Marcus Cake

A brief overview of the type of information required by a due diligence process can be downloaded here (word document). The document lists the necessary information in escalating stages of due diligence. I would encourage anyone going through a due diligence process to get the third party to qualify their interest in an opportunity as quickly as possible. This should be done by sending them a quality set of quality initial information. The due diligence process could easier if the business stored key business information in a single online platform. Please review the Online business and accounting system and the Templates Category for more information.

The cashflow forecast template may be downloaded by clicking here . This is one of a series of templates provided to assist with business planning. Please read all posts in the Templates category . This template could be dynamically linked with the complex financial forecast template .

I have provided some other templates to assist with preparing a business. The available templates are listed in the Templates category. I have always been reluctant to provide these templates. They are many years old and are a start to a four to six week process. Business plans are more art than science. It is difficult to provide a generic guide which successfully satisfies the specific needs of a company. I offer these templates as something that can provide an insight and may save you some time.

Over many years, I have developed a simple Microsoft Excel template to support a transaction process. Transaction types included a merger or aquisition, IPO’s or private equity capital raising. This template is a starting point and needs to be customised to meet the unique requirements of each company and the specific transaction being pursued. To download the template, click on Transaction process template .This template is part of a series of templates used in a transaction process. It complements my previous post Financial forecast model: A Microsoft Excel template could become an Open Source project

I will contribute the other templates as time permits. The business plan template and Investor presentation templates are still to be posted.

Please review all the available templates by selecting the Templates category .

Financial modelling is highly specialised. A template is useless unless the skills are available to customise it for a specific need. The skills required include Microsoft Excel, a knowledge of accounting standards and being able to communicate the business model by using a financial model. I was reluctant to provide this model, but it does represent a “start” for many people. If you improve the spreadsheet, I would also welcome the opportunity to include those improvements here. Perhaps, we will create an “Open source” financial forecast model for the world. Maybe, the world only needs one and this can be our contribution to the world.

It is possible to store your “life” on your IPod, but you would need to use open source software and lose the ability to integrate with devices soch as mobile phones and PDA’s. The “portable applications” include email, web browsing, office software and many others. It may even be possible to run a virtual computer. The recent release of Palm’s Lifedrive seems to suggest people want to be even more portable. A recently announced partnership amongst mobile phone manufacturers to develop a common version of Linux for mobile devices is important. It extends open source to devices and makes it easier to integrate the desktop with these phones, PDA’s, IPod’s and other devices. This would remove a significant hurdle to the adoption of Linux on the desktop. Is this an opportunity for entrepreneurs to package open source into a “portable” offering?