Definitive Business Plan, Second Edition, The

Some numbers to please the bankers

During your planning process, you have to look over the finances of the business for the past few years (i.e. the historical financial data). Do not worry if you do not love crunching numbers – most sensible people do not. However, if you can understand your own bank statement, you can analyze your company's financial performance. You might want to skip forward to Chapter 7 on financial analysis before continuing here.

You have two objectives at this moment. One is to understand what has been happening to your business. The other is to communicate this to your readers. If you have a brand new business, you are spared this task and you can consider yourself lucky or hindered. Otherwise, include a brief table ...