Autodine Restaurants Business Plan

Business Description
The business created is an automated restaurant. Autodine Restaurant is a business venture that is expected to flourish and prosper in the forthcoming periods. This is an advanced business idea purposed to appeal to consumers within the market. The restaurant will provide meals and services similar to any 4-star hotel within the nation, and providing exclusive meals every Friday night. The general staffing plan is that human beings will cook the meals served within the restaurant. The rest of the work such as washing dishes, cleaning floors and serving of meals to the customers will be automated. The robots undertaking these services will be fully functional, being able to hear and understand different languages conveyed by consumers and being able to communicate in return (Cumming, 2012). In addition, the robots will be programmed to welcome the clients at the reception. This is meant to add to the appeal of the restaurant. The rationale for this idea is that the restaurant business is packed and therefore in order to sway consumers to dine at the restaurant, it is imperative to be appealing. Having an automated business adds flair to the restaurant as more and more consumers will be interested to see how it operates and how it looks like (Butler, 2000). In this sense, the restaurant will be able to enter the market and attract a considerable consumer base. In addition, with the increase in the minimum wages resulting in a rise in labor costs, this idea is intended to diminish the general costs incurred by the business in the long-run for labor (Filloon, 2016).

At the conception phase, a business can take several forms. In this case, the business structure or form that is deemed suitable for the automated restaurant is a limited liability corporation (LLC). In delineation, an LLC is a distinctive form of private limited company that incorporates and assimilates the tax structure of a sole proprietorship or partnership business forms with the limited liability of a company (Warda, 2007). This form of business does provide a number of benefits. To begin with, in the event of legal suits, the owner of the business is protected and shielded from any sort of personal liabilities in different situations. With a limited liability corporation, if a client or consumer files a legal suit against Autodine Restaurant owing to financial issues and goes through, the personal assets and possessions of the owners cannot be claimed due to the financial or economic losses of the business (Spadaccini, 2007). The distinctive advantage and benefit for Autodine Restaurant is that the business, in essence, becomes its own entity and is solely and solely liable for its own existence. This will suit the business, particularly because the venture plans to set up numerous locations across the nation. Therefore, every location that is established is able to exist and operate as its own independent limited liability corporation. Therefore, in the case that one Autodine Restaurant branch becomes bankrupt and ends up in dissolution, this does not have a negative effect on the restaurant chain (Spadaccini, 2007).

There is the distinct benefit regarding the ease in which an LLC is established and set up. Different from other structures, this business form does not demand a Board of Directors, shareholder meetings or the official procedures that go along with them. What is more, being an LLC, Autodine Restaurant will have the advantage of more freedom, in respect to taxation and distribution of profits (Mancuso, 2013). The taxation of this form is done separately and individually as a company. Lastly, in the event that Autodine Restaurant as a business venture aspires to become a public company, then this can be done through the alteration of the business form into a C-Corporation to become a publicly traded firm and listed in the stock market (Spadaccini, 2007).

A chart of accounts is defined as a record of the names of the accounts that a firm has ascertained and made accessible for recording business and financial transactions. A chart of accounts specific to Autodine Restaurant, including a rationale as to the selection of each account is detailed below. AUTODINE RESTAURANTS
A CHART OF ACCOUNTS

With Autodine Restaurant being based in the United States, the business will make use of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). GAAP can be delineated as the rules and standards that are obligated for the generation of consistent and uniform financial reports by companies. However, it is imperative to note that being a private company, the business will not be mandated to adhere to the standards (Epstein et al., 2009). In the most recent strategic plan of the SEC, the body points out that it is prepared to take into consideration the notion of a single set of international accounting standards. This is through the convergence of the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) with the Internationally Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). This convergence will influence Autodine Restaurant as a business in different ways (Sweetman, 2016). The main impact in which this convergence will impact the business is through revenue recognition and accounting of leases when the company seeks to expand.

Pro forma Income Statement and Balance Sheet

The following section outlines the Pro Forma Income Statement and Balance Sheet of Autodine Restaurant for the 2016, 2017 and 2018 financial years.

