Should Small Business Banks Verify the Originality of Business Plans?

Professionals are becoming more and more slack-jawed these days. For instance, I've had lawyers drafting documents for me who copied boilerplate language and threw it into my business contracts. I also noticed errors when I examined it closely; once, I discovered the name of another business, which was the result of copying and pasting. Too busy to do it properly. You can only imagine how angry I was given that I was paying a franchise lawyer $350 per hour to assist me in improving my disclosure forms. To learn how to check plagiarism, click here

Yet everyone is using shortcuts; it's not only professional lawyers. Even bankers only appear to review part of the documentation submitted for a company loan. For example, I recently talked with a small business owner wanting consulting to grow their company. When I asked to see their business plan, they said that while they didn't have one, they had duplicated one from another company and kept it because they had to submit it to secure a bank loan when they first started their business.

The business plan I was looking at was a copy of the one the entrepreneur had filed to the bank; the entrepreneur had not altered the name of the fictitious company therein before submitting it to the bank. The business loan officer didn't even look, which makes it worse that the bank never discovered it. That isn't good and speaks more highly of the banking sector and the experts we rely on than it does of the busy business owner who threw something up quickly to obtain the bank loan.

However, while I would like to criticize the entrepreneur and small business owner for not developing a proper business strategy, I am also aware of how busy one can become while running their firm. Banks should review company ideas for plagiarism. They must compare the business plans presented to them for consideration for business loans with all pertinent supporting documentation found online and in print. Like how college instructors review every term paper submitted, they ought to do this. I'll tell you why.

If a small business applies for a bank loan without a business plan, hasn't given it enough thought, copies someone else's dream, and submits it so the loan officer can check off the box, that's the same as a businessman starting a company without a clear idea of where he wants to take it once it's up and running. Would you make such an investment in the business? If the banker had made the small business owner come up with a plan, his company would have likely performed better, and he wouldn't be asking me for a consultation right now because his company is in trouble.

I sincerely hope that you will take all of this into consideration. Unfortunately, I have been unable to locate any information about this issue online. But I can tell it's a problem because when I used to sell franchises, we had franchisees submit business plans to banks for financing even though we did not assist. But how would they know how the business would be operated if we didn't approve their business plans, they still needed to finish their training, and they still required to read our information manual? Do you now realize how serious this issue is? Please consider it.

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