Gordon Capital helps business owners and their advisers translate objectives and strategy into their operational and financial implications – identifying the underlying assumptions, resources and funding required, and testing whether the plan is viable, sustainable and capable of achieving its objectives.
Start here
We bring financial and analytical rigour to business planning.
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Assumptions made explicit, not buried in a spreadsheet
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Resources and funding requirements understood
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Plans pressure-tested against changing circumstances
Our perspective
Business Planning With a financial perspective
A Plan Is Only as Strong as the Assumptions Behind It
Every business plan contains assumptions about the future – customers, volumes, pricing, margins, costs, capacity, investment, working capital and funding.
Rather than simply extending historical financial results into the future, we use financial, operational and non-financial data to build a driver-based view of what needs to happen for the plan to achieve its objectives.
That allows us to understand not only what we expect to happen, but what the business will need to deliver to make it happen.
Financial implications
Operational data
Commercial insight
Strategic decisions
Assumptions
Risks and trade-offs
Our solutions
Better Planning Requires More Than a Forecast
Business planning sits within a broader decision-making process. Understanding where the business is today, where it intends to go and what needs to happen to get there provides the foundation. The assumptions behind that expectation then need to be tested.
Business Advisory Services
We look beyond the financial statements to understand how the business really works and what is driving its performance.
Using financial, operational and non-financial information, we identify the relationships that drive revenue, profitability and cash flow. That understanding provides the baseline for evaluating plans, strategic decisions and their financial implications.
Financial Implications
Commercial Insight
Strategic Decisions
Business Strategy
A business plan needs to reflect the strategy the business has chosen to pursue.
We help business owners and their advisers understand what that strategy requires financially and operationally, identify the assumptions on which it depends and provide insight that can be used to evaluate and refine it. We don’t tell clients what strategy to pursue. We provide the insight that helps them make better strategic decisions.
Options
Trade-offs
Financial Reality
Strategy Pressure Testing
A plan describes what we expect to happen. Reality will almost certainly be different.
We pressure-test the assumptions behind the plan – individually and together – to understand what could otherwise happen, where the vulnerabilities lie and whether the business can still achieve its objectives when circumstances change.
Scenarios
Sensitivities
Resilience
When we can help
When the Plan Needs to Stand Up Financially
Business planning becomes particularly important when a decision will materially change the direction, resources or financial position of the business.
01
Growth
Determine what needs to drive the growth, the resources required and whether the business can support it sustainably.
02
Acquisitions
Understand how an acquisition changes the financial outlook, funding requirements and ability to achieve longer-term objectives.
03
Expansion
Plan for the financial and operational implications of new markets, locations, products or additional capacity.
04
Capital Investment
Understand the expected returns, cash requirements and impact of significant investment on the broader business plan.
05
Funding
Determine how much funding the plan requires, when it will be needed and how it can be supported.
06
Succession Planning
Understand how succession options affect future profitability, cash flow, funding, ownership and longer-term objectives.
07
Business Value
Understand how the plan and its underlying drivers could affect the future value of the business.
Something else on the table?
How we work
From Understanding the Business to Refining the Plan
We don’t start with a spreadsheet and work backwards. We start by understanding the business and the drivers behind its performance.
From there, we develop a driver-based view of the future, test the assumptions on which it depends and use the resulting insight as a feedback loop to help evaluate and refine the plan.
From there, we develop a driver-based view of the future, test the assumptions on which it depends and use the resulting insight as a feedback loop to help evaluate and refine the plan.
01
Understand what happened and why
Establish the current position and identify the financial and operational drivers behind the business’s performance.
02
Determine what we expect to happen
Translate the plan, objectives and assumptions into a driver-based view of future performance and resource requirements.
03
Test what could otherwise happen
Pressure-test key assumptions to understand uncertainty, risks, trade-offs and the financial resilience of the plan.
04
Identify what needs to change
Determine what must change for the objectives to remain achievable and use that insight to refine the plan.
FAQs
Common questions
Business planning is often associated with producing a document or financial forecast. Gordon Capital approaches it differently.
What is strategic business planning?
Strategic business planning connects what a business wants to achieve with how it intends to achieve it and what that will require. We focus particularly on the financial and operational implications – translating objectives and strategy into the drivers, resources and outcomes required to make the plan work.
Why should financial implications be considered when developing a business plan?
Because every plan commits resources. Growth may require people, capacity, working capital, investment or external funding before the expected benefits are realised. Understanding those implications helps determine whether the plan is financially viable, sustainable and capable of achieving its objectives.
What assumptions should a business plan consider?
The relevant assumptions depend on the business. They may include customer numbers, sales volumes, pricing, margins, staffing, operating costs, capacity, working capital and funding. We focus on identifying the assumptions that materially influence whether the plan succeeds.
Can a business plan be tested against different scenarios?
Yes. In fact, we think it should be. A forecast represents what we expect to happen; it doesn’t tell us enough about what could otherwise happen. Pressure testing allows us to change assumptions and assess the consequences for profitability, cash flow, funding and the plan’s objectives.
When should I review my business plan?
A plan should be revisited when actual performance, external circumstances or key assumptions change materially. The analysis provides a feedback loop: new information can be incorporated, its implications assessed and the plan refined where necessary rather than simply measuring actual results against an increasingly outdated forecast.
Does Gordon Capital write business plans?
Not in the conventional sense. Our role is not simply to produce a business-plan document. We help business owners and their advisers understand what the plan requires financially and operationally, assess its viability and sustainability, pressure-test its assumptions and provide the insight needed to refine it and make better decisions.
Before Committing to the Plan, Understand What It Requires
A business plan is ultimately a set of expectations about the future.
Before committing significant time, money or resources, understand what has to happen for those expectations to be realised, what the business will require along the way and what happens if reality turns out differently.