financial plan for business plan excel

Free Business Plan Excel Template [Excel Download]

Written by Dave Lavinsky

A business plan is a roadmap for growing your business. Not only does it help you plan out your venture, but it is required by funding sources like banks, venture capitalists and angel investors.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here >

The body of your business plan describes your company and your strategies for growing it. The financial portion of your plan details the financial implications of your business: how much money you need, what you project your future sales and earnings to be, etc.

Below you will be able to download our free business plan excel template to help with the financial portion of your business plan. You will also learn about the importance of the financial model in your business plan.

Download the template here: Financial Plan Excel Template  

How to Finish Your Business Plan in 1 Day!

Don’t you wish there was a faster, easier way to finish your business plan?

With Growthink’s Ultimate Business Plan Template you can finish your plan in just 8 hours or less! It includes a simple, plug-and-play financial model and a fill-in-the-blanks template for completing the body of your plan.

What’s Included in our Business Plan Excel Template

Our business plan excel template includes the following sections:

Income Statement : A projection of your business’ revenues, costs, and expenses over a specific period of time. Includes sections for sales revenue, cost of goods sold (COGS), operating expenses, and net profit or loss.

Example 5 Year Annual Income Statement

Cash Flow Statement : A projection of your business’ cash inflows and outflows over a specific period of time. Includes sections for cash inflows (such as sales receipts, loans, and investments), cash outflows (such as expenses, salaries, and loan repayments), and net cash flow.

Example 5 Year Annual Cash Flow Statement

Balance Sheet : A snapshot of your business’ financial position at a specific point in time. Includes sections for assets (such as cash, inventory, equipment, and property), liabilities (such as loans, accounts payable, and salaries payable), and owner’s equity (such as retained earnings and capital contributions).

Example 5 Year Annual Balance Sheet

Download the template here: Business Plan Excel Template 

The template is easy to customize according to your specific business needs. Simply input your own financial data and projections, and use it as a guide to create a comprehensive financial plan for your business. Remember to review and update your financial plan regularly to track your progress and make informed financial decisions.

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The importance of the financial model in your business plan.

A solid financial model is a critical component of any well-prepared business plan. It provides a comprehensive and detailed projection of your business’ financial performance, including revenue, expenses, cash flow, and profitability. The financial model is not just a mere set of numbers, but a strategic tool that helps you understand the financial health of your business, make informed decisions, and communicate your business’ financial viability to potential investors, lenders, and other stakeholders. In this article, we will delve into the importance of the financial model in your business plan.

• Provides a roadmap for financial success : A well-structured financial model serves as a roadmap for your business’ financial success. It outlines your revenue streams, cost structure, and cash flow projections, helping you understand the financial implications of your business strategies and decisions. It allows you to forecast your future financial performance, set financial goals, and measure your progress over time. A comprehensive financial model helps you identify potential risks, opportunities, and areas that may require adjustments to achieve your financial objectives.
• Demonstrates financial viability to stakeholders : Investors, lenders, and other stakeholders want to see that your business is financially viable and has a plan to generate revenue, manage expenses, and generate profits. A robust financial model in your business plan demonstrates that you have a solid understanding of your business’ financials and have a plan to achieve profitability. It provides evidence of the market opportunity, pricing strategy, sales projections, and financial sustainability. A well-prepared financial model increases your credibility and instills confidence in your business among potential investors and lenders.
• Helps with financial decision-making : Your financial model is a valuable tool for making informed financial decisions. It helps you analyze different scenarios, evaluate the financial impact of your decisions, and choose the best course of action for your business. For example, you can use your financial model to assess the feasibility of a new product launch, determine the optimal pricing strategy, or evaluate the impact of changing market conditions on your cash flow. A well-structured financial model helps you make data-driven decisions that are aligned with your business goals and financial objectives.
• Assists in securing funding : If you are seeking funding from investors or lenders, a robust financial model is essential. It provides a clear picture of your business’ financials and shows how the funds will be used to generate revenue and profits. It includes projections for revenue, expenses, cash flow, and profitability, along with a breakdown of assumptions and methodology used. It also provides a realistic assessment of the risks and challenges associated with your business and outlines the strategies to mitigate them. A well-prepared financial model in your business plan can significantly increase your chances of securing funding as it demonstrates your business’ financial viability and growth potential.
• Facilitates financial management and monitoring : A financial model is not just for external stakeholders; it is also a valuable tool for internal financial management and monitoring. It helps you track your actual financial performance against your projections, identify any deviations, and take corrective actions if needed. It provides a clear overview of your business’ cash flow, profitability, and financial health, allowing you to proactively manage your finances and make informed decisions to achieve your financial goals. A well-structured financial model helps you stay on top of your business’ financials and enables you to take timely actions to ensure your business’ financial success.
• Enhances business valuation : If you are planning to sell your business or seek investors for an exit strategy, a robust financial model is crucial. It provides a solid foundation for business valuation as it outlines your historical financial performance, future projections, and the assumptions behind them. It helps potential buyers or investors understand the financial potential of your business and assess its value. A well-prepared financial model can significantly impact the valuation of your business, and a higher valuation can lead to better negotiation terms and higher returns on your investment.
• Supports strategic planning : Your financial model is an integral part of your strategic planning process. It helps you align your financial goals with your overall business strategy and provides insights into the financial feasibility of your strategic initiatives. For example, if you are planning to expand your business, enter new markets, or invest in new technologies, your financial model can help you assess the financial impact of these initiatives, including the investment required, the expected return on investment, and the timeline for achieving profitability. It enables you to make informed decisions about the strategic direction of your business and ensures that your financial goals are aligned with your overall business objectives.
• Enhances accountability and transparency : A robust financial model promotes accountability and transparency in your business. It provides a clear framework for setting financial targets, measuring performance, and holding yourself and your team accountable for achieving financial results. It helps you monitor your progress towards your financial goals and enables you to take corrective actions if needed. A well-structured financial model also enhances transparency by providing a clear overview of your business’ financials, assumptions, and methodologies used in your projections. It ensures that all stakeholders, including investors, lenders, employees, and partners, have a clear understanding of your business’ financial performance and prospects.

