Lecture 4, Bruce Fitter

15/11/10

This lecture was from Bruce Fitter, a lecturer from Bolton Uni’s business department, and his lecture too was based around the business of games, as well as business in general to a certain extent. This lecture was very useful as much of the content is likely to be needed for the upcoming exam.

The primary topic was the different kinds of business, and what advantages and disadvantages each one brings;

• Sole trader
• Partnership
• Limited company

It became clear that while acting as a sole trader gives much more freedom and autonomy, working as a limited company boosts the company’s credibility a lot, and also opens the very important option of tax deductable purchases. He also explained how through that system there was a distinct advantage to rent equipment rather than outright buying it, as the rental cost can be written off as a business expenditure, and become a tax deduction.

The upside to working as a sole trader, as well to some extent the downside, is the ability to take director garunteed loans, which tie the money gained and the company to the name of the owner, meaning they cannot be skipped out on.
Bruce also explained what business plans are for;

• Explain the business objective
• How that objective will be achieved
• Explains how much funding is needed and what for
• Shows estimated profits if the plan works as it should

He echoed the sentiment of the second lecture, that business plans are important, but not the most important thing, and that projected huge profits are great, but if they are unrealistic potential investors are likely to pick up on this quickly.

Overall this lecture was good, and I learned a lot that will be useful for the exam, but since I have no plans to start my own business, it’s unlikely I will need much of this information in the future beyond that.