Free consult & free copy of book

E-Myth – “Why most small businesses don’t work & what to do about it”

Contact Us

Stars

Most 5 star CPA Google reviews in Canada

Read Reviews

Chartered Professional Accountants E Myth

1 Fixed Monthly Fee - Planning | Accounting | Taxes | Consulting

Helping Canadian businesses beat the odds!

Virtual Accountant | Components Of Practical Business Plans


Many business owners donít understand the impact that a business plan actually has within their business says virtual accountant. However more business owners should understand that businesses who have completed a business plan for the business are 50% more likely to grow their business then business owners who do not have a plan at all. With how important the business plan is to entrepreneurs, teaching entrepreneurs not only why they should create a business plan that how they should create a business plan for their business to help more businesses overcome the odds and succeed in business.

One of the first things that business owners should know when it comes to creating their business plan, that the right tool can help them do a much more efficient job. In the past business owners use programs like Word or Excel to create the business plan however those are not planning tools and could be hard to use or and efficient. Virtual accountant recommends using a program called life plan, which is a specific business planning software. Not only is it specific to business plans, it also has some great tools and itís that can help business owners write even better more functional business plans. Another important function of the software is that it is available online, making it very easy for business owners to be able to work on it anywhere. If they have an idea on it will in their office, at home, or out and about business owners will be able to open it up and make the change. Ensuring that business plans are easy to update will help business owners actually keep their business plan updated. Thatís an important part of having a business plan is ensuring that it is being used as a tool, which necessitates businesses updating as they reach their goals, or as the market changes.

Once a business owner has the right tool in place, all you need to know are the important parts to put into their business plan. Virtual accountant says the most important parts to include their business plan is the executive summary with a mission statement and company overview, a product section, a risk analysis section, sales and marketing plan, operations strategy, staff and key supplier section as well as monthly cash projections. These may not seem like a lot of component parts to include in the business plan, however a business plan does not need to be very long in order to be very functional. By spending a few hours of thoughtful reflection on these components, a business owner can create an amazingly detailed plan that can help them increase the revenue in their business and succeed.

Itís also important to note that business owners should set aside time in their calendar every month to review and update their business plan, because this is going to be a living document to for business owners to use as a tool to achieve their goals.

50% of businesses close within five years of opening their business says virtual accountant. And the reason why those businesses failed, is because they either run out of cash, they couldnít find the right team, or they were unable to attract new customers. All three of these reasons why businesses fail can be avoided with careful planning. The careful planning that creating a business plan can afford. Any businesses that are struggling, or are not growing the way they want, can address those issues by creating a business plan in their business. Out of all the businesses who complete a business plan, they are 50% more likely to grow their revenue than businesses do not have a business plan.

Business owners who do not have a business plan may not have a business plan because they donít know why it is important, how business plan can impact their business, and what to include in that business plan. The male so we believe that it will take them a lot of time, which is something that is very precious to business owners. But once a business owner understands why they need one and how to create one, they will be much more likely to follow through and create this extremely important tool that can help them succeed in business. The most important component to port business owners should include in their business plan is one that can only be created at the very end. However itís the most important so it will be listed here first. That component is the month to month cash flow projection. Many business plans have a cash flow projection but it is yearly. Virtual accountant recommends that businesses have a month-to-month projection because cash flow is so very important to small businesses and it is so hard to come by, especially when the business is first starting out. That a business runs a very high risk of running out of cash. It was the number two reason why businesses failed. By creating a plan that goes month-to-month rather than year-to-year, businesses are going to be a lot more able to make changes when needed, and to see if the projections are accurate or not. The worst thing that can happen to a business owner would be to have a yearly cash projection that was out and have the business owner run out of money by the end of the year and not even know it.

Another very important part of creating the projections says virtual accountant is that they should create projections that are no longer than two years or three years at the maximum. Your one would be the current year that the business is it. Trying to project farther ahead than two or three years is very difficult to get accuracy. There are too many variables especially with a small business that a five year projection ends up just being speculations.

Once business owners know why itís important to create a business plan and how to create one, more businesses owners can see success in their business very easily.