The UK Government is recommending that companies do their due diligence with no-deal in mind. Here’s how.
With just over a month to go it is time to put aside the hope that a deal would be struck that can give time for business to prepare properly. It is currently not possible to have the certainty of knowing under what regulatory regime business operations will fall after 29 March.
However, at the extreme edge of this uncertainty, is one area of absolute clarity – no deal. Despite the fact that few businesses want this outcome for the long-term, it is the default option and no-deal is becoming increasingly likely. ‘Chaos’ and ‘crashing out’ is how many describe it, but actually, the ‘worst-case scenario’ is one for which businesses can practically prepare. This avoids the almost impossible task of preparing for all eventualities and being pulled down blind alleys of hypothesis.
This is important, as with only a few weeks to go it is important to show investors, suppliers, employees and contractors that due diligence on preparedness has been carried out. It is not just us saying this, the UK Government is currently saying “we recommend businesses now also ensure they are prepared and enact their own no deal plans”.
So what can be practically done?
Our experience working with our UK, Irish and multinational clients is that is possible to identify the small number of areas where there is the greatest risk, eliminating areas where there is no or low risk. Often these high-risk areas are in surprising areas such as non-compliance of existing contracts or cash flow problems as a result of changes in VAT.
The UK Government and the EU have issued around 200 guidance documents – with 1000s of pages of advice. We have brought this information and guidance together thematically into our easy to navigate Risk Register, covering imports to contracts, people to product compliance. For our clients we deploy a five step process to find these areas of high risk and help avoid any surprises on 30
March.
It is easy to feel lost when preparing for a no deal outcome, with an abundance of information and no shortage of uncertainty. However, we know it is possible for businesses navigate the murky waters of Brexit preparedness by breaking it down and focusing on the areas that matter.
If you would like to learn more about how we work with clients to help them prepare for Brexit, then contact me on oliverkaye@lpbrussels.com