ICAS business start-up guide
Starting a business - a step by step guide to starting and financing a new business.
The ICAS business start-up guide is a visual and user-friendly publication designed to help aspiring business people on the way to setting up and running a successful company.
The guide has been prepared by ICAS Members with a breadth of entrepreneurial and business experience, including investors, entrepreneurs and directors.
It aims to help those committed to starting their own enterprise with tips on:
- Sourcing advice, support and mentoring
- Preparing a business plan
- Identifying appropriate funding and increasing your chances of getting it
- Accessing further business start-up resources and guidance
The business start-up guide spans the range of resources and help available from both the private and public sector.
It flags key things to consider when preparing a robust business plan - like knowing your market, working out how much cash you are likely to need, reducing your risk - and how to avoid the perils and pitfalls, such as hidden costs.
The guide includes a series of 'pre-flight' checks for small enterprises seeking to get off the ground, in areas such as tax relief entitlement, cashflow, raising investment, contingency planning and business structures.
It also focuses on alternative funding models by explaining investment opportunities such as crowdfunding and the use of social media.
The guide has been prepared by the Business Policy Panel of ICAS – a group of senior CAs with a wealth of business experience who contribute their time on a voluntary basis to support ICAS.
"Anyone wanting to start a business for the first time will find the ICAS guide full of useful, practical tips. It provides a sound platform to help identify sources of finance for different business situations." Todd Nugent (Executive Director of independent merchant bank, Noble Grossart).