Consulting services for small to mid-sized businesses in Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Moorpark, Agoura Hills, and Ventura County, CA

A business plan organizes and documents the strategies you have for running and growing your business. You might need it to get a loan, to find a partner or investor, or simply to crystalize your thoughts.

There are many parts to a business plan, including:

• An executive overview
• A business model description
• Market opportunities and a competitive analysis
• Financial statements and projections
• Risk analysis
• An organization chart and staffing plan
• An operating plan
• And more

Whether you need a comprehensive business plan or just one section mentioned above, we can help. We offer services designed to work with you, step by step, to create the perfect business plan for your organization.

If you have recently started a business or are thinking of starting one in the future, we can provide our expertise. Working with a financial professional from the beginning of your business venture nearly doubles the chances of your success.

There are literally hundreds of things to take care of with a new business, and we can help take some of that burden off of your hands. Here are just a few things that need to be covered during your startup phase that are related to compliance or financial requirements:

• Determine the best type of entity for legal and tax purposes
• File papers with local, state, and federal agencies to set up your business
• Acquire a federal ID number from the IRS
• Open a new bank account, merchant account, and credit cards
• Select an accounting system, such as QuickBooks
• If you will be using eCommerce, select a shopping cart
• Acquire the necessary business licenses and permits
• Determine what insurance you should carry to protect yourself
• If you hire employees:
  • Register with the IRS and the state agencies
  • Select a payroll system
  • Acquire Worker’s Compensation
  • Set up benefits and a time off policy
• Secure accounting, legal, IT, and HR counsel
• Identify sales tax requirements and register with your state and local agencies
• Fulfill any investor requirements

Not only can we help you with many of the items above, we can also provide valuable guidance to help you increase the chances of succeeding in your new venture.  This professional advice includes:

• Carefully managing your cash flow so you don’t get overcommitted
• Preparing a first-year budget so you can stay on track
• Setting realistic funding goals and helping you acquire the financing you need
• Reviewing operations from a financial management standpoint to make sure you will be on track for your profit margin goals
• Helping you plan for large capital acquisitions so that you can minimize borrowing and be smart about your cash management and growth rate

We love working with startups, so please reach out to find out more about our startup consulting services.

Budgeting can sound restrictive, which is why we prefer the term “Profit Planning.”  It’s really the same thing: the ultimate goal is to help you realize your profit goals by tracking spending and sales, avoiding overspending, and making sure you have the revenue volume to cover your overhead expenses.

Our budgeting services include:

• Preparing a 12-month budget that includes revenue and expense goals based on your chart of accounts
• Monthly reporting of budget versus actual variances to increase your accountability
• A quarterly review of actual versus budgeted amounts and an analysis of over and under accounts, including actions to take to stem any issues or shortfalls
• An optional capital budget based on balance sheet accounts and new capital acquisitions

Please contact us if you would like to discuss our budgeting, or rather Profit Planning, services.

To find out more about or to get started with any of our business consulting solutions, please contact us by phone or email.