IBIS Start-Up Analysis

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Management overview

Yes No

Does the plan contain a summary of the key points of the plan, including objectives, and key activities during the period of the plan (Check with the investment case summary chart)?

Business and management

Yes No	2.	Does the plan contain details of current borrowing, share holding structure?
Yes No	3.	Does the plan contain the biographies of key personnel - skills, experience, and previous involvement in other ventures which identify the contributions that they can make to the business (Check with the entrepreneur quiz)?
Yes No	4.	Is there evidence of a low level of previous business failure associated with key personnel (less than 1 failure per key employee)?
Yes No	5.	Do more than 2 key personnel have experience of business start ups?
Yes No	6.	Is there an individual with significant project management expertise responsible for control and implementation of key operations in the company?
Yes No	7.	Are key personnel fully committed both financially and in hours worked to the success of the company?
Yes No	8.	Is the structure of the company clearly laid out, with well defined reporting systems?
Yes No	9.	Aredetails of the pay levels of all staff provided?
Yes No	10.	Are bonus schemes evenly spread throughout the entire company?
Yes No	11.	Are more than 50 per cent of management salaries and benefits made up of profit related incentives?
Yes No	12	Does the AER (administration expense ratio) continue to fall at a rate at least double that of the increase in sales (sales increase by 25% year one to year two – AER declines by 50%)
Yes No	13	Has the company identified the crucial factors for success and the key performance indicators (see KPI) in the development of the business?

Product or service

Yes No	14	Is the market growing at more than 3% in real terms?
Yes No	15	Does the plan contain details of proposed product/service range?
Yes No	16	Is the product or service clearly focused on a specific customer group?
Yes No	17.	Is the product or service limited to a clearly defined and limited range?
Yes No	18.	Does the product or service have clearly defined relative advantage over existing competition?
Yes No	19	Is the product or service clearly compatible with existing products or services (can it be easily integrated into existing operational/delivery systems)?
Yes No	20	Is the product or service simple to use?
Yes No	21.	Can the product or service be easily sub-divided for easy trial?
Yes No	22.	Can the advantages of the product or service be easily communicated?
Yes No	23.	Do the top 5 major competitors make up less than 40 per cent of the relevant market?
Yes No	24	Do the top 5 major customers make up less than 40 per cent of the relevant market?
Yes No	25	Is the price elasticity in the market low?
Yes No	26.	Are there no clearly defined substitutes to the product or service?
Yes No	27.	Does the product or service have clearly defined price advantages over similar existing products and services?
Yes No	28.	Has the product or service been tested prior the introduction with potential major customers?
Yes No	29.	Does more than 30 per cent of the company business during the period of the plan consist of long term contracts or clear commitments from major customers?
Yes No	30.	Is more than 30 per cent of sales protected by patent/trademark/copyright?
Yes No	31.	Does the peak sales month contribute less than 15 per cent of annual sales?
Yes No	32.	Are the main elements of legislation relevant to the implementation of the plan listed?
Yes No	33.	Are the main competitors listed together with their strengths and weaknesses?
Yes No	34.	Does the plan contain a clear statement of how the company builds and maintains competitive advantage?
Yes No	35.	Does the plan contain details of the most recent market research which the company carried out?
Yes No	36.	Does the plan contain details of how customer satisfaction is or will be measured?
Yes No	37	Does the plan list the main customers and their product/service requirements?
Yes No	38	Does the plan contain details of proposed promotional investments and how they will be evaluated?
Yes No	39	Does the plan contain details of proposed sales tactics and how they will be evaluated?
Yes No	40	Have the key customers for sales expansion been identified?

Objectives and strategy

Yes No	41.	Does the plan contain general business goals/vision statement?
Yes No	42.	Does the plan include a detailed SWOT analysis?
Yes No	43.	Are specific gross profit, return on capital employed, skills, customer satisfaction and new product development objectives stated?

