Proforma balance sheet report

Small Business for Professionals Business Plan Requirements

Introduction
A business plan needs to be written for the target audience that will be reading it. Therefore there is no general business plan, but outlines for the likely readers of the plan. If you are writing a plan to be read by a financier it is

Remember: Without uniqueness in product / service / approach or if you do not have high value assets that can be pledged as security it is unlikely that a finance institution will finance a first time SBOM with a start up small business.

Therefore, this business plan outline focuses on developing the requirements of the business so that you may determine how you should proceed.

Therefore as part of the assignment this section must be included in your final document.

Personal Objectives

Financial Feasibility

Utilise the information contained in the notes on determining owners reward and determining financial feasibility of the concept. The Concepts Report handout dealing with this section may also be useful. Establish the financial viability and owner's reward criteria for the successful operation of the business venture you are interested in starting up. Present the data and calculations in the form as shown in the Concepts Report handout and as discussed in class.

Executive Summary

The Executive Summary should be a one (maybe two) page summary of everything that you wish to detail in the main area of your plan.

Outline the concept you wish to employ in developing your business. This is the ‘thumb nail’ of your business and it should include the major selling features that are going to give your business the edge in the market place. A very brief description of the main product or service

highlighting the product’s major selling feature is beneficial. The main aspect here is to continue gaining the reader’s attention and to promote the reasons why people will do business with you. It is worthwhile including your Mission and Vision in this section.

Strategies
This is the section where you can set out showing the methods of the how, who, when, where, why and what of your business.

Combine the business objectives you have set and your SWOT analysis (detailed in an appendix) to develop your strategies for delivering your goals. Many writers of plans forget that they have just identified various SWOTs, yet totally ignore them when preparing strategies.

Do not forget that you are 'selling' this document. Therefore if you have identified that you have a weakness in marketing, but your objective/goal is to achieve a specific market penetration you need to develop a strategy to overcome this weakness. Remember the total document must 'hang' together.

Goals
Identify three or four goals that you wish to meet within the next twelve months.

You should highlight the service’s strengths (refer to your SWOT). The strengths do not have

to be ‘earth shattering’. For example I know of a hotel that required it’s bar staff to provide a regular customer with the known beverage of choice as soon as that customer approached the bar, without the customer needing to ask – this became a great selling point of the hotel to regular patrons.

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Small Business for Professionals BUSS 2040 Business Plan Template For A Start Up Business

However be aware that high profile locations will cost more. The location of the business is important not only from the marketing perspective but it is also the access and operational requirements the business may need that will impact on your decision.

It may be possible to remain in the same location from day 1 or because of finance restrictions you may decide to start small and change premises at a later date. Any decision here will impact on the financing needs of you, the owner.

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Small Business for Professionals BUSS 2040 Business Plan Template For A Start Up Business

Remember to allow for the costs of buying new equipment – remember to recognise the difference between expenses and assets.

IMPORTANT – The finance plan is the last component of the total plan to be finalised. It may be the first to be started, by developing basic information for the plan, but unless everything else is finished it is not possible to be certain that the finances support what was set out to be achieved. Either change the Vision/Goals or go back and redo the finances

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Small Business for Professionals BUSS 2040 Business Plan Template For A Start Up Business

Business Plan Template For A Start Up Business

Appendices

The analysis should review all aspects of the business and whether you as the owner

recognise the strengths/weaknesses that exist within the business and what

make it successful. It will also show up areas that you will have to develop to avoid

failure. Cover the following areas:

Opportunities & Threats

This area is a review of all the external factors that are going to impact on your

• Market

• Competition

Item		Action
		Will not require external accountant	Operations People
2
3	Weakness

body of your document so that it is obvious you have dealt with each of the items. Utilise the

following standard referencing technique:

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Small Business for Professionals BUSS 2040 Business Plan Template For A Start Up Business

Initial funds is the name given to that amount of money you will need to set up the business and survive for the first 6 – 12 months while your client base builds sufficiently so that you may live off of the business income. Determining this amount correctly takes a bit of time – so be patient. This area was discussed in detail in Topic 5.

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	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	TOTAL

Revenue

Sub-Total

Small Business for Professionals BUSS 2040 Business Plan Template For A Start Up Business

Proforma Cash Budget (flow) report (receipts and disbursements)

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Small Business for Professionals BUSS 2040 Business Plan Template For A Start Up Business

plan and coherent structure. That is, the plan must read well, make sense and ‘hang together’.

Specific mark allocations for the plan are:

	No mark, but must be submitted to receive a mark for the assignment. All peer reviews are confidential and must be submitted to the appropriate link. All group members must complete one. The results of the peer assessment will be used to moderate your final grade.

The main criterion for assessment of the assignment is the completeness of the entire package, however, for your general guidance, the general mark allocations will follow the following:

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Small Business for Professionals BUSS 2040 Business Plan Template For A Start Up Business


Very good	The critical evaluation of the question was very good with the students demonstrating a very good understanding of the applicable elements of the course in a balanced and insightful argument of the facts. Any necessary calculations supporting the discussion are very good with a good understanding of the principles involved being demonstrated. Presentation of all relevant material is very good and easy to follow.
Good
Acceptable
	The critical evaluation of the question was unsound with the students demonstrating no clear understanding of the applicable elements of the course. There was no clear evidence of bringing the elements together in a balanced argument of the facts. Any necessary calculations supporting the discussion are poor with no demonstration that there is an understanding of the principles involved. Presentation of material is of a poor standard and is not easy to follow.

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