Every business needs a documented business plan—including a bookkeeping business plan. Whether you are looking to provide direction for yourself (and potentially, your staff) or attract future investors to your business, a bookkeeping business plan is a vital component for any small business. How To Start Building My Bookkeeping Business Plan? Much like any business plan, you need an outline. In particular, your business plan should demonstrate to investors that you understand their greatest concerns and burning questions. A good rule of thumb is to see your own business through the eyes of an investor. All Business suggests that a business plan should include a range of focus areas such as an executive summary, business overview, operations plans, competitive analysis, and more. However, we can use this outline and revise it to fit our bookkeeping business plan accordingly. Ready to start? Here’s a general outline of how you can get a focused, actionable bookkeeping business plan started to attract more investors to your business. 1. Do your research & dig into the purpose Investors invest not only in concrete financial data but also a company’s values and management. To define in detail your passion, knowledge, and dedication all in one purpose statement, it’s important that you do the research, know your business inside out, and understand its market. Remember, investors invest not just in ideas, but in management and execution. If you work solo, make sure that you can recite the purpose of your business in your sleep. And if your small business operates as a small team, ensure that your staff knows your company’s mission as well as they understand the product and/or service. 2. Document all aspects of your business Now that we know what your business is all about, let’s get into the nitty-gritty. So how does bookkeeping come into play in my business plan? Let’s first define what bookkeeping is. A process of accounting, bookkeeping is the recording of financial transactions. Transactions include purchases, sales, receipts, and payments. This can also include invoicing clients, paying bills on time, and making sure your financials are in order for tax season. To stay current and consistent with your bookkeeping means documenting all aspects of your business. From invoices and receipts to financial reports like balance sheets, income statements, and general ledgers—every aspect of your business should be recorded, tracked, and maintained to help you fully comprehend your business financially. Plus, the more ready it is, the easier you can pull up critical data for venture capitalists and angel investors. 3. Keep your plan flexible for investors Varied consumers can be the audience of your bookkeeping business plan. From bankers to venture capitalists and suppliers, each type of reader is looking into your business for different reasons and are fueled by varied interests. For instance, venture capitalists may focus on your overall business concept and management team, while bankers will ask for cash flow statements up-front. Due to these reasons, it’s important to keep your bookkeeping business plan flexible for all types of audiences. 4. Know your product or service—and make sure it’s aligned to your marketing strategy Much like your business plan, your bookkeeping business plan should also detail your product or services in detail. This includes: The overall market of your product or service Your target customers Demographics Growth prospects Trends and sales potential Investors need to know both the kind of customers your product/service caters to, as well as the reach in order to decide on whether investing is a sound option. This is also a good time to audit your current marketing plan. Ask yourself, “does it align with my marketing strategy?” If no, consider updating your marketing plan to reflect these findings. 5. Stay up-to-date The best way to stay up-to-date with your bookkeeping is to plan for it. Finalize your bookkeeping business plan with an outline of how you intend to keep your financial data up-to-date. If you are considering automating your bookkeeping, Kashoo is a great online bookkeeping option. With Kashoo you can track all your income and expenses, transactions, notes, and reports at a glance. Since it’s saved on the cloud, you can access financial data from anywhere—whether you’re on the go or right at home.