Information system

Yes No	44.	Does the company maintain a computerised accounting system?
Yes No	45.	Is there evidence that a standard management meeting/control system exists with regular monitoring activity?
Yes No	46.	Is there a clearly defined method of collecting and integrating long term planning information?
Yes No	47.	Will the information system report monthly on more than 8 financial ratios?
Yes No	48	Will the information system report monthly on more than 3 production/ service delivery ratios?
Yes No	49	Will the information system report monthly on more than 5 marketing ratios?
Yes No	50	Will the information system report monthly on more than 4 personnel ratios?
Yes No	51	Will the information system report monthly on more than 2 new product development ratios?

Production/service supply system

Yes No	52.	Is the production or service supply equipment listed, together with ages?
Yes No	53.	Does the plan include an analysis of capacity and sub-contracting?
Yes No	54.	Does the plan show that the company sub-contract profitability to achieve targets?
Yes No	55.	Does the plan show that all the necessary product/service regulatory clearances been achieved?
Yes No	56.	Does the plan show that the importance of quality standardisation certification (ISO 9000) limited in the sector?
Yes No	57.	Does the plan show that the company has established quality control systems?
Yes No	58.	Does the plan show that the company has established training programmes leading to formal qualifications for the majority of its staff and spend more than 3 per cent of turnover on training?
Yes No	59.	Is the importance of environmental standardisation (ISO 14000) limited in the sector?
Yes No	60.	Does the plan show that the company has formal agreements with its larger suppliers?
Yes No	61	Does the plan include an assessment of logistics (physical distribution, warehousing, order processing)?
Yes No	62	Does the plan include the formal terms of sale and and purchase?
Yes No	63	Does the plan comment on the the technology for the production of the product/service and show that it is tried and tested?
Yes No	64	Are there large number of equipment suppliers/ material suppliers present in the market?

Future financial performance

Yes No	65.	Does the plan include three years cash flow forecasts?
Yes No	66.	Does the plan include three years profit and loss forecasts?
Yes No	67.	Does the plan include three years balance sheet forecasts?
Yes No	68.	Does the plan include capital expenditure budgets?
Yes No	69.	Does the plan include a sensitivity analysis on costs, timing and sales?
Yes No	70.	Are gross profit levels better than industry average over the period of the plan?
Yes No	71.	Is the return on capital employed greater than 15 per cent over the period of the plan?
Yes No	72.	Is the sales expense ratio (SER) declining over the period of the plan more rapidly than the increase in sales?
Yes No	73.	Are fixed costs as a proportion of turnover declining over the period of the plan?
Yes No	74.	Is the break even value (BEV) achieved at less than 50 per cent of turnover?
Yes No	75.	Is interest cover always greater than 1.6 throughout the period of the plan?
Yes No	76.	Is the stock turn or inventory ratio (STR) broadly in line with the sector average?
Yes No	77	Is the debt/equity ratio (gearing) always below 60 per cent for the period of the plan?
Yes No	78	Is the quick ratio drop always above 1.5 throughout the plan?
Yes No	79	Does profit per employee improve by more than 40 per cent during the period of the plan?

Assumptions

Yes No	80	Are the main assumptions underlying the plan listed?
Yes No	81	Is there an assessment of the risks involved in the main areas of the plan and how these risks will shared or mitigated?
Yes No	82	Is there a formalised contingency plan with allocated responsibilities (Check with the contingency planning page)?

Action plan

Yes No	83.	Are responsibilities for the completion of key issues in the plan clearly allocated?
Yes No	84.	Is a time scale of actions and method of measurement of task achievement by month provided, and included in the monthly reporting system?
Yes No	85.	Is a project plan provided for large scale investments with the critical path?

Finance required

Yes No	86.	Does the plan provide a detailed description of the uses of internally generated funds and external investment?
Yes No	87.	Are the returns on these investments assessed with an IRR/NPV calculation?
Yes No	88.	Does the plan list the proposed exit routes or repayment plan for outstanding loans/new capital?

Presentation

Yes No	89.	Does the plan make full use of graphics?
Yes No	90.	Are appendices included of relevant sales literature, market research?
Yes No	91	Are all legal documents listed – articles of association, shareholders agreements, contracts and proposed standard operating procedures – to show the structure of corporate governance?
Total:

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