Running a business · 1 min · 10 November 2025
Business financial planning: a one-page plan for owner-managers
Planning is not a 40-page forecast. It is knowing the tax dates, the cash troughs, and what you can safely take home.
C+Countplus AccountingCountplus Accounting, Nelson & Warrington
‘Financial planning’ sounds like something a bank sells in a glass room. For a small-business owner it is plainer: what can I take home, what tax is coming, and will the account survive the quiet month?
Start with the calendar, not the dream
VAT, PAYE, Corporation Tax, Self Assessment, insurance, the quarterly rent. Put them on one page with amounts. That is a plan. A hockey-stick revenue slide is not.
Drawings are a decision
Directors who take whatever is there will meet their own January bill with surprise. We set a monthly drawing that the company can stand, then review it when the pack says so.
When you want a bigger plan
Buying a site, hiring five people, selling in three years. That is when we build a 12-month P&L and a 13-week cash view. Still not 40 tabs.
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This article is general information, not personal tax advice. Talk to us before you act on it.
