“Where do you see your business in the next five years?”

This question not only sets the foundation for entrepreneurship ventures but also for the business itself and the best way to find a solid, realistic answer to it is through strategic business planning. Though a hectic and time-consuming process, it maps out a blueprint for your company’s growth and success. However, not all businesses need strategic planning. In some cases, a business plan will do just fine. Accountants can help you decide the right option and guide you through the process. This blog uncovers the importance of strategic business planning and how accountants assist.

What is Strategic Business Planning?

Strategic business planning is a process through which you set goals for your organization and brainstorm methods to achieve them. The first sentence of the blog is an example of a goal that can be set by a strategic plan.

Let’s say you launched a digital marketing firm in Manitoba and it has been doing well for over a year. By this time you have a solid team and a steady source of income. So, what you need now is the vision to help the firm achieve an even better position in the future. Deciding on a vision that can work in the real world is a hectic process and is known as strategic business planning.

It doesn’t disclose the destiny of your business. But, it creates an impactful pathway for your organization to achieve its envisioned goals. The results of strategic planning are usually compiled in the form of sheets, presentations, PDFs or reports.

How is Strategic Planning Helpful for Businesses?

Start-ups should know what they want to do with their business and how. We live in this insanely fast-paced technological world now. Hence, businesses can easily lose their focus, productivity and efficiency if they do not have a strict and confident path to follow. Strategic planning creates this pathway for business leaders to achieve success, revenue and growth.

Once the leaders get familiar with the path, it’s time to bring all team members on board. This is where strategic planning comes into play. The process helps you set a common vision and mission specific to your organization. Hence, you can get your entire team to work toward that vision, thereby ensuring everyone is on the same page.

Strategic plans are more impactful when the whole team is involved equally. It helps bring a variety of ideas to the table. Employees get to share their opinions on how to boost the company’s growth. Overall, it unifies team members and keeps them motivated.

Hard work is important and so is smart work. You should be aware of the obstacles that can prevent your company from moving ahead. Strategic business planning helps you identify the bumps in your business venture so you can take care of them on time.

What is the Role of Accountants Here?

A strategic plan consists of four critical aspects of a business- taxes, payroll, cash flow and debt management. An accountant is the right skilled person to help business leaders with all the facets of strategic planning, especially the ones mentioned here. Figuring out what’s best for your business and how to achieve that can take forever if you don’t have the required education and experience. Accountants do that for you hence cutting you some slack. They use their knowledge to prepare an executive summary, company description, mission & vision statements, SWOT analysis and other parts of the strategic plan.