Business Plans & Turnaround Plans

The two situations look opposite — one looks forward, the other starts from an existing problem — but both rest on the same thing: numbers that describe reality rather than hope. A plan built on assumptions nobody tested will look convincing in the first meeting and fall apart in the second, in front of a banker or investor who asks one good question.

When You Need a Business Plan

• Raising bank credit — a request for significant credit is assessed against a cash-flow forecast, not against turnover;
• Bringing in an investor or partner — the plan is the basis for negotiating valuation and entry terms;
• Feasibility review before a major investment — an additional branch, a product line, equipment, relocation;
• Government grants and support schemes, most of which require a detailed plan as part of the application;
• Selling the business or an intergenerational transfer — a buyer wants a picture they can rely on;
• Changing the corporate structure — incorporating, splitting activities or merging.

What the Plan Contains

• The business model — where the revenue actually comes from, and what drives it;
• Market and competition analysis, at a level of detail that fits the plan's purpose;
• An operating plan — headcount, suppliers, timelines and required investment;
• A financial model — projected profit and loss, a cash-flow forecast and a projected balance sheet;
• Sensitivity analysis — what happens if revenue comes in 20% lower, if payments are delayed, if interest rates rise;
• Funding requirements — how much is needed, exactly when, and what it is used for;
• Milestones and metrics that make it possible to tell, along the way, whether the plan is materializing.

Turnaround Plans — When Cash Flow Is Already Tight

A business reaches a turnaround plan when the signs are already clear: credit lines drawn to the limit, suppliers shortening payment terms, deferred salaries, or a bank asking to see the plan. Often it is the lender who requires the plan as a condition for continuing.

The work starts with a diagnosis — not with a list of cuts. The first question is where the money is actually burning: is this a profitability problem, a pricing problem, a collection problem, the wrong financing structure, or one activity subsidizing all the others. The answer determines everything that follows.

• Immediate cash-flow stabilization — prioritizing payments, and identifying what must be settled and what can be rescheduled;
• Reviewing the cost structure — fixed versus variable, and which of it can genuinely be changed;
• Debt arrangements and refinancing with banks and suppliers, backed by data;
• Reviewing the activity — which business lines contribute and which detract;
• Milestones and control metrics, with ongoing monitoring against them — a plan without monitoring is a document.

What Makes a Plan That Works

The numbers come from inside. When the plan is built in the same firm that keeps the books and prepares the financial statements, the starting point is not a file we received — it is data we already know and whose backing we understand. That shortens the work and, more importantly, prevents a plan resting on a balance nobody verified.

The plan has to survive questions. A banker or an investor does not read a plan — they test it. A plan written to please its reader falls at the first question about its assumptions. We build a plan that can be defended, including where the answer is inconvenient.

And an honest note: a business plan is not a guarantee of an outcome, and not every business can be turned around. Part of the value of the diagnosis is saying so in time — early enough for options to still exist.

Who Leads This at the Firm

Business advisory is led by the two founding partners. CPA Hanoch Hager, who holds a degree in economics and accounting and formerly served as a privatization economist at the Government Companies Authority, brings the background in economic analysis of organizations and valuation of activities. CPA Zvika Alperowitz accompanies business owners through decisions all year round — corporate structure, bringing in partners, growth, and handling businesses that have run into difficulty.

The information on this page is general and does not constitute professional advice or a recommendation to act. The scope and nature of the work are determined by the state of the business, its sector and the purpose of the plan.