The Happy Accountant

If you give your customers credit (and most businesses do), it’s important to get your invoicing and customer payments systems in order.  The obvious benefit is to aid cash flow and it is the first step to good credit control and fewer bad debts.
Some while ago, I posted about some basic details that need to be [...]

People to tell: 

Your customers
Your employees
 Your suppliers
Your bank
HMRC (the tax man)
Professional bodies/trade associations

 Other things to do:

maximise the marketing opportunity
change your business stationery
obtain a new domain name and relaunch your website.
update all your advertisements

I’ve recently been in the position of choosing accounting software, so this has been forefront of my mind.  This is a (by no means exhaustive) list of things to consider (in no particular order). 

price
functionality
ease of use/user friendliness
accounting knowledge
upgradeability
upgrade cost
ongoing support costs
flexibility
does it meet your legal obligations

The whole point of using accounting software is to make your life easier by saving you time and money.  Therefore, if it doesn’t and you can meet your legal requirements without it, you should question whether it’s worth the effort.
It should save you time because:

the whole process of bookkeeping should be faster (although setting up a [...]

A business plan should always include an analysis and forecast of the company’s financial position.  It will detail things such as:

start up costs
personal investment
additional sources of finance
cashflow forecast
profit & loss forecasts
balance sheet forecasts
historical financial information (if the business is an existing one rather than a start up)

Just as important as the figures themselves are

details of [...]

This is the area where, if you haven’t already covered it elsewhere, you can demonstrate your deep understanding of the business, marketing and sales, as well as areas such as capital expenditure, recruitment, statutory compliance and timing (as it applies to your business).

If you are a manufacturer, you need to detail how you are going to produce the goods, literally.  For example: what sort of equipment is required?  Where will manufacturing take place?  What are the costs involved?  What are your timescales? Where will your materials come from? Who are your suppliers?
This section also encompasses things like [...]

This section of the business plan assesses the market that you are pitching for.  It covers things like:

price
competitors
where the gap in the market is assumed to be
substitute products or services
Your unique selling point
How will you react to your competitors
legal protection (such as patents, copyright registration)
market share
marketing strategy

This section outlines the key people who will be responsible for delivering the plan.  These might be directors, non-executive directors, managers or employees. It normally includes a brief CV for each person demonstrating their relevant experience for their role in the plan.  The purpose is to show that the team is competent and experienced.  It is [...]

If  there is a history to either the company, the idea or product, it could also be included in the business plan.  It might detail the company’s past performance, successes or other notable information.