• Aston Business School’s top academics provide essential advice to business leaders, entrepreneurs and students in a new series of podcasts
• The ‘Aston means business’ monthly podcast will tackle a variety of subjects
• The first podcast in the series discusses corporate insolvency and the pros and cons of solutions such as pre-pack administrations and company voluntary arrangements

Aston Business School has launched a new podcast series where its top academics will provide essential advice to business leaders, entrepreneurs and students.

The ‘Aston means business’ podcasts will tackle subjects as diverse as ‘What to do when the money runs out’, ‘How to sack bad staff’ and ‘Why happier staff will improve your business’.

Aston’s academics will be interviewed by Steve Dyson, a business journalist and former daily newspaper editor who has presented dozens of regional programmes for BBC’s HARDtalk series.

The first Aston Means Business podcast is entitled ‘What to do when the money runs out’ and features Chris Umfreville, a lecturer in law at Aston Business School, and a former lawyer who specialises in researching and teaching company law, corporate insolvencies and rescues.

This podcast will be launched on Tuesday 15 October and will explore the different options available to businesses in financial trouble, along with their legal responsibilities.

Chris will explain terms like ‘corporate insolvency’ and ‘calling in the administrators’, comparing the pros and cons of solutions such as pre-pack administrations and company voluntary arrangements.

Summarising his advice to struggling businesses, Chris said:

“Running out of money is a problem, but if you address things early there are options available – negotiating with customers, speaking with landlords and taking on professional advice.

“The key is to keep on top of things, really understand where you are, keep management accounts up to date, make sure everyone’s informed and be proactive. You need to identify and address problems either inside or outside the insolvency process, and the earlier you do this the greater chance of a better outcome.

“It needn’t be drastic – there are opportunities to address things, and you can use these processes to produce a viable outcome. Make changes if you need to and take advice from experienced professionals.”

Professor George Feiger, the Executive Dean of Aston Business School, said:

“Our new ‘Aston means business’ podcast will provide us with a modern and far-reaching channel to provide business leaders with essential advice.

“We’ll be exploring the latest insights from our finance, industry, legal and economic experts to help top entrepreneurs and rising corporate stars grow their businesses with a real competitive edge.

“Our podcasts are designed to get people thinking about how they can improve their revenues and profits, tackle difficult challenges and make the most of new opportunities.

“The podcast will also show prospective students from the UK and abroad the wide range of expertise we have, and how their future careers can be enriched with the knowledge they can gain from studying at Aston Business School.”

The ‘Aston means business’ podcast can be listened to on Aston’s website at http://www.aston.ac.uk/podcasts and will also be downloadable from Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Deezer, Google Play Music and a number of other services.