Business Finance Homework Help

Consult the Business Plan Part II handout before preparing your commentary. You need to try to estimate your expenses (budget and cash flow) first, so you have something to talk about. Once you have completed both your prospective budget and your prospective cash flow statement for the first year, start working on your commentary.

Given the importance of this first step, the handout gives all importance to calculating expenses. Finding financing sources is a separate matter, for the final business plan. In this forum, you will therefore only discuss how you have calculated your expenses. Describe generally how you went about it, especially any surprises or head-scratchers along the way.

Did you benchmark against another company? Did you postpone investing in a storefront? Will you wait to hire people? Did you look up law firms, CPAs, or payroll services? Perhaps you have personal experience with helpful services for small businesses in your area. Is it feasible to start your small business in a business incubator to lower your startup costs? Is it feasible to start your company as an online venture? (Remember the home office option.) Give other students reasons to chime in with ideas. Brainstorming should occur here.

As before, remember to reply to two other students as well. An updated version of this discussion should become part of your actual business plan in Week 8, so the advice of your fellow students will be of value. In addition to an improved version of this commentary, your spreadsheet tables and further commentary on financing sources should appear in your final business plan later.