The Ernst & Young business plan guide

About this book

Written for entrepreneurs who are in the planning stages of starting, expanding, or acquiring a business, this useful guide provides step-by-step procedures for preparing a business plan. You'll find out why certain information is vital to the success of your plan and how this data can be best presented. Revised and updated, The Ernst & Young Business Plan Guide, Second Edition covers new regulations and includes a new chapter on further considerations that need to be addressed when developing a business plan - areas like staffing levels, additional financing for growth, and cashing out. There's also a new chapter on how to choose the right business entity (partnerships, sole proprietorships, S corporations, and C corporations) for your specific needs.^ You'll find new tax information, a new section on how to include buying a company in your business plan, a new section that discusses the impact of information technology on keeping your business plan up-to-date, and a new section on what to include as attachments (for instance, resumes, profit analyses, agreements) to a business plan. Like its bestselling predecessor, this Second Edition covers all of the basics involved in creating a successful business plan. You'll find out why a business plan is used for more than just raising money. This Second Edition offers a revealing discussion of how both lenders and investors really evaluate a business plan. It deals with the various legal forms that a business plan can take, a decision that affects how much money can be eventually raised, the impact the federal tax code will have on the business, and the potential financial rewards for investors.^ The Ernst & Young Business Plan Guide, Second Edition provides a piece-by-piece dissection of a model business plan - with examples of a real plan interspersed throughout. Specific chapters focus on different portions of the business plan. You'll find out how to tailor your plan to specific industries and how to broaden your plan's appeal to financial and strategy reviewers. You'll get a list of special issues and questions that you'll need to be sensitive to as well as some of the questions that will be asked by those who will be reviewing the plan. A business plan for a hypothetical company, Good Food, Inc., an all-natural baby and children's food company, is presented to more clearly highlight the business plan preparation process.