In conclusion, a well-prepared financial model is a crucial component of your business plan. It provides a roadmap for financial success, demonstrates financial viability to stakeholders, helps with financial decision-making, assists in securing funding, facilitates financial management and monitoring, enhances business valuation, supports strategic planning, and enhances accountability and transparency in your business. It is not just a set of numbers, but a strategic tool that helps you understand, analyze, and optimize your business’ financial performance. Investing time and effort in creating a comprehensive and robust financial model in your business plan is vital for the success of your business and can significantly increase your chances of achieving your financial goals.

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Business Plan: How to Create Great Financial Plans in Excel

I guess, you are about to write a business plan and that is why you have come to this page. Very good – because in this article I am going to write down my experience with business plans and what I have learned creating them with Microsoft Excel. As I will point out again further down, I will only concentrate on the financial part of business plans. Specifically, how to set it up in Excel. Of course, you can also download an Excel template .

Parts of business plans

As you reached this page I suppose you already have a rough idea of what a business plan is. So, we will skip this part here.

A business plan is a formal written document containing the goals of a business, the methods for attaining those goals, and the time-frame for the achievement of the goals.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_plan

But one comment concerning the scope of this article: The formal business plan has usually many different parts, in which you describe the business idea and product, the market, competition, legal construct and so on. But typically, investors are most interested in the financial part. They want to know first, what they can get out of it. Of course, the other parts are also very important, but the financial topics usually put everything described in the other sections into numbers.

I’m not going further into the details of all the other parts than then financial section here. Specifically, we will dive into the basics of the financial part and how to model it in Excel.

Please scroll down to download the business plan template. We are going to explore all the following advice with this template.

How to create a business plan in Excel

Advice 1: be clear about the purpose and the recipient of the business plan.

Before you start opening Excel, make sure that you are 100% clear of the purpose this business plan. Is the business plan just for you? Or do you create it for someone else, for example an investor or bank? Although the next steps might still be the same, the focus might be different. For example: Maybe you have a very good understanding of the major assumptions because you have been working in this field for some time. But for someone external you still need to validate them. Of course, in both cases the assumptions should be realistic and goals should be achievable. But maybe for your own peace of mind you would choose more pessimistic assumptions if the plan was only for you.

Advice 2: Go top-down in terms of line items

Now, let’s start in Excel. But how do we start?

My approach is to go top-down. I usually use a basic P&L (“Profit- and loss” calculation) structure to start with, having some placeholders for revenue and costs.

Specifically, I go through the following parts (also shown on the right-hand side).

Let’s assume that you develop and sell Excel add-ins: 50 EUR per license – once-off. You would now start with assumptions of how many you can sell per month and the price. This is your first revenue item. At this point in time, I would leave it like this. We can later drill further down as much as we need (for example modeling discounts, the connection between marketing spending and number of units sold, price changes, etc.).

If we have multiple products, we calculate them in a similar manner.

Cost of goods sold

Cost of goods sold – or COGS – refers to the direct costs of producing the goods sold. Depending on the complexity you could also summarize cost of sales here or keep it separately.

Often, the COGS are directly linked to the number of units produced so you could refer to the numbers already calculated for the revenues.

In our example from above, we don’t have any direct costs for producing the Excel add-ins because we develop them ourselves and our salary will be regarded under “Salaries and Benefits”.

All other expenses

The structure of the expenses highly depends on your business. I usually start with these:

• Salaries and Benefits
• Rent and Overhead
• Marketing and Advertising
• Other expenses

Again, these items might look completely different for you. Example: if you travel a lot for your business, you might plan travel costs separately.

Subtracting costs from the revenue leads to the EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization). This is one of the important financial performance indicators.

Amortization and depreciation

If you buy any assets for your business (for example machines, computers, even cars), you usually plan to use them over a certain period. When you first buy them, let’s say for 1,000 USD, you basically just exchange money for assets in the same amount. The problem: The assets will decrease in value the longer you use them. Within the cost items above, you don’t regard the acquisition value. So, how to regard them in your business plan?

You only regard the annual decrease of value. If you plan to use your 1,000 USD item for 5 years, you could (plainly speaking), each year regard 200 USD as depreciation.

Please note: If you later plan your cash, you have to make sure that you fully regard the initial sales price and not the depreciation.

