the supplier of the material itself, then we cannot tie the amount of his additional remuneration to this difference, because workshop 1 does not affect purchase prices. He can only influence sales and, starting from them, he will build a motivation system here (although in practice everything is also not so schematic, the raw materials may turn out to be of such poor quality that shop No. 1 will have little influence on the final amount of sales, since the price of products will decrease , but can only affect the quantity of products produced). As for intra-company pricing in this process - given that the remuneration of employees depends on sales - when selling the products of shop 1 to shop 2, which assembles a more complex product, shop 1 management should be able to determine the selling price. In this case, it is effective to be guided by the following rules - if division 1 does not have free production capacity, then when selling goods to division 2, market prices should be set. This is due to the fact that otherwise, employees of the production unit, whose wages depend, among other things, on the price of the products sold, will feel disadvantaged if, instead of receiving a market price for their goods from a third-party buyer, they “sell in the interests of production” » he is cheaper than the neighboring department and as a result his salary will decrease. The financial risk in this case is that the employees of the enterprise will unknowingly sabotage the production of products for which they will not be paid a worthy reward in the end.

Building a motivation system in such a way that each division of the enterprise works to achieve a common goal is a rather complicated thing. Sometimes, in order for this system to be effective, completely non-standard solutions are found. Example The commissioning department at Henry Ford's factory was only paid for the time the workers were in the break room. The time that was spent on repairing the machine was not paid. This system motivated adjusters to do their job better. Risks Associated Directly with Counterparties In this part of the article, we will focus on civil law risks associated with counterparties (it is clear that a dubious counterparty can also be a source of tax risks). In order to understand what are the main risks associated with the counterparty, it is necessary to understand that all transactions of the enterprise can be conditionally divided into "profitable", that is, those for which the company makes a profit and "expenses", those that go to expense. Sometimes the same contract can be income-expenditure. If we are talking about expense contracts, then it should be understood that they are conditionally divided into two types, “fixed price contracts” and “cost plus contracts”, that is, contracts in which there is a fixed or adjustable part of the remuneration received by the contractor and compensated costs. Very often, fraudulent actions of the counterparty consist in artificially inflating costs. This can be done in different ways: by the fact that compensated materials will be supplied to the contractor, for example, by persons related to him; or third parties giving a kickback for an expensive order, etc. In order to motivate the counterparty to save money, as a rule, a clause is included in the contract according to which he receives remuneration for saving costs under the regulated part of the contract. Another risk of expense contracts is the risk of a significant increase in the price of goods, that is, in fact, your expenses compared to its cost. It is no secret that often for a service, product, etc., the buyer pays a price several times higher than its cost. Careful study of the market for goods and services can help to avoid such risks. It would seem that profitable contracts are less risky than profitable ones. However, it is not. Such contracts may provide for the payment of high amounts of compensation in case of improper performance of obligations by the counterparty. For example, you delayed the delivery of goods by 1 day, and the penalties for such a delay amount to half of its value under the contract. Therefore, income contracts must be studied very carefully for the presence of large financial losses in the event of non-fulfillment of the contract. It is clear that in any case you will be liable for failure to fulfill your obligations (even if the rules on liability are completely excluded from the contract) by virtue of imperative legal provisions. Therefore, it makes no sense to insist on concluding an “irresponsible” contract with you, it’s another matter that sanctions for non-fulfillment (poor-quality, untimely) fulfillment of obligations should be commensurate with the harm caused by such actions.

Tax risks

The company has a lot of tax risks. These are the risks associated with the possible recognition of the received tax benefit as unreasonable, and the risks associated with the re-qualification of transactions and the taxation regime under which the company operates, and the risks associated with the possible recognition of the transaction as invalid at the claim of the tax authorities, and the risks associated with the possible recognition of expenses as unreasonable; risks of profitable and gratuitous contracts, etc. Minimization of tax risks should occupy a significant part of the activities of a modern enterprise in the overall work to minimize risks. And first of all, the company needs to switch to white methods of optimizing tax payments. Let us dwell on some types of tax risks. The risk of recognition of the received tax benefit as unjustified. Signs of an unjustified tax benefit, named in the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation of October 12, 2006 N 53. Periodically, departments issue various explanations that describe schemes for obtaining unjustified tax benefits that inspectors will identify. For example, from 21.08.2015 N AS-4-2 / [email protected] A letter from the Federal Tax Service of Russia “On the placement on the website of a new way of conducting financial and economic activities with a high tax risk” was issued. It describes a typical way to obtain an unreasonable tax benefit in the form of VAT evasion in transactions with precious metals in bullion.

Option 1 By persons participating in the scheme: Bank; Principal - an organization that has the characteristics of a one-day firm, the owner of the precious metal, transferring it to the Bank for sale; Buyer - a person interested in purchasing precious metals.

The essence of the scheme: between the Buyer and the Bank, a contract for the sale of precious metals is concluded, while the sale of the metal is carried out with VAT. Subsequently, the funds received as payment for the precious metal are transferred by the Bank to the Principal, who, in turn, directs part of the amount received to purchase the precious metal under compulsory medical insurance agreements without paying VAT, the amount of unpaid VAT is withdrawn abroad or cashed out.

