Business plan template

A practical, fill-in business plan for Australian small businesses: from your offer and customers to a three-year financial summary.

A structured Word template that walks you through the twelve parts of a useful business plan. Each section has short guidance on what to write, plus tables for goals, competitors, people, start-up costs, three-year financials, risks and milestones. It is written for owners, not bankers, but it covers what a lender or investor will ask about.

Format: DOCX · Version 1.0 · Updated 2026-11-06

How to use it

Use it before you start trading, when applying for finance, or once a year to reset direction. Aim for 6 to 10 pages; attach the financial planning spreadsheet for the detail.

Preview

Business details

  • Name, ABN and structure
  • GST registration
  • Owners and key contacts

Executive summary

  • What you sell and to whom
  • Why customers will choose you
  • What you need to get there

Vision, mission and goals

  • 12-month goals with measures, targets and owners

Products, market and competitors

  • Offer and pricing table
  • Target customers and market size
  • Competitor comparison table

Marketing, operations and people

  • Channels and sales process
  • Suppliers, systems, licences and insurance
  • Roles and hiring plan

Financial plan

  • Three-year profit summary
  • Start-up costs and funding
  • Break-even

Risks, milestones and review

  • Risk table
  • Milestones and action plan
  • Quarterly review

Download Business plan template

Related articles

  • Business plans and strategy – Strategy is the few choices about where to play and how to win; a business plan turns them into goals, actions and numbers. How to build a one-page plan you will actually use.
  • Starting a business – What actually has to happen between "I have an idea" and "I am trading": validating demand, choosing a structure, registering, and setting up the basics so the business can run.
  • Setting business goals – How to turn ambitions into a handful of measurable goals, break them into quarterly and weekly work, and run a review rhythm that keeps the whole team pulling in one direction.