That’s the way to do it

 The latest assessment of the UK economy by the IMF makes for uncomfortable reading. The UK is back in recession after the economy shrank by 0.4% in the final quarter of 2011 and by 0.3% in the first three months of this year.

The IMF lowered its growth forecasts for the UK to 0.2% in 2012 and 1.4% in 2013. In the spring, it had forecast growth of 0.8% this year and 2% next year.

The IMF said that the UK faced "significant challenges" from a stalling recovery, high unemployment and threats from the Eurozone.

As domestic budgets are ever more squeezed this will impact on businesses across the board.

This is an appropriate time to conduct a root and branch analysis of your business. Undoubtedly there are areas which would benefit from some radical adjustments/ change of direction. The consequence is not acting now could have very negative effects in the next few months.

Now is the opportunity to prepare for difficult times rather than adopting an ostrich "head in the sand" attitude.

When trying to explain a disastrous strategy to your Shareholders or Bankers it will be of little comfort to trot out the tired old defence “it seemed like a good idea at the time”.