The key difference between amortization and depreciation is that amortization is used for intangible assets, while depreciation is used for tangible assets. https://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/whats-the-difference-between-amortization-deprecia.aspx

Subtracting the amortization and depreciation from the EBITDA leads to the second key performance indicator, the EBIT (earnings before interest and tax).

Interest and taxes

Eventually, you have to prognose your interest costs (for example what you have to pay for bank loans) and your taxes, which is typically just a percentage of the EBT (the earning before taxes).

Advice 3: Think about the business drivers carefully

Good business plans are driver based.

Business drivers are the key inputs and activities that drive the operational and financial results of a business. Common examples of business drivers are salespeople, number of stores, website traffic, number and price of products sold, units of production, etc. https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/modeling/business-drivers/

Let me explain with an example: You want to plan the revenues. You have two different options:

• Revenue per month is split into number of units sold times price per unit.
• Number of units sold is further split into number of salespersons and number of items sold per salesperson and month, and so on.
• Or you could just write a number and every following year you assume a growth in percentage (e.g. +2% per year).

Let’s finish this section with some final comments:

• Choose drivers that are measurable. You will most probably later on compare the drivers to reality and therefore make sure that they are not impossible to measure.
• Figure out, which driver has most impact. You should focus on those first. Driver with no or very limited impact can be skipped initially.
• Are drivers depending on each other? If yes, it should be modeled accordingly.

Advice 4: Choose the smallest period from the beginning in your business plan

So far, we have been focusing on the line items, for example costs, revenue, or drivers. Now, let’s talk about the time frame.

The question is: Should you plan on annual, monthly or any other basis? Or a mix?

I have seen many business plans doing it something like this:

• Plan on monthly basis for the first 24 to 36 months.
• Switch to annual planning for the years 3/4 to 5.

Most business plans are not going beyond 5 years planning period.

My recommendation: Plan on monthly basis for the full period. There will be a point in time when you need to break it down into months. And it is always easier to sum up 12 months for annual values than to drill down from years to months.

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Advice 5: Keep a unified, professional business plan structure

This advice should count for most Excel models: Try to keep the same structure throughout the whole Excel file.

• Structure of worksheets: Make sure that most worksheets are set up with the same structure. For example, start with a headline in cell B2, years starting in column H, content in row 10.
• Layout / format of cells: Make sure you use a consistent formatting. For example, Excel provides cell styles – use them. For more recommendations about professional formatting, please refer to this article .
• Universal settings and assumptions should be consolidated on one sheet (for example tax rates, start date, company name).

Advice 6: Document business plan assumptions well

I can not say this often enough: Document your assumptions! Not only the values or variables, also your thoughts behind them. Why have you chosen this value? What is it based on? What is it used for?

Advice 7: Gross vs. net values

This question I am asked quite frequently: Should you use gross or net values? That means, include tax in revenues and costs?

Typically, you only work with net values, excluding VAT. For Germany with a tax rate of 19%, for example, if you invoice 119 EUR to a customer, you would only regard 100 EUR. Also, for costs, you would only regard net values.

Then, in your business plan, you start with revenue minus costs and eventually reach the EBT (earning before tax, please scroll up to see the P&L). From this, you calculate your company tax.

Advice 8: Think ahead

Some more things you should keep in mind when creating your business plan.

• Business plans are “living documents”. Keep in mind that at some point in the future you have to update it or extend it.
• Validate your assumptions: After some time, you will come back to your plan having real life figures. Now, it’s time to compare and – if necessary – adjust the plan.
• a valuation (“Discounted Cash Flow model”),
• liquidity planning,
• bank loan simulations,
• financial dashboards,
• budget planning,
• maybe even the first real official P&L (at least when it comes to the line items of your business plan)
• and much more…

Download business plan template

So, after reading all this description and advice, it’s time to start. Probably many things I have written above sounds like common sense, right? But I can assure you: Doing it and regarding as much advice as possible is not necessarily simple.

That’s why I have decided to create a template. I have pre-filled it with an imaginary example.

I know, there are countless Excel business plan templates around. So, why should you use this one?

• This template is very flexible: I have always included place holders so that you can add much more items if needed.
• In terms of the time frame, I have created monthly columns for up to ten years. Typically, you need less. Then just hide the extra columns.
• Also, I have created a consistent structure throughout the model.
• No fancy Excel functions and formulas, mainly just plain links.

Please feel free to take a look at it. If you like it, just use it. If not, please feel free to create your individual business plan – you now know how to do it!

Download link: Click here to start the download .

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Henrik Schiffner is a freelance business consultant and software developer. He lives and works in Hamburg, Germany. Besides being an Excel enthusiast he loves photography and sports.

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5-Year Financial Plan Template

Whether you are already running a business, or making plans to start one up, financial planning is a vital part of ensuring your success. Not knowing your expected income and expenditure will make it difficult to plan, and hard to find investors.

This 5-Year Financial Plan spreadsheet will make it easy for you to calculate profit and loss, view your balance sheet and cash flow projections, as well as calculate any loan payments you may have. Whilst the wording on this spreadsheet is focussed around products, it can just as easily be used for businesses who largely provide services to their customers.

5-Year Financial Plan Projection

How to use Financial Plan

Model inputs.

Use the Model Inputs sheet to enter information about your business that will be used to model results seen on the other pages.

