Business Planning

Every organization should have a business plan which specifically identifies the mission of the organization, its current and future goals and the products and services it intends to provide to achieve these goals. A successful business plan is essential to identifying, projecting, and receiving future revenue streams and financing needs, as well as identifying, projecting, and controlling future expenses. The business plan should discuss the projected net income and cash flows of each product or service, and methods for measuring success.

At minimum, the business plan should contain the following:

• Mission Statement – why is the company in business?
• Goals
• Products and Services
• Marketing Plan
• Capital and Financing Requirements
• Revenue and Expense Projections
• Performance Measurements

The management and staff of organizations should identify output measures that enable them to track their success. Two of the most common measures are net sales and net profits. However, more specific measures can be used as well – such as tracking specific revenues and/or expenses, tracking ratios such as output per employee, sales per customer, inventory turnover and average days of accounts receivables, and tracking non-financial measurements such as customer satisfaction, changes in customer base, product quality and employee accidents. The measurements should be meaningful and reflect the organization’s goals, and the methods of tracking need to be simple and cost effective.

At Carolyn A. Mayes, CPA we can help you prepare, update, or improve your current business plan.