Option 2 By persons participating in the scheme: Bank; borrowers - organizations that receive the precious metal from the Bank's vault, have signs of "one-day" firms; the actual buyer is a person interested in acquiring precious metals for use in production purposes.

The essence of the scheme: The Bank enters into agreements with the Borrowers for the loan of precious metal. In this case, the metal is physically removed from the Bank's vault. Since the transaction is framed by a loan agreement, the metal withdrawn from the Bank's vault is not subject to VAT. The loan is repaid by offsetting the borrower's counter obligations without the actual return of the metal to the Bank's vault. Subsequently, the metal received under the loan agreement is sold through a chain of “one-day” companies, while the metal is sold with VAT, without the corresponding tax payment. The amount of unpaid VAT is cashed out or withdrawn abroad. The metal is delivered directly from the Bank's vault to the address of the Actual Buyer. Another example of a document where departments describe schemes for obtaining unjustified tax benefits is a letter from the Ministry of Finance and the Federal Tax Service dated 31.10. 2013 N СА-4-9/19592. Based on its content, the tax authorities should seek to identify the following schemes:

1) creation of a “scheme” aimed at increasing the cost of goods in order to artificially inflate the amounts of VAT deductions and increase expenses that reduce the taxable base for corporate income tax, in the presence of real economic and financial transactions for the purchase of goods;

2) the use in the activities of the taxpayer of companies that do not carry out real financial and economic activities, in order to overestimate the amounts of tax deductions for VAT and increase expenses that reduce the taxable base for corporate income tax, by concluding agreements with companies;

3) "fragmentation" of the business in order to apply a preferential taxation regime (UTII);

4) performance of business transactions that formally comply with the requirements of the current tax legislation, but do not have a reasonable business purpose, with the exception of obtaining an unreasonable tax benefit.

These are just two examples. In fact, there are much more letters and explanations regarding unjustified tax benefits. Of course, in order to be able to analyze your own risks, at least you need to fully know these explanations, judicial practice regarding unjustified tax benefits, etc. Today, when black schemes are automatically detected, the most big mistake to minimize risks is the replacement of such black schemes with supposedly white ones, clearly far-fetched in terms of reliability. Example A company that minimized taxes by working with one-day firms decided to abandon this path and conclude an expense contract for the provision of consulting services with an individual entrepreneur for optimization. At the same time, the cost of services for the year is equal to the limit for applying the simplified tax system on revenue, and this individual entrepreneur does not provide such valuable services to anyone else. The risk of reclassification is closely related to the risk that the tax benefit received will be recognized as unjustified. Tax regimes can be reclassified (UTII in OSNO, USN in OSNO, etc.), the subject of the transaction (from a transaction for the sale of company shares, for example, to a transaction for the purchase and sale of a building, etc.) Currently, a large number of attempts retraining is associated with civil law contracts that the FSS is trying to retrain into labor in order to receive underpaid contributions. The assessment of such enterprise risks consists in identifying the presence of signs that can be used to retrain in your transactions, modes, etc., and eliminate them.

There is extensive judicial practice on the retraining of the UTII regime in OSNO. The grounds for retraining are identical in almost all court cases. There is a room with sellers and catalogs of goods, according to which the buyer can choose them, after which the goods will be brought by a courier. However, the goods themselves in the place where the sellers are located are not available. If you have a similar situation, it may be worth moving the goods directly to the place of sale, thus avoiding the risk of reclassification. The tax risk of invalidation of transactions lies in the fact that the tax authorities will either prove that some property was artificially removed from the organization in order to protect this property from the possibility of imposing a penalty on it for tax arrears. Another option is to recognize the transaction as invalid and reclassify it into another one, which implies the occurrence of other tax consequences. The risk of recognition of expenses as unreasonable may be caused by the lack of sufficient primary documents; attribution of expenses, which are always covered by profit to the cost price; unreality of transactions, etc. There are tax risks and profitable contracts, for example, the accrual of income tax on gratuitous (partially gratuitous) transactions. Of course, these are not all tax risks (there are much more of them). If the enterprise is large, it is advisable to compile a separate matrix for tax risks, analyze them and develop measures to minimize them. Other risks (including civil law risks) Depending on the specifics, each company may have other risks (for example, the risk that you invest in an advertising campaign and it does not pay off; the risk of producing defective products; the risk of losing suppliers (buyers) as a result of the introduction of additional sanctions, etc.) The methods of their assessment and minimization will be different in each case. To prevent the risk of spending money on advertising, it is necessary to analyze various advertising tools; the risk of defective products is eliminated by increasing the efficiency of quality control of raw materials for procurement and production; The risk of losing suppliers can be prevented by analyzing the market and finding suitable replacements in the event of a critical situation. In any case, assessing the risks of an enterprise and minimizing them is a big painstaking work, which, with a competent approach, will certainly give effective results. The material is presented in an abbreviated form. Read the full text in the magazine.