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WHAT ’ S THE PLAN ?
By Emma Skinner , Associate Director at Haines Watts , Swindon
Whether you are starting a new business , seeking growth for an existing business , or exploring a new project idea , the key is to make sure you have a plan .
Setting out a plan helps provide focus and clarity over what your objectives are and it helps those around you understand that plan . It helps team members or your suppliers be clear on your goals and how they can help you to achieve them .
Your plan can consider every detail , or it can be much more high-level and strategic with others worrying about the minutiae of delivering aspects of the plan . Whatever you decide , it is important to ensure that plan is suited to your needs .
Many advisors advocate for a full-scale business plan at the outset . Whilst this will be necessary if you are seeking funding , in my experience a huge amount of time is dedicated to producing very thorough plans for them to end up sitting in a drawer never to be looked at again . They are great for collecting dust though !
It is therefore important to understand what ( and who ) your plan is for – and you may have more than one .
When producing a business plan , many will consider each stage in isolation and then assess how to move from stage to stage . Whilst this is a useful exercise , there is a risk that unnecessary stages are included that may not actually contribute to the overall objective .
Although it may be contrary to instinct , starting at your end goal and working backwards can help to retain focus on what steps are really required to achieve your objective .
PLANS ARE BEST MADE IN ADVANCE
I appreciate this is probably stating the obvious , surprisingly , in practice we are often asked to advise on a transaction after the fact .
This creates problems as retrospective action may not actually be possible , or it is cumbersome and costly , and there may be subsequent exposure to fines or penalties .
The best advice I can give is to just ask if you are unsure – get good advice very early on as there may be risks you cannot see at the outset . It ’ s too late to plan effectively when one of those risks has already come to pass .
It may end up being a two-minute call , but two minutes to get some comfort over your plans has to be better than a potentially costly exercise down the line .
HERE ARE MY KEY CONSIDERATIONS :
Change is good A business ’ s ability to adapt can have a significant impact on its success . Business resilience is being able to identify what is not working and find an alternative route to achieve the objective .
Do your research Who are your key competitors ? What are your biggest business threats ? What specialist skillsets do you need to achieve the objectives ? What is the current market like ?
Know what you don ’ t know The costs associated with bringing in other expertise can be a bitter pill to swallow . However , the time spent trying to cover all aspects of the business only serves to take the focus away from the business ’ s overall objectives .
Overnight success is rare Be prepared for your plan to take time and budget accordingly . “ Patience is the strength of the weak , impatience is the weakness of the strong ” – Immanuel Kant .
To get in touch with the team at Haines Watts Swindon , email : swindon @ hwca . com or call : 01793 533838 .
WHERE , WHO AND WHY
With offices located in Old Town Swindon and Cirencester , Haines Watts was founded in 1930 and is a UK top 20 firm of chartered accountants and business advisors with over 40 offices throughout the UK and employs over 1000 people . However , we are more than just an accountancy firm , we are known for the personal touch when it comes to helping aspirational ownermanaged businesses go from strength to strength , and we pride ourselves on being the “ business people , for people with a business ”.
18 www . tbeswindonandwilts . co . uk