March 30, 2020  By: Brooke Pollard, Esq.   In these uncertain times it’s important that business owners are proactive in order to protect their business. Here are 5 steps you should take now.

1. Get your QuickBooks (or other accounting software) up to date – you will still need to prepare a tax return at some point (although filing deadlines and payments have been extended), and your bank will want information about your repayment ability, as well as payroll expenses from 2019 as part of the underwriting process for the CARES Act loan.
2. Get in touch with your banker – they will be processing your CARES emergency loan application. Also confirm that your bank is an SBA lender – some are not!
3. Get your team working remotely. Large companies, such as Wordpress, that have 1,100 employees all working remotely, use technology platforms to share knowledge rather than email. Email is locked up between the parties of an email – online bulletin boards such as Slack and Microsoft Teams, will allow for a quicker transmission of information across platforms and people. Now that you aren’t interacting in the office and hearing what others are working on, it’s harder to judge individual workloads. Quick information dissemination will be more effective.
4. Watch your accounts receivables closely – have a good understanding of how COVID-19 is impacting your customers and who you can anticipate should pay promptly and those who may not.
5. Review local ordinances for your business location for unlawful detainer moratoriums and other relief for commercial tenants. In some cities, take the City of Long Beach for example, unlawful detainers have been stopped for 2 months, and business owners will have until November 30, 2020 to pay back the landlord, without penalties or late fees. Once you have identified a local ordinance that may apply, let your landlord know as soon as possible about any anticipated actions. More tips regarding what to do on that can be found here in this article .