Internal Controls

An internal control system (IC) is a system of checks and balances, and policies and procedures structured to protect assets, guarantee reliable financial reporting, ensure efficient and effective operations, and make certain compliance with rules and regulations. One of the elements of the COSO Framework includes the control procedures which are the activities undertaken by the management to avert and identify errors and also protect assets and other actions. The internal controls to be undertaken by Autodine Restaurant are separation of duties, and physical controls (Janvrin et al., 2012). Suggestion of Implementation
One of the key aspects of internal controls over the business' asset is segregation of duties. This internal control aids in preventing any kind of theft or fraud and also warrants that there is oversight and assessment to detect errors. The separation of duties will be implemented through ensuring that different employees have custody of the assets such as inventory. Secondly, different personnel will be given authority to utilize such assets and also the use of different personnel to undertake book keeping of such assets. For instance, in this case, there will be different employees responsible for custody of inventory such as wines and meat products. The others will be responsible for record keeping outlining when there is new inventory and deployment. This decreases the likelihood of personnel colluding in fraud and scams (Little and Best, 2003).

Physical controls are also vital in the protection of the company's assets and resources. One of the ways in which the restaurant business will implement this is through setting up alarms to evade any break-ins into the place of operation. In addition, the storage cabinets together with any warehouses for inventory and also important company records will be locked at all times with authority given to specific individuals. Third of all, there will be the use of safes and vaults to ensure the safety of business papers and cash generated from transactions. In addition, there will be the use of monitors, cameras and sensors to dissuade any attempts of theft. Lastly, the computer systems will have codes for every employee to perceive the time of log in and transactions undertaken. In addition, passwords will be used for mainframe computer access (O'Fallon and Rutherford, 2011). Impact of the Regulatory Environment
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was established by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and ratified in the year 2002. The board was instituted with the main intent of protecting the interests of stakeholders and promoting the public interest in the preparation of audit reports that are not only independent but also useful and accurate. The act empowered the board with duties associated to registration, instituting of standards and also implementation (Barth et al., 2007). There are ways in which the business will intend to comply with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. To begin with, an independent auditing committee will be established with the main purpose of undertaking oversight of audits. In particular, the members of the committee will not have any association with the business. Secondly, the company will make certain that the financial statements reported both quarterly and annually will be attested to and signed by the chief executive officer (CEO) and chief financial officer (CFO) of the company. This is to ascertain that the financial information enclosed in the financial statements are accurate and presented in a proper and fair manner. In addition, as aforementioned above, Autodine Restaurant will institute internal procedures and controls that comply with the regulations set. This is to make certain that the company discloses its financial information, undertakes proper financial reporting and also undertaking auditing that is autonomous (Wallace et al., 2011).

References

Barth, M., Landsman, W., and Lang, M. (2007). International Accounting Standards and Accounting Quality. Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Butler, D. (2000). Business Planning: A Guide to Business Start-Up. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Cumming, D. (2012). The Oxford Handbook of Venture Capital. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Epstein, B. J., Nach, R., Bragg, S. M. (2009). Wiley GAAP 2010: Interpretation and Application of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons.

Filloon, W. (2016). Carl's Jr. CEO Wants to Open an Automated Restaurant Free of Human Workers. Eater.

Janvrin, D. J., Payne, E. A., Byrnes, P., Schneider, G. P., & Curtis, M. B. (2012). The updated COSO Internal Control-Integrated Framework: Recommendations and opportunities for future research. Journal of Information Systems, 26(2), 189-213.

Little, A., & Best, P. J. (2003). A framework for separation of duties in an SAP R/3 environment. Managerial Auditing Journal, 18(5), 419-430.

Mancuso, A. (2013). Your Limited Liability Company: An Operating Manual. United States: NOLO.

O'Fallon, M. J., Rutherford, D. G. (2011). Hotel Management and Operations. Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons.

Spadaccini, M. (2007). Business Structures: Forming a Corporation, LLC, Partnership, or Sole Proprietorship. United States: Entrepreneur Media.

Sweetman, T. (2016). Convergence Between IFRS and U.S. GAAP. ACCA Global.

Wallace, L., Lin, H., & Cefaratti, M. A. (2011). Information security and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance: An exploratory study. Journal of Information Systems, 25(1), 185-211.

Warda, M. (2007). LLC and Corporation Start-Up Guide. Naperville: Sourcebooks Inc.