The maxim,”managing means looking ahead,” gives some idea of the importance attached to planning in the business world and it is true that if foresight is not the whole of management at least it is an essential part of it. To foresee,in this context, means both to assess the future and make provision for it ; that is , foreseeing is itself action already. Planning is manifested on a variety of occasions and in a variety of ways, its chief manifestation, apparent sign, and most effective instrument being the plan of action. The plan of action is, at one and the same time, the result envisaged,the line of action to be followed , the stages to go through, and methods to use. It is a kind of future picture wherein proximate events are outlined with some distinctness, whilst remote events appear progressively less distinct, and it entails the running of the business as foreseen and provided against over a definite period.