Forecasted Revenue

The forecasted revenue section allows you to estimate your revenue for 4 different products. Simply use the white boxes to enter the number of units you expect to sell, and the price you expect to sell them for, and the spreadsheet will calculate the total revenue for each product for the year. If you want to give your products names, simply type over the words "Product 1", "Product 2" etc. and these names will be carried through to the rest of the spreadsheet.

Cost of Goods Sold

Your margins are unlikely to be the same on all of your products, so the cost of goods sold allows you to enter your expected gross margin for each product into the white boxes in Column B. The spreadsheet will automatically calculate the annual cost of goods sold based on this information, along with your forecasted revenue.

Annual Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul

As the cost of annual maintenance, repair and overhaul is likely to increase each year, you will need to enter a percentage factor on your capital equipment in the white box in Column B. This will be used to calculate your operating expenses in the profit and loss sheet.

Asset Depreciation

Use the white box to enter the number of years you expect your assets to depreciate over. This may vary greatly from business to business, as assets in some sectors depreciate much more quickly than they do in others.

In most parts of the world, you will have to pay income on your earnings. Enter the annual tax rate that applies to your circumstances in the white box in Column B. If you have to pay any other taxes, these can be entered later on the Profit and Loss sheet.

Although you cannot be certain of the level of inflation, you will still need to try and plan for it when coming up with a 5-year financial plan. The International Monetary Fund provide forecasts for a number of countries, so is a good place to look if you are unsure what to enter here. Simply enter your inflation rate in the white box.

Product Price Increase

As a consumer, you are no doubt aware that the price of products goes up over time. Enter a number in the white box to show the expected annual price increase of your products to enable the spreadsheet to calculate income in future years. If you are unsure what to put here, increasing your product price in line with inflation is a good starting point. If your business is just starting out, you may be able to command higher prices for your products or services as the years go on, as you build up brand recognition and a good reputation.

The funding section allows you to enter information about your business loan. To use this section, simply fill in the three white boxes representing the amount of the loan, the annual interest rate and the term of the loan in months - for example, 12 for 1 year, 24 for 2 years, 36 for 3 years, 48 for 4 years, or 60 for a 5 year loan.

Profit and loss

This sheet calculates your profit and loss for each year over a 5 year period. The profit and loss assumptions, along with income, are automatically calculated using information entered in the model inputs sheet.

Non-Operation Income

You may have, or be expecting some income in addition to your operating income. These can be entered manually in the white cells in Column B for Year 1, Column C for Year 2 and so on. There are pre-entered categories for rental, lost income and loss (or gain) on the sale of assets, as well as an additional row where you can enter your own non-operation income.

Operating Expenses

Some parts of this are already filled in based on information you put on the Model Inputs, for example, depreciation, maintenance and interest on long-term debt. Years 2-5 are also filled in for you across all categories based on the inflation information entered in the Model Inputs sheet. You therefore only need to enter your Sales and Marketing, Insurance, Payroll and Payroll Tax, Property Taxes, Utilities, Administration Fees and any Other Expenses into the white cells in Column B for Year 1.

Non-recurring Expenses

This section is for entering any expenses that you will not be paying on an annual basis. The Unexpected Expenses row allows you to enter a contingency for unexpected expenses, whilst the Other Expenses row allows you to enter any other one off expenses you may be expecting to make, for example the purchase of new equipment part way into your 5 year plan.

Income Tax is filled in based on the information you enter into the model inputs. Depending on where your business is based, you may find yourself having to pay other taxes. These can be entered in the Other Tax row. You can rename this row by typing over the "Other Tax (specify)" text.

Balance Sheet

The annual balances for Years 1-5 are, in most cases, filled in for you, based on the information you have entered on the Model Inputs sheet and in the Initial Balance column of the Balance Sheet column itself. This makes it very easy to use.

Current Assets

This is where you can enter the value of any of your current assets, with spaces to enter information about Cash and Short-term Investments, Accounts Receivable, Inventory, Prepaid Expenses and Deferred Income Tax. At the bottom of this section is a space for you to enter any other current assets you may have that do not fall into any of these categories.

Property and Equipment

Depending on the nature of your business, you may have assets such as Buildings, Land, Capital Improvements and Machinery. Enter the value of these assets into Column B, and these values will be copied over to each of the 5 years of the plan. The depreciation information entered into the Model Inputs sheet will be used to calculate the depreciation expenses, which allows a total for property and equipment to be calculated automatically.

Other Assets

This section is for entering information on any assets that don't fit in the other sections. These could be Goodwill Payments, Deferred Income Tax, Long-term Investments, Deposits, or any Other long-term assets. Enter the information into Column B, and it will be carried across to the yearly columns automatically.

Current Liabilities

As well as assets, your business is likely to have liabilities. There are spaces to enter Accounts Payable, Accrued Expenses, Notes Payable and Short-term Debt, Capital Leases and Other current liabilities. Just leave blank any rows where you do not have any liabilities, and the totals will be calculated for you.

Your long-term debt/loan information will have already been entered in the Model Inputs sheet, so the only thing to do here is to enter any other long-term debt. Unlike much of the rest of the Balance Sheet, you can manually enter different amounts for each year, as you may, for example, be expecting to take on another loan to purchase some new equipment in Year 3 as your business expands.

