The last in our series and by no means the least, Business Planning
covers the importance of business planning from presentation,
presenting and selling the business plan to making the plan work. We
have also added a sample business plan outline to help you follow a
tried and true process.
This material is designed to help businesses facing these broad issues,
and more. Youll find its segmented into five easy-to-follow sections:
Part 1 deals with Starting Up;
Part 2 focuses on Managing for Profit;
Part 3 is about Managing for Growth;
Part 4 describes Asset Planning and Family Trusts; and
Part 5 covers Business Planning.
This information is not designed to be an encyclopaedia or a do-ityourself guide for these situations. Instead, it provides an indication of
the points you should consider.
KPMG can offer help to a business at any stage of its development. As a
firm, through our Middle Market Advisory division, we are committed to
helping privately owned businesses throughout New Zealand. With
around 100,000 people worldwide, KPMG member firms provide audit,
tax and advisory services from 717 cities in over 150 countries over the
world.
To find out more, contact a Middle Market Advisory partner at any of our
offices, listed in the back of this material.
Be Profitable in Business
Part 5 - Business Planning
CONTENTS
02
INTRODUCTION
03 THE IMPORTANCE OF
BUSINESS PLANNING
04
06 BUSINESS PLAN
PRESENTATION
09
FINANCIAL DATA
12
CONTACTS
Introduction
Todays New Zealand economy provides businesses with considerable opportunities but
also clear requirements to change.
A number of businesses are reaching out to take advantage of the opportunities and to
manage the concurrent risks.
Others are battling the consequences of earlier decisions based on inadequately researched
or understood strategies. Either way the development of credible, well researched business
plans is undoubtedly a key component in attaining or maintaining success.
A business plan specifies a business objectives and how these are to be achieved. It is
derived from a systematic review of the business existing strategic position and the options
available to it. The fundamental purpose of the plan and particularly the planning process is
to maximise the future performance of the business. In addition business plans are
invaluable, if not essential, for winning and maintaining investor support.
Investors and boards increasingly require solid business plans demonstrating that the
management has logically determined the future direction of the business. This applies both
to successful businesses and those needing to improve their performance, particularly if
further funding is required.
An effective business plan is concise and readily understood. It will demonstrate not only a
comprehensive understanding of the business but also the required commitment and
controls necessary to ensure the implementation of the plan.
KPMG serves the needs of emerging and growing businesses as well as larger, mature
businesses. We have recognised the importance of this sector by ensuring we have the
specified resources to provide a full range of services needed by businesses.
We understand the importance of putting personalised professionalism into every service
we offer, and have the specialists experienced in serving your particular type of business.
Strategic assistance for your business planning is the foundation we offer to help you build
for your business future.
Service organisations face specific problems in planning for the number of personnel and for their utilisation. Hours of
labour make up the inventory of these organisations, and wasted hours are not recoverable in the future.
Merchandising
Merchandising also has unique areas to consider in a business plan. This type of business must look closely at the
marketing requirements of site selection. What is the traffic count? How seasonal or cyclical are sales? What is the
timetable for optimum sales of the product(s)? What is the products shelf life? The advertising and promotion plan for
merchandising is particularly critical. Merchandisers deal with large numbers of people/ customers and usually have a
more diverse population to address with advertising. All these are important issues for the merchandising business to
explore; all are essential in the development of a complete business plan.
Mature?
Dying?
Where is your business in its life cycle?
Beginning?
Growing?
Mature?
How did you get here?
Major problems dealt with?
Opportunities and successes experienced?
Historical financial information?
What market factors affect you?
Primary customers?
Secondary customers?
Personnel?
Materials?
Financing?
Equipment?
What are your internal strengths or resources?
Superior engineering talents?
Patent protection?
Financial position?
Marketing experience?
Quality of services provided?
What are your internal weaknesses or problems?
Incomplete business experience?
Inadequate capitalisation?
Inadequate communication channels?
There are many ways to obtain the quantitative information you need for your planning. With questionnaires, you can
collect information about the business from the appropriate people or departments within the business. For example,
you should obtain data about the history of the business, existing sales levels, budgets, possible changes internally or
externally that would affect productivity, market information, personnel information, financial evaluations, manufacturing
status evaluations, and/or service evaluations. The new business can also collect needed information from its own
product or service research and development activities, and from business associates, management or accounting
consultants, etc. It is helpful to talk to people both inside and outside your organisation to gather and evaluate this
information.
