Business Operations

DISCOVER THE ESSENTIALS OF BUSINESS OPERATIONS & PLANNING!

Business success depends upon a strong foundation of skills and knowledge in various aspects of business operation and planning. 

This course is a good choice if you're wondering where to start. It covers vital topics such as finance, financial record keeping, financial management, business planning, mistakes to avoid, and more.

This course does overlap with Business Studies and Starting a Small Business, so you should choose to do one or the other, not any two of these 

Lesson Structure

There are 6 lessons in this course:

1. Introduction
   • Business law
   • types of businesses
   • starting a business
2. Finance
   • Liquidity
   • The money market
   • terminology
   • insurance
3. Financial Records
   • Simple Bookkeeping procedures
   • cash flow
4. Financial Management
   • Taxation
   • costing
   • budgeting
   • investing
5. Business Planning
   • Developing a 12 month business plant.
6. Mistakes to avoid
   • Reasons for business failures
   • profitability
   • improving productivity

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims

• * Define the business community, the types of businesses involved and the interaction which occurs between different businesses.
  • Explain the difference between goods and services based businesses.
• Define a range of commonly used business terms.
• Research and analyse business opportunities by studying activities in the business world.
• Assess the feasibility of a business opportunity and allocate resources to this business.
• Carry out the basic procedures of recording and interpreting financial records and statements including the cash book, balance sheet, profit and loss statement.
• Explain liquidity and productivity
• Calculate profit and determine assets
• Calculate the real cost of labour in a business.
• Determine pricing based on costs calculated for providing a particular service or product.
• Develop a budget for a simple business operation.
• Develop a simple 3 year business plan (real or hypothetical).

What You Will Do

• Research business publications to evaluate current trends in small business
• Prepare management reports for several businesses
• Contact lending institutions to enquire about money market investment schemes
• Prepare a profit and loss statement, a ledger statement and a balance sheet for a hypothetical business
• Speak with the taxation department about business related tax issues
• List the assets and liabilities in an existing business
• Develop a budget for a simple business operation

Business Tips -

Reasons Businesses Fail

Insufficient Capital

• Not enough money to get started:
• Don't forget that money is needed to keep you going from the time you begin in business until the time you are bringing in a profit. In some businesses you might need to cover yourself for several years’ wages. In most businesses you need to cover yourself for at least a few months’ wages.
• Not enough money to grow and develop:
• A slow and steady rate of growth is safer than rapid expansion.
• Remember: Businesses do not stand still  they either expand or shrink.

Depending too Heavily on Borrowings

At all costs, avoid borrowing any more money than necessary. If lenders change their minds and won't wait for repayments, or if interest rates increase; something you thought was manageable might all of a sudden cause the business to collapse. This has happened to many small business people as well as a significant number of big businesses in recent times.

Improper Financial Planning

You must know your financial position at all times and adjust the way you manage your business accordingly. It is easy to lose touch with the current situation and become distracted and involved with the day to day problems of running a business. Set clear goals and monitor your progress towards them.

Poor Cash Management

Don't overspend when you have it or you won't have it when you need it. This is a simple statement, but one which leads to the downfall of many businesses. If you don't keep accurate records of what you are owed, you might not realize you haven't been paid.

Watching the Volume of Business and Losing Sight of the Profit
The most successful businesses are generally those which do less work for more profit. Don't try to get too big too fast  instead, put your effort into getting better profits out of the work which you are able to get.

Not Collecting Money Owed to You

You need to be of strong resolve to get money out of your customers.

Remember - business and friendships are two very different things.

• Don't go easy on people because you like them.
• Don't avoid chasing money because you don't like the confrontation. If you can't take the right approach to collecting money you shouldn't be in business.