Other Liabilities

Use this section to enter any liabilities not covered by the pre-defined labels. You can amend the text in Column A, in order to specify the liabilities, and then enter the cost of these liabilities in Column B.

Your business is likely to have some equity, and this can be entered into this section. You can fill out the Owner's Equity, Paid-in Capital and Preferred Equity in Column B. Your retained earnings are automatically calculated based on the Profit and Loss sheet.

Much of the information on the cash flow sheet is based on calculations in the Balance Sheet. It is important to plan your cash flow carefully, so that you know what funds you will have available to buy new stock and equipment.

Operating Activities

Much of this section is automatically filled in based on your balance sheet. There are only three rows to fill out, which are Amortization, Other Liabilities and Other Operating Cash Flow. You only need to fill out the white boxes in Column B for Year 1, as these values will automatically be carried over into subsequent years for you.

Investing Activities

Your capital expenditures and sale of fixed assets will be automatically populated if you have filled out the relevant sections of the Balance Sheet. They will be blank if they do not apply. As investing activities can vary year on year, you will need to fill out any investment activities for each of the 5 years in the appropriate columns for Acquisition of Business, and any Other Investing Cash Flow items.

Financing Activities

The long-term debt/financing row will be pre-filled based on the loan information previously entered. Use Column B to fill out your Preferred Stock, Total Cash Dividends Paid, Common Stock and Other Financing Cash Flow items for Year 1. This information will automatically carried over to Years 2-5.

Loan Payment Calculator

There is nothing to enter on this sheet, as it is for information only. Whether or not you already have a loan, or are using this spreadsheet as a part of a business plan to help you obtain one, it allows you to easily see how much you will be paying each month, showing how much you are paying off your loan, and how much you are paying in interest. This will allow you to get an idea of whether or not you can afford to borrow a bit extra, if you feel it would allow you to push your business into higher places, or whether you need to shop around for a better interest rate or adjust the loan term in order to afford the loan payments.

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Free Business Plan Template for Excel

Ajay Jagtap

• October 31, 2023

With 1 in 8 people using Excel, I’d be hard-pressed to believe that anyone has never used it at some point in life.

While we have all used it at least once—be it for school homework, college assignments, or travel planning—we never really got the hang of it.

(Excel formulas are tough!)

Preparing a business plan from scratch using Excel is not a joke; we get that. That’s why we created this business plan template in Excel .

So, no more worrying about Excel formulas or plan structure—download the document and follow the instructions in the article for successful business planning.

Sounds good? Let’s start with understanding the pros and cons of using Excel for planning:

Pros and Cons of Using Excel for Business Plans

Before we head to discussing the Excel business plan template, let’s understand the pros and cons of using Excel for business planning:

• Free to use:  MS Excel is 100% free for all its users, making it a cost-effective choice.
• Data Analysis:  Excel is a powerful tool for performing various financial and data analyses and calculations.
• Collaboration: Collaborating with your team while working on a project using Excel is easier.
• Lack of automation: Excel may not help create dynamic business plans with automated features.
• Limited presentation:  Excel cannot create an appealing business plan like a business plan software.
• Complex formulas: Excel’s formulas are complex and require a significant learning curve to master.

So these were the pros and cons. Let’s cut to the chase and discuss the key components of our free business plan Excel template.

Key Components of Our Excel Business Plan Template

It’s a fact—you cannot use Excel to create the entire plan from scratch, no! Excel is a powerful tool for complex calculations and analyses; let’s use it for that only.

So, we’ll use this business plan Excel template only to perform complex financial analyses and calculations—to prepare financial projections.

Following are the critical components of a good business plan template you must include in your financial plan:

1. Income Statement

The income statement is one of the key financial statements of your financial plan that highlights its profit and loss over a given period of time.

The critical components of your income statement include—revenue/sales, Cost of Goods Sold (COGS), operational costs, EBITDA, interest, and others.

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2. Balance Sheet

Your balance sheet is a statement that reports your company’s assets, liabilities, and shareholder equity, providing a snapshot of its financial position at a specific period of time.

The statement helping you calculate financial ratios includes the following:

• Assets—e.g. Inventory, cash, property.
• Liabilities—e.g. Accounts payable, loans, salaries to be paid.
• Owners equity—e.g. Capital investment/contribution.

3. Cash Flow Statement

The cash flow statement of your financial plan is the projection of your cash in and outflows over a certain period of time.

As one of three key components of your financial plan, the cash flow statement summarizes the amount of cash or cash equivalents entering or leaving your company.

4. Break-Even Analysis

A break-even analysis helps you determine the number of units you need to sell to cover all fixed and variable costs.

The break-even point is considered a measure of safety margin, and anything you sell beyond the point will result in profit.

While your balance sheet already highlights the assets, liabilities, and owner’s equity, assets are considered critical for investors to assess the company’s financial health. So, our simple business plan template (Excel) has a separate sheet for business assets.

6. Accounts Payable & Receivable

The accounts payable refer to the amount due to vendors or suppliers for services or goods received, whereas accounts receivable represent the money due to the company.

The increase or decrease in your accounts payable or receivable can be seen in your cash flow statement.

7. Working Capital

Working capital is the subtraction of your current liabilities from your current assets. As a critical element in identifying your company’s health, it helps investors understand if it has enough capital to pay employees and fund operations to meet short-term goals.

