The start-up process:
The first step during the initial phase of helping our client’s set up a business is to examine the company’s chances of success. Part of this stage involves defining the services that will be offered. Essentially, the purpose of this step is to establish whether your company’s idea, product or service will be met with the right level of demand.
During the next stage, we examine whether the founder has the personal qualities that an ‘entrepreneur’ requires. It isn’t just about having a good idea; any future business owner needs to be able to put their plan into action. Working together with the prospective founder, we look at whether the person in question possesses the skill required and is willing to put other activities aside in order to fully focus their time and energy on his/her business.
Moreover, the current and future market developments in the relevant business sector are analysed and we establish if and how this development pathway corresponds to the potential success of the new company.
Once all of these steps have been completed, we determine which legal form the company should take. BHU Consulting clients can also enjoy the unique advantage our group offers: in addition to handling any financial and legal queries you may have concerning the choice of legal structure, we can also integrate tax matters into our consultation service through our tax consultancy partner firm.
An appropriate set of figures is calculated for your planned company goals and transformed into a ‘start-up plan’. Here we will also establish ‘milestones’ for planned measures which can, for example, be derived from the sale or marketing plan.
An in-depth liquidity plan allows us to recognise, for example, when a shortfall may arise that will need to be plugged before a funding gap occurs. The liquidity plan thus impacts the financial plan, which is put to effect during meetings with your bank as a crucial instrument for future planning.
The accuracy of the target values used in budget planning documents plays a key role in this process. For example, undeclared and unplanned credit line overdrafts will soon have a negative impact on your bank rating and, as a consequence, on the business’s refinancing costs. This is another instance where our partnership can offer added value to customers. BHU uses certain software products which allow current business data to be transferred directly from accounts and into an ongoing liquidity plan, effectively keeping target-actual comparisons constantly up to date.
As such, with careful preparation and (should you request it) our support, we can help ensure bank financing lines can be more easily realised.
Finally, the planned steps are put into action under constant scrutiny so that any required adjustments can be made.
