Business Plan & Forecast
Plan with greater clarity and confidence
A clear business plan and realistic financial forecasts can help you understand where your business is heading, prepare for future opportunities and make better-informed financial decisions.
The Funding Step provides practical business and cashflow planning support for businesses looking to understand their financial position, plan for growth or prepare for a finance application.
Whether you’re starting a new business, entering your next stage of growth or considering a significant investment, we can help you turn your plans, assumptions and financial information into a clear and structured proposal.
More than just putting numbers into a forecast
When preparing for finance, having a good business idea or a profitable business doesn’t always tell a lender everything they need to know.
Lenders will want to understand the business behind the application: what you do, how the business performs, what you’re looking to achieve, why the funding is required and, importantly, how the business expects to repay it.
With experience in commercial lending and assessing business finance applications, The Funding Step understands the type of information lenders look for and the questions that are likely to be asked.
We can work with you to build a business plan and financial forecast that brings this information together, helping you present a clear and credible picture of your business and the plans behind the numbers.
Support for businesses at every stage
Business planning isn’t just for start-ups.
An established business may need a plan and financial forecasts when expanding, purchasing equipment, moving premises, taking on a major contract, seeking investment or applying for additional finance.
Equally, a new or early-stage business may need support turning an idea into a structured plan and demonstrating how the business expects to generate income, manage costs and become financially sustainable.
Our support can therefore be tailored around your business, its stage of development and what you’re trying to achieve.
How we can help
Depending on your requirements, our Business & Cashflow Planning service can include support with:
Business Plans
Creating a structured plan that clearly explains your business, its objectives, market, strategy and financial requirements.
Cashflow Forecasts
Forecasting the expected movement of money into and out of the business and identifying future cash requirements.
Financial Projections
Helping you build realistic projections based on your plans, historical performance and underlying assumptions.
Funding Proposals
Presenting your funding requirement, intended use of funds and supporting financial information clearly.
Growth Planning
Considering the financial impact of expansion, recruitment, new contracts, additional locations or other growth opportunities.
Review of Financial Information
Reviewing the information available and identifying areas that may need further explanation or supporting evidence.
Finance Application Preparation
Helping you bring together the financial and supporting information that may be required when approaching a lender.
Preparing for finance?
When applying for business finance, lenders may ask for a range of information depending on the business and the type of funding required.
This could include business plans, cashflow forecasts, financial projections, management accounts, historic accounts, business bank statements, details of existing borrowing, quotations for planned expenditure and an explanation of how the funding will be used.
Having the documents is one thing. Making sure they tell a consistent and credible story is equally important.
Your business plan should support your forecasts. Your forecasts should reflect what you’re actually planning to do. And your funding requirement should make sense when considered alongside the financial performance and cashflow of the business. That’s where The Funding Step can help.
We’ll work with you to understand the business first, before helping you prepare the information needed to clearly communicate your plans.
Not currently looking for finance?
You don’t need to be applying for a loan to benefit from business and cashflow planning.
Having a clearer view of your future financial position can help when considering decisions such as recruiting employees, purchasing equipment, increasing stock, moving premises or investing in growth.
A cashflow forecast can also help identify periods where cash may become tighter, allowing you to plan ahead rather than react when the pressure arrives.
Our planning service can therefore be used independently of any finance application.
Need help planning your next step?
Whether you’re starting a business, preparing for growth or getting ready to approach a lender, we can help you put together a clearer financial plan for what comes next.