Download the Financial Forecast Template In Excel

We discussed all the critical statements to be covered in your financial plan. Now what? It’s time for you to download the financial forecast template and start preparing your financial plan.

Unlike other free Excel templates, this template has all the reports with the suggested revenue streams, expenses, and other details.

You can directly download and use the template to forecast cash flow, create balance sheets, and prepare income statements that provide detailed information about your revenue and expenses. So what are you waiting for?

How to Use an Excel Business Plan Template

We’re hoping you’ve already downloaded the business plan template. So, the question arises: How can this Excel template be used to prepare realistic forecasts?

Let’s get this over with:

Understand the template structure

Before you start planning, you must understand the structure of the financial portion of your business plan. Get a thorough review of the template and understand:

• What critical statements does it include?
• What are the revenue streams?
• What are considered to be assets and liabilities?
• What does the taxation structure look like?

And others. Once you thoroughly understand the structure, you can move ahead with the next step.

Analyze historical data

Financial forecasting is about assumptions—a lot of them, but accurate ones. If you’re a total stranger to financial forecasting, analyzing historical data will help you get off on the right foot.

Analyze the historical data and try to gain insights about your business financials:

• Monthly revenue over the last year?
• How much you’re spending on day-to-day operations?
• What is your sales growth rate? How fast is it increasing over time?

And others. These historical figures will be of massive help in the next step.

Make pre-assumptions

As I said before, financial forecasts heavily rely on certain assumptions like sales forecasts, operational expenses, revenue growth, and others.

So, in this step, you’ll make assumptions about these variables based on the historical data to make them realistic and accurate.

Prepare key financial reports

Once you have made pre-assumptions, it’s time to prepare forecasts. Don’t overwhelm yourself with a lot of numbers; start by preparing critical financial reports that include—a cash flow statement, balance sheet, and income statement.

Other statements of your plan rely heavily on these reports, so the process will become much easier after having prepared these three beforehand.

Monitor and track progress

After preparing your financial reports, the next step is timely monitoring these reports and tracking progress.

You can compare your assumptions with actual results to see if your projections are accurate and relevant to the changing market trends.

Analyzing metrics like customer acquisition rate, acquisition costs, net profit, and gross margin will help track progress.

If you follow these steps rigorously, you can surely make a decent plan to support your business strategies and achieve financial goals.

Still, it was just about financial planning. What about the entire business plan? Excel is a no-go for business planning; let’s see why.

How Excel may not be the best choice for business planning?

Since Excel doesn’t offer all the necessary features for business planning that a business plan software like Upmetrics would, it is not the tool to be used to create a comprehensive business plan.

Following are a few reasons why Excel may not be a better choice for business planning compared to a tool like Upmetrics:

• Limited features: Since it is not designed specifically for planning, it has limited business planning features compared to software like Upmetrics. A business planning software may include features like business plan builder, financial forecasting, and pitch deck creator.
• Limited collaboration: Everyone knows Excel isn’t the tool with the best collaboration features. Business plan software offers collaboration features, allowing multiple team members to work on a business plan simultaneously.
• No Automation: Upmetrics comes with many automation features like AI assistant and financial forecasting tool, helping entrepreneurs and small businesses save time and reduce human errors.
• No customizable templates: Upmetrics has 400+ business plan examples and templates that make it easier for new users to get started, which has not been the case with Excel.

These were just a few of many reasons why a planning tool is a better alternative than Excel to create a comprehensive plan to support their business strategy.

Improve Your Business Financial Plan with Upmetrics

I’d surely have recommended Excel for financial planning if you had asked maybe a decade ago.

Today? There’s no way Excel stands a chance when competing with a cutting-edge AI business planning solution like Upmetrics.

Upmetrics simplifies business planning with its library of business templates, financial forecasting tool, and AI-powered assistant, making it a much more efficient alternative to Excel.

What are you waiting for? Start planning today!

Make your plan in half the time & twice the impact with Upmetrics

Fill-in-the-blanks, AI-assistance, and automatic financials make it easy.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do i create a business plan in excel.

It’s challenging to draft an entire business plan in Excel. However, you can use Excel to create the financial portion of your plan using a free business plan Excel template. A ready-made template is always better and faster than preparing your financial reports from scratch.

Are there any alternatives to Excel for creating a business plan?

Yes, there are a few alternatives to Excel for creating a business plan. However, using a business plan software like Upmetrics would be a better alternative to creating a business plan than others.

Why should I use an Excel template for my business financial plan?

You cannot certainly master Excel formulas in one day, and preparing advanced financial reports from scratch means you must be very good at accounting, budgeting, and Excel sheets and ready to spare some intense hours.

So, considering the complexity of Excel—using a ready-made template seems like a great starting point for budding entrepreneurs with no financial planning experience.

Are there any free business plan templates available in Excel?

Although it’s tough to create the entire business plan in Excel from scratch, Upmetrics offers a free business plan Excel template to help you gain inspiration and make the financial portion of your business plan.

Can I share my financial plan online with others using Excel?

Yes, you can share your financial plan online with others using Excel. To share your document with others, simply click on the “Share with People” option and enter their email addresses, and you have shared the doc.

