Preparing Business Plans for Your Business – Part 2

Business Plans are like maps for tourists – if you don’t know where you are going how are you going to know when you get there?

Last week we commenced discussing some of the subject headings that could be included in a Business Plan for an established construction company – we now conclude with the following:

Communications

Communications is a very important component of the fabric of an organisation.  The leadership team and the directors should ensure that a communication timetable has been put in place relating to:

• Daily Huddle Meeting
• Pre-Start Meetings
• Toolbox Meetings
• Weekly Leadership Team Meeting
• Weekly Meeting within Teams
• Monthly Team Meeting
• Monthly Business Review Meeting
• Board Of Directors Meeting

Succession

Succession relates to each position within the company – is there an appropriate team training and professional development strategy in place to encourage team members to improve their knowledge so that they can be promoted within the organisation.

Are strategies in place for leadership team members approaching retirement age to be replaced in their jobs?

Many Business Plans devote attention to the development of strategies that will encourage all team members to improve their skills so that the company is able to produce “champions” who can move into more senior positions and contribute to the growth and the development of the company’s operations.

Board of Directors/Board of Advice

The Business Plan would normally comment on the timetable for Board of Directors’ meetings and the deadline for the distribution of reports to the directors so as to enable the director to have read and reflected on the information contained within the reports prior to the directors meeting.  Companies should have decided on the role of the Chairperson and the Company Secretary relative to the preparation of Minutes of Board of Directors’ meeting, Action Plan from the meeting, authorisation to release the Minutes and Action Plan to the directors and leadership team members.

Corporate Governance

The Board of Directors should resolve that a high standard of corporate governance will be implemented within the company and in particular at Board of Directors’ meetings.  Whenever a new director is appointed the Chair should ensure that a discussion is held relative to the corporate governance standards that are implemented within the company.

Scaling up

If the company has adopted the concept of a strategy for significant “scaling up” to be achieved over the next few years the directors should ensure that the leadership team has implemented strategies that are conducive to a successful “scaling up process”:

• a leadership team has been assembled which has the ability to continually improve their knowledge and implement appropriate delegation throughout the company;
• a team of skilled people have been engaged and are able to offer enthusiastic contributions utilising their brains and benefiting from a culture of ongoing skill development that is embraced by the company;
• the directors and leadership team need an awareness of their client’s requirements so that the company is able to offer services that comply with those requirements;
• the identified strategies included in the Business Plan need to be fully researched and documented;
• the Leadership team should be aware of their obligation to ensure that the identified strategies are then appropriately implemented into all segments of the organisation;
• the directors should enquire as to whether the leadership team are receiving the key data on a daily/weekly/monthly/periodic basis to ensure that they have accurate information that they are utilising to make decisions for the benefit of the company;
• the leadership team needs to monitor the company’s cash position so as to ensure that adequate cash is available or the company has the ability to raise that funding to ensure that the “scaling up process” is able to be implemented. This could include raising of capital direct from the public by the utilisation of Crowd Source Funding Equity Raising or An Initial Public Offer or some other type of capital raising process.

Quality Assurance

The directors need to enquire as to the implementation of the quality assurance system and to indicate to the CEO that the directors are to receive periodic briefings (quarterly) as to the effectiveness of the company’s quality assurance system.

Liquidity Report

The Chief Financial Officer should prepare a report for each Board of Directors’ meeting relative to the company’s liquidity and to submit the company’s report card relating to payments due to be made to:

• Australian Taxation Office;
• other state or federal government agencies;
• payments to creditors;
• loan accounts;
• superannuation payments.

As well as reporting on balances as compared to budget for:

• Bank Account
• Investment in Stock
• Investment in Work In Progress
• Investment in Debtors
• Debtors Days Outstanding

Predictive Accounting

The Business Plan should include the predictive accounting reports that have been prepared.  The predictive accounting reports would relate to:

• Budgets for each individual business operation
• Key Performance Indicators for each individual business operation
• Cash Flow Forecasts
• Projected Balance Sheets

Whenever financial accounts are prepared for submission to the Board of Directors a comparison should be prepared showing the variations from the original plan to what has been achieved.

Upcoming Webinars

“Preparing Business Plans for your Business” - Friday 24th September 2021 at 2.00pm.  To register (click here).

Towers Business Development Services

Towers Business Development does not give taxation advice but offers consulting services for small/medium sized enterprises and accountancy businesses, including:

• Preparation of Business Plans
• Corporate Governance Mentoring
• Predictive Accounting – Budgets, Cash Flow Forecast, Projected Balance Sheets
• Virtual Chief Financial Officer Services
• Succession Planning
• Establishment of Research and Development Systems
• Business Review Meetings – Monthly or Quarterly
• Export Market Development Grant Applications – for the new system that applies to 2021/2022
• Mentoring/Training Company Directors
• Assistance with Due Diligence for Early Stage Innovation Company Status
• Assistance with Company Being Accredited as a Crowd Source Funding Equity Raising Company
• Assistance with Capital Raising Utilising Section 708 of the Corporations Act
• Assistance with the Preparation of an Application for an Accelerating Commercialisation Grant
• Government Grant Advice for SMEs

Want to know more about the services that Towers Business Development can supply to assist your business in its business growth?  You are invited to visit the Towers Business Development website; or contact Peter Towers:

• E:
• P: 1800 232 088

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