Page 168 - Finance for Non-Financial Managers

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Business Planning
Challenges and opportunities
Budget
R&D/Product Development Department plan 149
Goals
Milestones
Organization and staffing
Facilities
Challenges and opportunities
Budget
Financial Department plan/budget
Goals
Milestones
Organization and staffing
Facilities
Challenges and opportunities
Budget
Companywide budget
Summary of projected basic financial statements
Departmental budgets
Departmental staffing plans
Capital expenditures plan

The layout of this outline, and even the order of its contents,
is not as important as having all the bases covered. In other
words, the plan should cover all these areas in a way that is log-
ical to all people in the organization, regardless of where in the
plan they appear. We have found, however, that an organization
by department make it easier for each department to incorpo-
rate its contribution as well as to refer to its part of the plan dur-
ing implementation or assessment of progress. The following
thoughts will help you to understand what should be covered in
each of these sections.
Overview
It helps to begin by reminding operating plan readers of the
grand design, the overriding purpose of the company, and the
direction the company is moving to fulfill that grand design.