About the Author

Ajay is a SaaS writer and personal finance blogger who has been active in the space for over three years, writing about startups, business planning, budgeting, credit cards, and other topics related to personal finance. If not writing, he’s probably having a power nap. Read more

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10 Free Business Plan Templates in Word, Excel, & ClickUp

Praburam Srinivasan

Growth Marketing Manager

February 13, 2024

Turning your vision into a clear and coherent business plan can be confusing and tough. 

Hours of brainstorming and facing an intimidating blank page can raise more questions than answers. Are you covering everything? What should go where? How do you keep each section thorough but brief?

If these questions have kept you up at night and slowed your progress, know you’re not alone. That’s why we’ve put together the top 10 business plan templates in Word, Excel, and ClickUp—to provide answers, clarity, and a structured framework to work with. This way, you’re sure to capture all the relevant information without wasting time. 

And the best part? Business planning becomes a little less “ugh!” and a lot more “aha!” 🤩

What is a Business Plan Template?

What makes a good business plan template, 1. clickup business plan template, 2. clickup sales plan template, 3. clickup business development action plan template, 4. clickup business roadmap template, 5. clickup business continuity plan template, 6. clickup lean business plan template, 7. clickup small business action plan template, 8. clickup strategic business roadmap template , 9. microsoft word business plan template by microsoft, 10. excel business plan template by vertex42.

A business plan template is a structured framework for entrepreneurs and business executives who want to create business plans. It comes with pre-arranged sections and headings that cover key elements like the executive summary , business overview, target customers, unique value proposition, marketing plans, and financial statements.  

A good business plan template helps with thorough planning, clear documentation, and practical implementation. Here’s what to look for:

• Comprehensive structure: A good template comes with all the relevant sections to outline a business strategy, such as executive summary, market research and analysis, and financial projections 
• Clarity and guidance: A good template is easy to follow. It has brief instructions or prompts for each section, guiding you to think deeply about your business and ensuring you don’t skip important details
• Clean design: Aesthetics matter. Choose a template that’s not just functional but also professionally designed. This ensures your plan is presentable to stakeholders, partners, and potential investors
• Flexibility : Your template should easily accommodate changes without hassle, like adding or removing sections, changing content and style, and rearranging parts 🛠️ 

While a template provides the structure, it’s the information you feed it that brings it to life. These pointers will help you pick a template that aligns with your business needs and clearly showcases your vision.

10 Business Plan Templates to Use in 2024

Preparing for business success in 2024 (and beyond) requires a comprehensive and organized business plan. We’ve handpicked the best templates to help you guide your team, attract investors, and secure funding. Let’s check them out.

If you’re looking to replace a traditional business plan document, then ClickUp’s Business Plan Template is for you!

This one-page business plan template, designed in ClickUp Docs , is neatly broken down into the following sections:

• Company description : Overview, mission, vision, and team
• Market analysis : Problem, solution, target market, competition, and competitive advantage
• Sales and marketing strategy : Products/services and marketing channels
• Operational plan : Location and facilities, equipment and tools, manpower, and financial forecasts
• Milestones and metrics: Targets and KPIs

Customize the template with your company logo and contact details, and easily navigate to different sections using the collapsible table of contents. The mini prompts under each section guide you on what to include—with suggestions on how to present the data (e.g., bullet lists, pictures, charts, and tables). 

You can share the document with anyone via URL and collaborate in real time. And when the business plan is ready, you have the option to print it or export it to PDF, HTML, or Markdown.

But that’s not all. This template is equipped with basic and enterprise project management features to streamline the business plan creation process . The Topics List view has a list of all the different sections and subsections of the template and allows you to assign it to a team member, set a due date, and attach relevant documents and references.

Switch from List to Board view to track and update task statuses according to the following: To Do, In Progress, Needs Revision, and Complete. 

This template is a comprehensive toolkit for documenting the different sections of your business plan and streamlining the creation process to ensure it’s completed on time. 🗓️

If you’re looking for a tool to kickstart or update your sales plan, ClickUp’s Sales Plan Template has got you covered. This sales plan template features a project summary list with tasks to help you craft a comprehensive and effective sales strategy. Some of these tasks include:

• Determine sales objectives and goals
• Draft positioning statement
• Perform competitive analysis
• Draft ideal customer persona
• Create a lead generation strategy

Assign each task to a specific individual or team, set priority levels , and add due dates. Specify what section of the sales plan each task belongs to (e.g., executive summary, revenue goals, team structure, etc.), deliverable type (such as document, task, or meeting), and approval state (like pending, needs revisions, and approved).

And in ClickUp style, you can switch to multiple views: List for a list of all tasks, Board for visual task management, Timeline for an overview of task durations, and Gantt to get a view of task dependencies. 

This simple business plan template is perfect for any type of business looking to create a winning sales strategy while clarifying team roles and keeping tasks organized. ✨

Thinking about scaling your business’s reach and operations but unsure where or how to start? It can be overwhelming, no doubt—you need a clear vision, measurable goals, and an actionable plan that every member of your team can rally behind. 

Thankfully, ClickUp’s Business Development Action Plan Template is designed to use automations to simplify this process so every step toward your business growth is clear, trackable, and actionable.

