Business owners of privately owned companies regularly ask whether there is one thing they could do to be better prepared when raising capital to fund growth in their business.

“Yes” is my answer.

There’s one tool that will not only make raising capital easier and more successful, but it will actually help a business run better, with less risk and ultimately be more profitable. In the listed markets, we see daily examples of companies raising millions of dollars in equity or debt capital in a matter of hours. It’s because they are using this one thing too.

“What’s this one thing?” I hear you ask, to which I reply:

forecasting

Showing a prospective investor or lender a proper set of forecasts demonstrates a number of things to them. It shows the opportunities in the business, the risk management, future cashflows, and requirements for capital. More importantly, it shows them that you truly understand your business and have positioned it for the future. It will also mean many of the materials they’re going to ask you for will already be at hand!

With robust forecasts in place, an investor is much more likely to be comfortable with an investment in your company and be confident in management’s control of the business. This means it’s more likely you’ll receive the capital injection, and sooner. Listed companies do this by constantly publishing their forecasts to the market, and analysts use these to make forward-looking decisions about investments in the companies.

looking ahead

Forecasting the next 3 years of your business’s operations is one of the most powerful things you can do.

Forecasting properly means building forward-looking financial statements that align with your historical numbers. The picture you create should be a seamless blend of the past and the future. It means you have thought about all the elements across your business and how they play out in your business: revenues, costs, risks and opportunities, staff and customers, property and equipment. It shows investors that your mind is sharpened into quantifying their impact, not just a conceptual picture.

The advantage to all business owners who have an ongoing forecasting process is they invariably run their business better. They have a more focused eye on the elements in their business and are more adaptable. It has forced them to think critically about the future and it helps them anticipate change.

Forecasting isn’t a back-of-the-envelope process where you make assumptions about growth or costs, or have a mental map of your business into the future. As a formal part of business strategy and financial planning, forecasting should be a robust and repeatable practice that makes the business stronger.

The good news is that forecasting tools now integrate into most accounting software systems, so having your actual financial results alongside your forecasts in the one set of reports makes management even more powerful.

here to help!

Across the team at businessDEPOT, we’re focused on your success and the capital solutions that fuel it. To help, we’d love to sit down and talk about how the power of forecasting will drive your business.  If you’d like to get in touch you can reach out at 1300BDEPOT or send us an email at oneplace@businessdepot.com.au.