As a budding entrepreneur, itching to start your own enterprise, you realise that you need to understand business finance. No enterprise is successful, if the entrepreneur that runs it does not understand finances i.e. where you can source finance from, where revenue can come from and how this links to the objectives, size and type of the enterprise that you are running.

Now is your opportunity to find out!

You will need to write a report (as this is also an important skill for an entrepreneur) to present your findings.

Task 1: You will need to research the different sources of finance and revenue that are available to different businesses. You will need to research businesses: Of differing sizes (e.g. small, medium, large) At different stages of development (e.g. start-up, sole trader, partnerships, private and public limited etc) That have different business objectives (e.g. expand, to develop products, to develop in new markets, to relocate etc) That offer different products (e.g. goods or services or both) That operate in different sectors (e.g. retail, electronics, health etc)

In your report, you must include the following for the different businesses at the different stages of their development:

An explanation of the features of different internal and external sources of finance that are available How different sources of internal and external finance can be accessed An explanation of how the features of the different internal and external sources of finance influence the decisions made An explanation of the different sources and suitability of revenue that is available An analysis of the similarities and differences in the approach taken by the different businesses to securing business finance. The advantages and disadvantages, including the business risks, of the different types of internal and external sources of finance A judgement on how far different types of internal and external business finance meet the requirements An evaluation of how far the different types of internal and external finance meet the needs of the different businesses. A conclusion determining the most appropriate types of business finance for the different businesses at different stages of their development.