Grow Management Consultants specialises in leadership consultancy. It has been operational for five years. The company offers a range of services to assist companies to assess leadership behaviour of existing managers and performance metrics. They also design and implement customized leadership programs based on the assessment. Services are offered Australiawide. The company employs a General Manager (you), 2 Principal Consultants (who are also Directors), 1 Senior Consultant, an Administration Officer and Receptionist. Over the last two years, the company has diversified, and now offers regular professional development workshops on all aspects of leading and managing staff. These workshops are conducted approximately every 3 months in all major cities including Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. In 2017 - 2018, the company ran a total of 36 workshops. The company has also recently produced an Ebook about leadership techniques.The intention is to replace the workshops with the annual conference in the next financial year, as the workshops were not well attended. Client feedback and continued business indicates a personalized, company focused approach in the form of consulting services is the service of choice.The Ebook has had reasonable sales, but there needs to be a wider selection of books, as well as more marketing. The plan is to generate $10,000 worth of sales for the ebooks during the next financial year and increasing over time.As the General Manager for the company and with responsibility for finances, you are currently completing the financial planning for the year ahead. This involves a review of the company's business plan, previous year's profit and loss statement, the current business plan and strategic directions and cash flow statement data. Based on the review, you will be establishing budgets and allocating funds.In developing the budget, you are to assume a 5% increase in cost of sales, as well as a 10% increase in sales for consulting services and executive search.As set out in the business plan, the company plans to run an annual conference each year starting in 2019. The costs for the conference have been estimated by the Principal Consultant and are set out in the Estimated Costs and Income document. Conference attendance is aimed at 100 people paying $750 each.The Principal Consultant has also asked you to review the current accounting software used by business. The company is currently using MYOB but as it has grown, the Principal Consultant wishes to review whether this is the best accounting software available for their needs. He has also requested that the software have a cloud feature.

prepare finance reportReview the case study scenario above, as well as the information provided in Profit and Loss 2017/18 and Cash Flow Statement Data 2017/18 Using this information, identify areas of the business that have generated a profit and those that have generated a loss.Conduct research to establish why those areas have made a profit or loss.

Your research should include a review of the financial data provided to you and economic conditions and business trends that may have resulted in the profit or loss.Your report should include the following:

Overview of the purpose of the report.

Analysis of the previous year's (2017 - 2018) profit and loss statement for Grow Management Consultant, including revenue generated, cost of sales, as well as gross profit/loss margin and net profit/loss margin.

Analysis of overall business performance, as well as performance of each of the income streams for 2017 - 2018.

Outline of reasons for profit or loss based on your analysis of the data and research on economic conditions and business trends.

Analysis of the organisation's goals and priorities for the upcoming financial year as documented in the Strategic Business Plan and financial resources required to achieve these goals, as well as key dates.

An analysis of cash flow trends as per the cash flow statement data.

Review and analysis of at least three other financial software products that the business could use, including the advantages and disadvantages of each, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of MYOB that is currently used.