Grant Thornton offers free guide for start-ups to help kick off Small Business Week

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Grant Thornton LLP announced today the publication of a new guide for Canadian start-ups, Privately Held Business: Helping start-ups start up, to mark Business Development Bank of Canada’s Small Business Week (October 14-20), an annual celebration of Canadian entrepreneurship.

“No one said starting up a business is easy. From the time you create your business plan to the time you create your succession plan, your business will go through many different stages. We wanted to produce a concise start-up guide to help entrepreneurs navigate this complex, often complicated, undertaking.”

According to the BDC, small and medium-sized businesses are the engine of the Canadian economy, making up 99.8% of all companies and employing over 60% of private sector workers. As such, they are an important engine of growth in the Canadian economy. At the end of September, Finance Minister Flaherty launched a direct appeal to Canadian CEOs and urged the private sector to do their part in giving the economy a boost. But as small businesses grow, are they prepared for the changes that come with it? Do they know where to turn for additional funding? Do they know what government programs are available for grants and bursaries? How do businesses measure their successes? Do they have a plan for growing the business?

“At Grant Thornton, we help small and medium-sized dynamic privately held businesses to grow,” says John Harris, Partner and Grant Thornton’s National privately held business leader. “No one said starting up a business is easy. From the time you create your business plan to the time you create your succession plan, your business will go through many different stages. We wanted to produce a concise start-up guide to help entrepreneurs navigate this complex, often complicated, undertaking.”

The guide addresses many of the issues and challenges that entrepreneurs may face. Privately Held Business: Helping start-ups start up contains information on topics such as:

• Planning for the future: the business plan
• The business life cycle: how far do you want to go?
• Structure: just what do you want to be?
• Money: cash management, venture capital, government programs
• Systems and information: how do you measure up?

To download a free copy of Privately Held Business: Helping start-ups start up, please visit www.grantthornton.ca/privately_held_business.

Notes to editors

John Harris, Grant Thornton LLP’s National leader of privately held business, is available to discuss the issues and challenges faced by small businesses in Canada and to provide additional information that can help them succeed.

About Grant Thornton LLP

Grant Thornton LLP is a leading Canadian accounting and advisory firm providing audit, tax and advisory services to private and public organizations. Together with the Quebec firm Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton LLP, Grant Thornton in Canada has approximately 4,000 people in offices across Canada. Grant Thornton LLP is a Canadian member of Grant Thornton International Ltd, whose member firms operate in close to 100 countries worldwide.