Abstract: The objective of this article is to shed light on the causes of business plan failures among South African financial institutions, particularly those licensed as Authorised Financial Service Providers. This articles author intends to shed light on the causes of business strategy failures in South African financial institutions (FSP). Financial service providers are, by definition, identical to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in every way. Despite the fact that the FSP is the primary focus of this work, the operational technique is very similar to that of previous studies on SMEs and FSPs. As a result, for the purposes of this article, the terms SMEs and FSPs will be used interchangeably. FSPs financial security is threatened by their employees lack of knowledge in financial reporting and limited financial experience.