Whatever You Want - Business Plans That Deliver

INTRODUCTION:

The role of the small business accountant continues to evolve. Not that long ago being an advisor meant that you mainly did tax, financial statements, business structures and not much else.

Business planning has certainly come to the fore when it comes to being a trusted advisor in 2016 and beyond. Before I hear you say "oh, business plans are a waste of time because things change", I am firmly of the opinion that a good business plan will also assist your accounting and legal people around you to help you along the way far better than if you had no plan at all. You really should be getting more value for money for the fees you pay.

Having worked with many small business owners and assisted them with some high level strategic planning over the years, here are some of the key things that your business plan should have if you want them to help you achieve your desired result.

Figure 1: Having a business plan will make your meetings with your advisors more meaningful.

1. Have A Vision Of What The Business Will Look Like

Before you sit down to do your business plan, you need to have a vision of what it will look like into the future say in 12 months, 3 years, 10 years etc. This is called a business by design.

Why is this important?

Well, if you have an idea of where you are trying to get to, you will find your business plan will be much easier and more accurate and will identify key actions and milestones along the way.

If you don't know what you want in the end, no amount of business planning is going to really assist you that much.

A business by default is sadly a very common situation in today's environment simply because small business accountants and  advisors have not stressed enough the importance of planning in the short to medium to long term.

2. Know Your Market & Do Your Research

To see if you can actually achieve your vision, you also need to do some research of the market you intend to be in.

• Is your industry growing or declining?
• Where are your customers and how many are there?
• What is your competition's market share and what is your point of difference to win these over?

There are many ways to find this information and your small business accountants Sydney and Dubbo should be able to assist you in this regard.

3. Identify Hurdles

The road to success will no doubt contain hurdles. It's naturally important to identify these so you can address them.

• What will be the major challenges achieving the business you want?
• How will you get around these or will you just go straight through them?

Figure 2: Work out matters that stand in your way & have a plan to address them.

4. Develop Cash Flow & Three Way Budgets

It's crucial to ensure that as you grow your business you have enough cash to keep the business going. A cash flow budget which will be included in the three way budget process (the other two are profit and loss and balance sheet projections) is a sensational way to check this and also do what-if scenarios over the short to medium and long term plans. Your small business accountant Sydney will be able to assist you with this task which should see business growth occur more consistently.

5. What Is Your Exit Strategy?

You should always start with the end in mind or at least have an idea. You should ask yourself:

• When would I like to exit?;
• What will its business valuation need to be when I sell?;
• Who will I targeting to buy my business (management, family, external, public company)?
• What do I need to do to make it saleable?

This will also give you an idea on how much profit the business needs to make consistently. Business valuers Sydney will use these numbers from time to time when giving you an indication of the valuation.

CONCLUSION:

Having a business plan makes sense.

Follow these tips and increase the chances of business that is successful not just in general terms but what you consider to be successful.

After all it is your business!