A business plan is not just something you prepare for the bank and then put in the bottom drawer.
Having a business plan, one that you actually use to run the business, is critical to having a successful and profitable business.

There is a statistic that says something like only 13% of companies in the UK have a business plan, but those 13% generate over 80% of all the profits made.
This is no coincidence - it's an over used but very true cliché that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

We see how powerful it is in our client's businesses that by having a clear strategy, and a financial plan, everyone becomes focussed on achieving the goals, which makes them much more likely to happen.

Once the business plan for the year is written, this forms the budget for the year.
We continually change the budget throughout the year, forecasting changes as they happen, so you can always see what the impact of these changes is going to be: eg

• Falling gross margins due to competition and / or materials price increases
• Increasing overheads
• Loss of a key customer
• Suffering a bad debt

We always want to protect the downside, but the real benefit of working to a business plan is that it drives growth and wealth and keeps you on track for what you want to achieve.