Creating a Business Plan

Putting together a business plan is an opportunity to identify how you intend to implement and support your business proposal. 

It’s the perfect tool for tracking your progress against your plan and can put you in a much better position to discuss your financial needs with a potential lender.

What is a business plan?
A business plan is an outline and evaluation of your business proposal – a blueprint for starting, maintaining or expanding a business. It should include your goals and objectives, details of your product or service offerings, your market position and business strategies.

While most potential lenders will require a business plan it’s a mistake to think of the plan as something you just do in order to get a loan. The main beneficiary of the business plan is you.

The importance of planning
In the process of putting the plan together you’ll be able to identify strengths and weaknesses, and test and review your ideas to ensure your proposal is viable.

Benefits of producing a business plan
Producing a business plan can force you to test your ideas and strategies and fix any problems before it’s too late. You might turn up some surprises as well – legal requirements you didn’t know about or a larger than expected potential market.

What to include in a business plan

Executive summary
A high level overview of the plan, highlighting your strategies for success.

Financial position
Profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow forecasts, highlighting your potential short and long term finance needs.

Business profile
Information about your product and service offerings, ownership details and your business’ objectives.

Market analysis
An analysis of your industry, competitors and likely market share.

SWOT analysis
An analysis of your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Action plan
Who is responsible for what, as well as key dates for completion of major objectives.

Important information about advice
As this advice has been prepared without considering your objectives, financial situation or needs, you should, before acting on the advice, consider its appropriateness to your circumstances. View our Financial Services Guide (PDF 59kb).