Business Concept

Aplicprint will be an accounting and bookkeeping firm with a partnership form of business ownership model. The main services to be provided by the firm will entail tax services, cost consulting and management services, QuickBooks sales, bookkeeping and other added services. The firm will target small businesses, which are at the start-up stage or have already established themselves. Based on the number of services being offered, the firm will move beyond a one person model. This requires sufficient investment in marketing and staffing in order to grow the business and include its complimentary line of business.

For accounting services, they will be offered by qualified professions with the relevant academic qualification. Efficient screening will be conducted during the recruitment process in order to ensure that the most competent personnel are brought in. Bookkeeping services will be offered to clients with the oversight of a Certified Public Accountant at a price that they can afford. There will be need to hire undergraduate student bookkeepers coupled with a graduate student manager in order to keep the fixed costs as low as possible.

The keys to success will be building trust with clients, going beyond saving clients money to giving them advice on how they can increase their revenues, enhancing ethical and legal practices in matters regarding taxes, transparency and reporting and by maintaining up to date education on accounting practices and CPA certification.

Business Viability

This business is viable due to several reasons. Among these reasons is that the rate at which people are opening businesses is high. These people need guidance on how to approach their accounting and bookkeeping activities. Majority of the businesses are run by people without a slight idea of what needs to be done. This is a clear indication that there is market where these services can be offered.

Another viability prospect, surfaces based on the nature of business model, which aims at targeting small businesses. Established accounting and bookkeeping firms tend to ignore these types of clients. This is because the revenues to be generated are small compared to their standard. There is an opportunity of capturing the small businesses that have not had the ability of clinching deals with the large firms.

Established firms also charge high prices for the services offered. Aplicprint will aim at charging the lowest prices possible in order to attract such potential clients. In order to achieve lower prices, efficiency should be maintained at all times for there to be a reduction of expenses.

Finance

Being a start-up means that the sources of finance for the business are limited. The main source of finance will be the contribution by the partners. This will come from own savings or other personal credit lines. It would also be easy to obtain funds from friends and family. They are the people that believe in someone even without waiting to see if the idea will work.

Crowd funding is also another source of income that would be relevant to the business. It will entail using the power of the internet to find a crowd of like-minded people to back the efforts. This will require the ability to convince and find the right people for it to succeed.

As the business commences and generation of revenue becomes a reality, the profits will be re-invested in the business. During the early cycles of the business, no salary will be afforded to any of the founding partners. The growth of the company will be moderate in order to maintain steady cash flows. Marketing costs will not go beyond 15% of the sales to help maintain the expenses as low as possible.

Marketing  

The first step into developing a favourable marketing strategy will be creation of a slogan that shows clients the firm has their best interest at heart based on the low prices being charged. This will be coupled by trying to show potential clients the presence of qualified individuals ready to serve them.

Means to be used to reach the customers will include website marketing. The firm will develop a website entailing all the services offered, and the relevant people to contact for more information. Various techniques will be used to promote the website like Search Engine Optimisation, posting on social media, traffic buying among others.

Personal selling will also be at the core of marketing strategy. It will entail visiting potential clients at their business premises, and informing them of the existence of the firm.  This will help in creating awareness of its existence. Personal selling will also involve handing out of brochures to people along the streets. People who do not require the services might pass them to their interested friends and families.

Periodic advertisements will also be important. The advertisements will be made in small business publications. Each of them will be tracked to determine whether they yield inquiries and clients.

Competitors

The business intends to capture the low end clients with small businesses. These are those clients with limited operational budgets hence not willing to spend a lot. This means that the competition that might emanate from large firms in the industry has been eliminated since they do not deal with this type of clients.

The major competitors in the market include corporate accounting and bookkeeping service providers. These types of firms tend to seek entrepreneurial clients specifically. They are usually involved in the real estate industry, which has been doing great over the years. Most of these competitors have only been in business for few years, and they do not offer CPA leadership. In the bookkeeping sector, major competitors include firms offering their services using their own software package. Their reliance on this software as opposed to QuickBooks is among the weaknesses that the business will take advantage of.

For bookkeeping services, the firm also has to compete indirectly against the prospect of other businesses hiring its own part-time bookkeepers. The aspect gives the business advantage of greater control and maybe development of future full-time employees. Having positive references, CPA leadership and fair prices are factors likely to lure consumers and develop a competitive advantage.

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