Starbucks began as a lone coffee shop in Seattle, Washington; just 40 years later, Starbucks is now a leading competitor of coffee confections around the world (Starbucks, 2012). Because the ultimate goal is to be the best supplier of good coffee to coffee enthusiasts, having strategic and financial plans in place is crucial, since one is the basis for the other. Strategic planning is the guide for which all financial planning will follow suit. A “strategic plan defines, in very general terms, how the firm plans to make money in the future” (Titman, Keown, & Marin, 2011, p. 564). The strategic plan is the backdrop that drives and guides financial planning. “Financial planning is all about allocating finite resources -- such as money, employees and equipment -- over time, to reach the broad goals set out in strategic planning. To do so involves measuring current performance against past data and trends for the future” (Boone, 2013, para. 3). There are four key components to developing a financial plan which engages many different players. The four steps are: collect historical financial data, identify trends, adjust projections, and revise estimates (Titman, Keown, & Marin, p. 564, 2011). But strategists cannot forget that financial…