Artemide Auditing & Consulting AG (Artemide AC) is in the process of being formed as an ongoing sole proprietorship owned and operated by Sandor Artemide AC. The company is a spinoff of Daten Riffwald-Ennetmoos AG. Between the owners of Daten Riffwald-Ennetmoos and Artemide AC there will be 25% cross-participation. This plan is written as a guide for continuing and managing the business under the new company, and will also serve as the basis for marketing proposals. The two objectives of Artemide AC are to generate a profit and to grow at a challenging and manageable rate.
The mission of Artemide AC is to provide fast and reliable services in auditing and consulting to small and medium businesses (SMB), individuals, and other organizations.
The keys to success for Artemide AC are: visibility to generate new business leads, networking with other professionals, responsiveness, and quality.
The initial primary service offered will be auditing, although specialized fields will be considered in future growth.
The overall objective is to focus the activities towards the specialized services (analyses, investigations, startups, etc.) and to become a leader in this niche in the Luzern area. The company projects growth to be ~10% of sales in the next three years.
The most important keys to success for Artemide AC are developing visibility to generate new business leads, strong concentration on relationships with clients, and a high level of quality in our services.
The cooperation between Daten Riffwald-Ennetmoos and Artemide AC is flexible--with the objective to change rapidly if the market demands.
The sole proprietorship company "Sandor Artemide dipl. Wirtschaftsprüfer" was founded on 8 March 1996. In the first 10-month period, the company generated sales of £50,000.
Artemide AC is established in a separate office from Daten Riffwald-Ennetmoos AG, in Luzern. Secretary and telephone response is assumed by Daten Riffwald-Ennetmoos.
There are four major classes of competition in the actual fiduciary business in Switzerland. These include individual proprietors and small fiduciary and accounting offices and medium fiduciary offices with between 6 and 25 employees, these offices are available for general financial and tax consulting. There are also large auditing and consulting companies. These companies have several hundred employees. They tend to operate more in the lucrative consulting business. Banks, Assurances and other financial consultants are also new competitors in this field. Banks are now active in start-up consulting, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, and others.
Technology is, of course, very important to the success of Artemide AC. It is imperative that the company stay up-to-date on technological developments and it will be important to devote a reasonable portion of each year's revenues toward upgrading the equipment and software used in normal operations.
Artemide AC will adopt a focused market strategy. Logical segmentation breaks the market down into the following: Individuals, Investors, Small Businesses, Medium Businesses, Large Businesses, and Authorities and Public Organizations. For our further development, we consider Individual persons and Investors plus Small and Medium Businesses to be crucial.
For our business, we do not have main competitors. We have a lot of widely-sized competitors in a vast market of services.This market environment gives ample opportunity for Artemide AC to create and expand a niche in the chosen market fields. Finally, worth noting is the growth trend for the general market, estimated between 5% and 10%, annually.
There are three different major opportunities (needs) in the fiduciary business over the next years:
- Bookkeeping and other services related to the operative financial management (payroll, cost-accounting, accounting for pension funds, etc.).
- Consulting and special mandates such as financial planning, business evaluation, merger and acquisition valuation, special audits, etc.
- Legal Auditing (incl. IAS and other standards) as an independent and responsible institution.
In addition, the company sees three primary market trends which seem to be most important in our business.
- Rapid growth in the complexity of business that requires rapid adaptation in the strategy and structures of companies.
- More litigation due to higher percentages of unsuccessful ventures.
- The growth of outsourced financial consulting.
All of this provides continuing opportunities for a dynamic company such as Artemide AC.
We believe our business is in a grand change. The competitors must be generalists and specialists at the same time. For small and medium fiduciary businesses, a focus of one primary segment of business is necessary. For example, if the "core" business is accounting, the other fiduciary businesses like tax, auditing, consulting must be reduced to a general level. In the core business, the company must be current with the services, while having the capacity to innovate (like new accounting services related to the Internet).
Artemide AC's competitive edge is in the well-established reputation of Sandor Artemide who has been in the consulting business for over a decade, and the company's ability to focus in this niche market.
The company's sales strategy will be based on building long-term customer relationships, which will result in repeat sales. The company estimates that revenues will be approximately £232,000 by 2005, yielding profits. The company will manage its assets and create profits with no debt financing. It does not anticipate any cash flow problems.
Sandor Artemide, the majority owner of Artemide AC, will assume strategic management functions. Brigitte Artemide will be in charge of market research and customer support. Since no major increases in personnel are expected in the next three years, Mr. Artemide will retain his managerial functions throughout these years.
1.1 Mission
Artemide AC's mission is simple and straightforward:
- Purpose - Artemide AC exists to provide complete, reliable and high quality services to SMBs, individuals, lawyers, and authorities. Services must give solutions and results!
- Vision - By providing innovative services, Artemide AC generates a name in Luzern and the surrounding area.
1.2 Keys to Success
The keys to success for Artemide AC are:
- Developing visibility to generate new business leads.
- Relationships with clients (developing loyal, respectful, and intensive contact with both clients and potential clients).
- Marketing/strategy and networking with other professionals.
- Collaboration with Daten Riffwald-Ennetmoos AG for generally fiduciary services and IT services.
- Responsiveness to clients (fast response time for special problems).
- Quality (especially in reporting information).
- Excellence in fulfilling the promise.
- Openness: languages and willpower for creating interregional and international contacts.
1.3 Objectives
The objectives of this business plan are:
- To provide a written guide for managing this business; a strategic framework for developing a comprehensive tactical marketing philosophy.
- This plan is not intended to obtain financing, it is purely for internal improvements.
- The scope of this plan is to provide detailed monthly projections for the current plan year, as well as yearly summaries for the following two years.
The objectives of Artemide Auditing & Consulting are:
- The overall objective is to focus the activities towards the specialized services (analyses, investigations, startups, etc.) and to become a leader in this niche in the Luzern area.
- Cash flow - To generate sufficient cash flow to finance future growth and development, and to provide the resources needed to achieve the other objectives of the company and its owners.
- Growth - To expand the business at a rate that is both challenging and manageable, serving the market with innovation and adaptability. (Growth projected at 10% of sales in the next three years.)
