Natural and man-made disasters happen every day.  At some point, somewhere in the world, there is a major fire, flood, storm, sinkhole or other event that can threaten to you put out of business, temporarily or permanently.

What would you do if that happened?

You certainly have homeowners insurance, auto insurance, health insurance, life insurance and even business insurance, but do you have an up-to-date, comprehensive disaster recovery plan? Experts in the insurance industry say as many as 80 percent of business shuttered by a disaster either never reopen or financially fail in the first two years after they reopen.

“The businesses that do survive are the ones who prepared in advance for something they fervently hoped would never happen,” says David Anderson, principal of David Anderson & Associates, a Philadelphia forensic accounting firm that provides a full range of forensic accounting services in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley. “Creating a business continuity plan is just smart business.  It greatly enhances the chances that your business will survive the disaster and that your livelihood — and that of your employees — will be protected.”

Anderson, whose company specializes the development, implementation and management of comprehensive contingency and disaster recovery plans, said some business owners think they are covered as long as they have purchased insurance and backed up their computer files.  But a comprehensive contingency and disaster recovery plan covers myriad details of a business’ operations, some of them not always obvious.  And every business, no matter how big or small, needs to have a business continuity plan in place, Anderson said.

Can your business survive a disaster?  Ask yourself these questions:

• Have you protected your electronic and your paper business records? Is this important data routinely backed up to ensure against computer hard drive crashes?
• If single, or multiple, offices or production facilities are severely damaged or destroyed, do you know where you will go to get started up again?
• Do you know exactly what must be done, and in what order, when it’s time to resume operations.
• Can you estimate to customers how quickly you’ll be in business again?
• Do your employees know where to go and what to do?
• Is there enough insurance coverage to rebuild your business?
• How do you assure your customers will keep paying you?
• Will your vendors continue to extend credit to you?
• Is there a process in place to quickly and efficiently replace key employees injured or killed by the disaster?
• Are you prepared with step-by-step procedures to react to different types and severities of disasters?

If you have a consistently updated and comprehensive contingency and disaster recovery plan (business continuity plan), you can minimize your financial loss and greatly improve your chances of disaster survival.

When you require comprehensive contingency and disaster recovery plan or need any other forensic accounting services in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley, please contact the Philadelphia forensic accounting firm of David Anderson & Associates by calling David Anderson at 267-207-3597 or emailing him at david@davidandersonassociates.com.

About David Anderson & Associates

David Anderson & Associates is a Philadelphia forensic accounting firm that provides a full range of forensic accounting services in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley.  The experienced professionals at David Anderson & Associates provide forensic accounting, business valuation, fraud investigation, litigation support, economic damage analysis, business consulting and outsourced CFO services.  Company principal David Anderson has more than 30 years of experience in financial and operational leadership positions and is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Fraud Examiner and a Certified Valuation Analyst.