Definitive Business Plan, Second Edition, The

Getting it funded

If your plan is for internal use, you will probably know whether the cash flow is acceptable. If you do not know, you should start asking questions now. You want the plan to be feasible when you come to presenting it for approval – even if you still have to fight for that extra bit of funding. If there is absolutely no chance of funding your strategy, you need to revise it now and work back through the numbers until you arrive at an acceptable cash flow projection.

If you are appraising someone's plan, question carefully the cash flow and the underlying assumptions. I have known executives who have deliberately massaged cash ...