At this point in the process of preparing your business plan, the focus is on future developments for the business. It is
necessary to be specific in the objectives set for the business and to be able to satisfy yourself and others as to their
achievement.
Where do you want to be?
It may be helpful to request all department heads to specify objectives. A frequent approach is to ask for three or more
suggestions to improve each area of operation: product/service(s), marketing, administration, and finance.
The convergence of various contributors input can be useful both operationally and as a way to increase staff
commitment to the plan.
Some of the questions to be answered include:
Have all key staff been involved in setting the objectives?
What are alternative objectives?
What effect would each have on the plan?
What effect would each have on the bottom line?
What critical issues are related to the chosen objectives?
Desired rate of growth
Desired rate of profitability
Desired public image
New markets
Be Profitable in Business. Part 5 Business Planning
New products/services
Capability of personnel
Availability of financing
Adequacy of plant and equipment
What are the priorities?
Financial?
Personnel?
Research and development?
How do you get there?
Once you have clearly outlined where you want to be and have set specific objectives, you must think through the steps
necessary to reach those objectives. This lays the foundation for the action section of your business plan. It is
particularly useful to set down specific action steps required to attain each objective. This organises your business
efforts for the accomplishment of those objectives.
You will have specific steps to take in all areas of your business: product/service development, marketing and
distribution, finance, and administration and accountability.
The plan should provide measurable objectives that are both do-able and ambitious. The action steps can then be
delegated, monitored, and reported upon.
Some questions to be answered in considering the development of action steps are:
Who will be responsible for each identified course of action?
Is responsibility tied to normal areas of supervision?
Has input been obtained from those responsible?
What time frames should each objective have?
Are they do-able in that time period?
What are the ramifications of missed deadlines?
What are the stumbling blocks to achieving the objectives?
Internal?
External?
Are there probable changes in the economic environment?
Inflation?
Availability of money?
Price changes?
Are checkpoints and evacuation routes established for these eventualities?
Are they clearly stated?
Is there a point of no return
Can progress be monitored and measured?
How will you know when objectives are met?
How will you determine that objectives are not going to be met?
What do the reports look like?
When are the reports issued?
Who provides the reports?
Have the necessary controls been considered?
Budgetary system?
Variance analysis?
The cover sheet should be a single-page introduction to the business. It is the first thing to be read and should include
the business name, business address, business phone, and the date of the plan. Keep it simple and eye-appealing.
Table of Contents
Be specific in this area. Some readers may judge the completeness of the plan from the detail provided in the table of
contents. Others may wish to jump immediately to certain sections; make their job easier.
Executive summary
The executive summary is what sells someone on reading the remainder of the plan. It tells what the plan is, its major
objectives, how those objectives will be accomplished, and the expected results. It may serve as the introduction for
most of your staff to a new plan of operations, expansion, or product changes in your business.
The executive summary should be one or two double-spaced pages and should contain the essence of the plan. It is a
brief overview or summary of material from other sections of the plan, designed to catch the attention of the reader. It
should include a description of your products and business, marketing strategy, management structure, and financial
projections.
An effective summary should position your business attractively, motivate staff, distinguish your products or services
from the competitors, and be persuasive to potential investors and lenders. This segment may be the only portion read
by most investors - make yours an inviting element of your plan, not an afterthought. Consider for whom it is written,
what is being requested from them, and why they should be interested.
While the summary is presented first in the plan, it is actually written after the plan is otherwise complete.
Current Position Summary
This section is essentially a snap shot of the business present performance and resources. Include: a concise review of
turnover, market share, growth trends, and competitive situation, a current statement of financial position and financial
performance; a summary of major resources including market, production and human resources.
History
If you are developing a business plan solely for internal use for managing change, you may wish to provide only major
highlights of your business history in this section, with additional details in an appendix.
A new business might choose to outline pertinent background information on the principals and discuss their
contributions.
Be specific in your explanation of how the idea for your product or company came to be. Avoid a shot rang out in the
dark rhetoric; even highly dramatic, creative experiences can be described simply.
Summarise the corporate structure, capitalisation, classes of stock, shares outstanding, and managements investment
in the company. Relevant product or service successes and failures should be outlined.
Definition of the Purpose of the Business
It is important to be able to state succinctly what your business is. This is distinct from what the business does (a listing
of functions, products, or services) and is oriented to answering the question, What needs are we meeting?
