Brexit Day One Checklist
With a disorderly Brexit looking more likely, what can you do to make sure your business is prepared for every eventuality?
Is your business ready for Brexit?
Whatever form it takes, Brexit requires you to be ready for Day One. With time running out before the UK leaves the European Union, businesses need to prepare for every eventuality and protect themselves against all of the potential disruptions that might follow. Answer the questions below and ask yourself: Is my business ready for Brexit?
Customers and contracts
- Have you engaged with all your key customers and clients to understand their particular needs over the first few months of Brexit?
- Have you considered which of your contractual obligations may be impacted by Brexit (i.e. delivery times, product life, etc)?
- Have you reviewed all of your contracts to determine if the buyer or seller is responsible for fulfilling customs obligations, declarations and duties?
- Unless tariffs can be mitigated, price inflation poses a significant risk to the cost of goods. Have you fully identified and understood this potential threat along with options to mitigate?
- Financial Services: Have you transferred all impacted Brexit customer contracts to an appropriately regulated entity, either in the UK or the EU-27?
If you have answered no to any of these questions, contact John O'Loughlin
Cash flow and currency
- Have you considered the impact of a weakened Sterling on your transactions from and to the UK?
- Have you determined what impact price inflation and tariff changes will have on your cost base, and your ability to mitigate, absorb or pass them on?
- Have you identified the impact of Import VAT on your cashflow and your ability to fund this new upfront payment?
If you have answered no to any of these questions, contact Sean Brodie
People
- Have you carried out an impact assessment to determine the possible effect of Brexit on your employees and your business model?
- Have you mapped where your employees have come from, where they are now and where they may be travelling to as they perform their roles?
- Have you reviewed your social security arrangements and whether they may need to be reviewed once the UK leaves the EU?
- Have you considered the possible impact of foreign exchange rate fluctuations on your globally mobile employees?
- Financial Services: Have you relocated or recruited all necessary staff to perform the required control functions in your regulated entity, and do they meet the relevant competency standards?
If you have answered no to any of these questions, contact Doone O'Doherty
Contingency planning and regulation
- Have you identified additional stock holding requirements to help minimise product availability issues?
- Have you considered where additional contingency stock will be stored?
- Have you engaged with key customers in order to identify their additional stock holding needs?
- Have you secured all of the necessary regulatory approvals to continue to provide financial services to your customers across Europe and the UK?
- Have you assessed the impact of how increased demand from customers building contingency stock will affect your production, storage and distribution capacity?
- Financial Services: Have you secured all of the necessary regulatory approvals to continue to provide services to your customers across Europe and the UK?
- Financial Services: Where you plan to continue to access the UK market and UK clients, have you registered with the UK FCA to avail of their Temporary Permissions Regime?
If you have answered no to any of these questions, contact Owen McFeely
Supply Chain
- Have you fully mapped your direct and indirect supply chain?
- Can you make any short term changes to mitigate supply chain disruptions immediately after Brexit?
- Have you confirmed your supply chain partners are ready to operate after Brexit?
- Have you considered the impact of new requirements such as insurance and haulier permits on your logistics operation?
- Have you provisions in place to mitigate product delays both from your sources and to your customers?
If you have answered no to any of these questions, contact Mark McKeever
Customs
- Have you a UK and an EU Economic Operators’ Registration and Identification number so that you can move products between the UK and EU post-Brexit?
- Have you appointed a customs broker for the EU and UK to submit customs declarations through the UK and EU customs authorities’ systems?
- Have you determined the key information you need to complete customs declarations?
- Have you a comprehensive guarantee and deferred payment facility in place in the EU and UK to ease the cashflow burden of paying duties and import VAT?
- Have you confirmed that your haulage company/freight forwarder/transporters are ready to make safety and security declarations on your behalf?
If you have answered no to any of these questions, contact Jennifer Hawkins
These are examples of the types of questions you should be able to answer yes to, to be confident of being prepared for Brexit Day One. You should also have considered any changes to your organisational structure, tax arrangements and IT infrastructure that may be required. If you have any questions or concerns about what effect Brexit might have on your business, contact us today.
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