The Definitive Business Plan: The fast-track to intelligent business planning for executives and entrepreneurs, Second Edition

Chapter 7. About these numbers

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• ‘The time has come’, the walrus said, ‘to speak of other things’

• Varying views of the same numbers

• The way that bean counters think

• The planning horizon

• Looking back

• Estimating the present

• Crystal ball gazing

• Software tools

• Putting it to good use

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	“The bank’s accounts show its true position. The actual position is a little better still.”
	--Chairman, London and County Bank, The Economist, February 1901

Probably, this is the best part of the book. We are about to arrive at the bottom line. How much money is going to be spent? How much funding is required? For commercial ventures, how much profit will be made? We also see how mischievous planners sometimes massage the figures and hide away the bad news. ...