Once a business is up and running, if it is properly taking the time to organise itself to protect its legal position properly it should maintain its relationship with its Lawyers to ensure that ultimately the gains to be achieved from the business can, in fact, be gained. In the last few years, Ireland has encountered, along with the rest of the world, a severe financial correction as a result of the collapse of the financial markets and property markets globally. This has resulted in a considerable upheaval to what was otherwise a stable and growing economy.
The lessons learned from the financial collapse are now lessons that must be that protecting your business and trying to achieve the maximum benefit and longevity of business going forward involve tight credit control and debt collection processes. At Moran & Ryan, we have over twenty years of experience in national and cross-border debt collection and also advise on strategies at the inception of the business to protect against risk. Businesses with products of value considering entering into trade with other businesses will be well advised to investigate the financial strength of the other business partner. Where concerns arise about the ability to pay, then you should consider such measures as cash on delivery sales or personal or parent company guarantee for orders of significant value.
If these options are not available, then it is important to maintain a very tight system of credit control and to follow up regularly with creditors to ensure payment. The proper operation of any business should involve credit control personnel to ensure cash flow is maintained for the business. At the start of most businesses, this often involves the Principals of the business themselves. Once the business becomes established and profitable, it is certainly an essential component of any successful business management team to have cash/credit control personnel.
There are a number of debt collection processes available, and we have detailed these further in our litigation section. There are debt collection processes that involve local, national and cross-border mechanisms. There are certain options for debt collection that apply to all Member States of the European Union. A relationship with your Solicitor should accompany your focus on credit control. It is all too commonly the case that businesses allow debts to accrue to significant levels only to find themselves at a loss to insolvent companies. You should also have a review of our Insolvent Company Section as we explain in brief the process of examinership and the effect this can have on creditors of any business.
A company properly managing its own affairs will have employment contracts in place for all its employees as required under Irish Law. For more information, please see our Employment Law section.
A company then must also consider protecting its worth by the protection of its intellectual property so that sensitive business information is not shared directly or indirectly with competitors. Again this should naturally form part of the Employment Contract.
In addition, any manufacturing business will be subject to certain requirements of Environmental Law legislation vis-à-vis waste dissemination and packaging regulations. We have our dedicated Environmental Law section of the website where we identify some of the broad heads of regulations that can apply to ordinary day-to-day business.
Finally, once your business is established, you should take time to review your competitors so that you can identify possible breaches of your intellectual property in their attempts to piggyback on the success of your venture, service or product and seek our advice as to whether action is appropriate and necessary. In all our litigation cases, we provide full and transparent advice and openly discuss the implications of any action at the outset.
The operation of certain businesses in Ireland is also subject to Licensing Laws.
We are happy to advise business owners if they wish to seek a health check on their business, employee relations, their licensing set-up, online presence or their compliance with regulations.
