What a business plan consists of: content and structure of parts

Before you start investing money and time in a business project, it is strongly recommended to carefully weigh everything and think it over.

The result of these mental efforts should be a document called a business plan.

Purpose and objectives of the business plan

The better the business plan is, the more attention is paid to the cornerstones of the business in question, thereby the likelihood of its successful start, good profitability and payback is higher. Step-by-step instructions for writing a business plan with an example. Otherwise, without such a document, all activities risk turning into chaotic movements and into a hopeless search for luck and success.

A business plan is needed not only for the business owner to use it as a roadmap. With a well-developed plan, you can go to investors or potential creditors, who, through this document, will find it convenient to get acquainted with the proposed project and make a decision on it.

This plan is unique, describing non-recurring events. It has a clear structure that is generally accepted for this kind of documents. Its main task is to comprehensively reflect all aspects of the project. That is, a business plan is a planning document with its own structure, which reflects the direction of the project development.

Read the business plan of the cafe, with calculations.

The nuances of drawing up a business plan for a cleaning company - read here.

Compilation Techniques

There are different compilation methods. Each of them was developed by separate international organizations for the effective provision of loans. Among them are techniques such as:

• The UNIDO methodology was designed to evaluate investment projects. According to this technique, the project, or rather, its progress, should be designed as a cycle of pre-investment, investment and operational phases.
• The KPMG methodology provides for the creation of such a document that was intended for the leaders of the organization, and not for investors. According to this method, the plan is more saturated with information that is of interest to the management of the enterprise and its employees.
• The methodology of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development provides for more attention to be paid to credit accounting and SWOT analysis. This method produces the shortest of all plans.
• The BFM Group methodology proposes to develop plans aimed at investors.

Standard structure

Depending on the method used, the business plan structures are different. Nevertheless, there are many similar sections among them. Most business plans have a summary, a description of the product or service being promoted, market analysis, marketing and production plans, risks and financial components.

A business plan is a document that displays the main aspects of a business, analyzes possible problems that an entrepreneur may face, and presents options for their solution. This guide should be understandable for both the author and the investors. The approximate form of the business plan is fixed by Order No. 813 of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation dated 19.2.016.

Why do you need a business plan?

The document has two main goals:

• to prove to investors the profitability of the project, to convince them of the rational use of funds;
• use it as your own guide that will help you to lead your business in the right direction.

In the first case, you need to be able to correctly present a business plan: logically state the facts, present calculations. The creator of the document must display the information in such a way that investors do not have any questions. But if they do appear, be able to answer them.

The beauty of the story is just as important. To receive cash injections into the project, it is advisable to describe future activities in a positive way, but not to take on impracticable obligations.

Business plan structure

Like any document, a business plan has a title page, which indicates information about the entrepreneur and the project itself, contact information, address of the organization's location or registration of the entrepreneur, type of activity, according to OKVED, date of creation and other valuable information. Sometimes the cover contains financial figures.

This is especially important in the case when it is planned to show a business plan to investors or creditors. In this case, you should indicate the level of planned profitability, payback period. Additionally, they post a privacy policy, which deals with non-disclosure of data to third parties.

This document consists of the following sections:

Let's look at the content of each of the sections.

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