Inconsistency between the business you are in, and the one you think you are in, causes many management ills.
One way to gain perspective on this issue is to search for the relationships between internally and externally generated
descriptions. What do you think you sell? What do your customers think they buy? What is your largest line of
inventory? Your best seller? Where do you make your greatest profit? Most personnel time is spent in what product or
service area? Are the answers fairly closely aligned and compatible, or are they divergent?
Definition of the Market
This section may well be both one of the most important and one of the most difficult parts of your business plan.
Marketing and finance often seem to be the last areas to be staffed internally with professionals. If you do not have a
marketing background, talk to people in advertising agencies, marketing firms, or business consulting firms. Your
definition of the market will indicate the target of your marketing effort: who buys and why, and what is your customer
like?
You will also want to look closely at the competition. Plans showing a lack of awareness of competition or little concern
for that aspect of marketing omit a major consideration in preparing a business plan.
Be Profitable in Business. Part 5 Business Planning
here. (A stratum or financing plan will require more detail than will an operating plan. The investor is looking for all clues
to the abilities of the people who will enact your plan.)
Remember that this section should emphasise two things:
that you have the right people and that they are properly organised to accomplish the plan.
Objectives and Goals
This section details just what you plan to accomplish, and how, when, and who will do it. It will include varying amounts
of detail, depending upon the purpose of your business plan. Items to be covered in this section include sales forecasts,
manufacturing or service plans, quality assurance plans, and financial plans. Details may be placed in individual
appendices where appropriate.
You should describe pricing and predicted profits. In some situations, a product is described as superior to the
competition - and then a lower price is suggested. This often cools a potential investors interest, first because it gives
the impression of the business owner or entrepreneur as a poor salesperson, and second, because future costs are
more often underestimated than overestimated.
Describe your advertising and promotion strategies and budget, and the changes from current programmes. What are
your plans for participation in trade shows? In trade magazine advertising, direct mail campaigns, radio and television
schedules? What print items will you produce - product sheets, promotional literature? How will your literature be
distributed?
Describe how you will sell and distribute your product or service. What categories of customers will be targeted for
initial heavy sales effort? Which customers will be sought for later sales efforts? How is this different from the existing
sales programme? Describe any special procedures for obtaining sales representatives, distributors, or established retail
networks.
Financial Data
One important purpose of the business plan is to indicate the expected financial results of operations. It also depicts the
financial potential of your venture and its capital needs. For anyone investing or lending money to your business, it tells
them why they should provide funds, when they can expect a return, and how large that return is expected to be. It is a
plan for the future. Therefore, any presentation of financial information about your business or your product must be
future-oriented.
In the case of an existing business seeking expansion capital, balance sheets and income statements for the current
year and prior two years should be included. Other historical financial information necessary to understanding the plan
should be attached in an appendix.
In making your forecasts and projections, assumptions must be made. These include but are certainly not limited to:
revenue
growth rates
time periods required
taxes/rates
production facilities
operating expenses
capital expenditures
environmental conditions
general economic conditions
contracts to be negotiated
competitors actions
turnovers; and
interdependencies
You should list your assumptions for the user(s) of the plan and to allow verification.
When the plan has been prepared and reviewed, and it is ready for presentation, consider presenting it in person.
Personal presentation is usually expected, and it may well be the make-or-break point for your proposal. It can enhance
internal morale and support for the plan.
When presenting your plan, you may find it helpful to:
Have visual aids for key segments of the plan
Prepare for specific questions in the areas of the ability to make it happen
the adequacy of the research and development behind the product.
the validity of the market research
your financial projections and why they will work
your priorities among the objectives
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You should determine when an explanation is required for divergence from the plan. Your explanations should
include:
Who is responsible?
What caused it?
Should it continue?
What actions should be changed?
When will it be done?
Any good plan needs a process for change or amendment build into it. Schedule regular status reports on the plan with
updates on all objectives and explanations where required. Include revised timetables as necessary. This helps to
maintain your business plan as a changing, living document.
Make certain the document itself is easy to change. It should be typewritten, photocopied, and kept in a looseleaf
notebook. The pages should be numbered and dated. These are some of the ways to ensure that your business plan will
continue to guide your operations and be quickly available for updating to meet new organisational or capitalisation
needs.
Specific discipline input e.g. marketing, operations, finance; reviewing draft plans
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