Assess Current Situation

• The first step in a financial plan of a company is to assess the organization's current fiscal situation. Without a thorough understanding of where a company is, executive leaders cannot decide where it needs to go. In order to have a complete picture of an organization's financial situation, management has to look at assets, debts, expenses and profitability. Beyond a company-wide overview, every specific department should be financially audited to provide the most thorough assessment possible.
  
  

Define Goals

• After the current financial situation has been assessed, the company needs to clearly define all goals and objectives. At this stage, executive management has to decide exactly where the organization is heading. Goals are established at all levels of the corporation. The overall goal is to increase profit, but individual departments need to do their share to make this happen. Departmental goals are established by managers and progress toward completion is often measured with the use of metrics. Metrics provide unbiased numbers that show either improvement or decline in progress.
  
  

Establish Action Items

• Having assessed the current financial situation and defined clear goals, management needs to create the actual plan to achieve those goals. A company's financial plan should be comprised of realistic action items and deadlines in which to accomplish them. Establishing appropriate action items is necessary to create responsibility and accountability. It enables individuals and departments to clearly understand their respective role in the financial plan. Using proactive strategy like this prevents redundancies in the corporate system and ensures that the appropriate actions are taking place.
  
  

Implement and Evaluate Plan

• The penultimate step for the financial plan of a company is to implement it on an organization-wide basis using strategic leadership. Executive managers need to decide the most effective way of starting the initiative. Once the financial plan is in motion, it needs to be evaluated throughout the process. It is not enough to perform an evaluation at the end, so metrics have to be recorded and analyzed to present an accurate picture of the company's financial progress. If there is a final benchmark for the plan, company leaders should evaluate it in its entirety.