Start by assessing your current situation and deciding on your main growth goal. Are you aiming to increase revenue, tap into new markets, or introduce new products or services? With ClickUp Whiteboards or Docs, brainstorm and collaborate with your team on this decision.

Set and track your short- and long-term growth goals with ClickUp’s Goals , break them down into smaller targets, and assign these targets to team members, complete with due dates. Add these targets to a new ClickUp Dashboard to track real-time progress and celebrate small wins. 🎉

Whether you’re a startup or small business owner looking to hit your next major milestone or an established business exploring new avenues, this template keeps your team aligned, engaged, and informed every step of the way.

ClickUp’s Business Roadmap Template is your go-to for mapping out major strategies and initiatives in areas like revenue growth, brand awareness, community engagement, and customer satisfaction. 

Use the List view to populate tasks under each initiative. With Custom Fields, you can capture which business category (e.g., Product, Operations, Sales & Marketing, etc.) tasks fall under and which quarter they’re slated for. You can also link to relevant documents and resources and evaluate tasks by effort and impact to ensure the most critical tasks get the attention they deserve. 👀

Depending on your focus, this template provides different views to show just what you need. For example, the All Initiatives per Quarter view lets you focus on what’s ahead by seeing tasks that need completion within a specific quarter. This ensures timely execution and helps in aligning resources effectively for the short term.

This template is ideal for business executives and management teams who need to coordinate multiple short- and long-term initiatives and business strategies.

In business, unexpected threats to operations can arise at any moment. Whether it’s economic turbulence, a global health crisis, or supply chain interruptions, every company needs to be ready. ClickUp’s Business Continuity Plan Template lets you prepare proactively for these unforeseen challenges.

The template organizes tasks into three main categories:

• Priorities: Tasks that need immediate attention
• Continuity coverage: Tasks that must continue despite challenges
• Guiding principles: Resources and protocols to ensure smooth operations

The Board view makes it easy to visualize all the tasks under each of these categories. And the Priorities List sorts tasks by those that are overdue, the upcoming ones, and then the ones due later.

In times of uncertainty, being prepared is your best strategy. This template helps your business not just survive but thrive in challenging situations, keeping your customers, employees, and investors satisfied. 🤝

Looking to execute your business plan the “lean” way? Use ClickUp’s Lean Business Plan Template . It’s designed to help you optimize resource usage and cut unnecessary steps—giving you better results with less effort.

In the Plan Summary List view, list all the tasks that need to get done. Add specific details like who’s doing each task, when it’s due, and which part of the Business Model Canvas (BMC) it falls under. The By Priority view sorts this list based on priorities like Urgent, High, Normal, and Low. This makes it easy to spot the most important tasks and tackle them first.

Additionally, the Board view gives you an overview of task progression from start to finish. And the BMC view rearranges these tasks based on the various BMC components. 

Each task can further be broken down into subtasks and multiple checklists to ensure all related action items are executed. ✔️

This template is an invaluable resource for startups and large enterprises looking to maximize process efficiencies and results in a streamlined and cost-effective way.

The Small Business Action Plan Template by ClickUp is tailor-made for small businesses looking to transform their business ideas and goals into actionable steps and, eventually, into reality. 

It provides a simple and organized framework for creating, assigning, prioritizing, and tracking tasks. And in effect, it ensures that goals are not just set but achieved. Through the native dashboard and goal-setting features, you can monitor task progress and how they move you closer to achieving your goals.

Thanks to ClickUp’s robust communication features like chat, comments, and @mentions, it’s easy to get every team member on the same page and quickly address questions or concerns.

Use this action plan template to hit your business goals by streamlining your internal processes and aligning team efforts.

For larger businesses and scaling enterprises, getting different departments to work together toward a big goal can be challenging. The ClickUp Strategic Business Roadmap Template makes it easier by giving you a clear plan to follow.

This template is packaged in a folder and split into different lists for each department in your business, like Sales, Product, Marketing, and Enablement. This way, every team can focus on their tasks while collectively contributing to the bigger goal.

There are multiple viewing options available for team members. These include:

• Progress Board: Visualize tasks that are on track, those at risk, and those behind
• Gantt view: Get an overview of project timelines and dependencies
• Team view: See what each team member is working on so you can balance workloads for maximum productivity

While this template may feel overwhelming at first, the getting started guide offers a step-by-step breakdown to help you navigate it with ease. And like all ClickUp templates, you can easily customize it to suit your business needs and preferences.

Microsoft’s 20-page traditional business plan template simplifies the process of drafting comprehensive business plans. It’s made up of different sections, including:

• Executive summary : Highlights, objectives, mission statement, and keys to success
• Description of business: Company ownership and legal structure, hours of operation, products and services, suppliers, financial plans, etc.
• Marketing: Market analysis, market segmentation, competition, and pricing
• Appendix: Start-up expenses, cash flow statements, income statements, sales forecast, milestones, break-even analysis, etc.

The table of contents makes it easy to move to different sections of the document. And the text placeholders under each section provide clarity on the specific details required—making the process easier for users who may not be familiar with certain business terminology.

No business template roundup is complete without an Excel template. This business plan template lets you work on your business financials in Excel. It comes with customizable tables, formulas, and charts to help you look at the following areas:

• Highlight charts
• Market analysis
• Start-up assets and expenses
• Sales forecasts
• Profit and loss
• Balance sheet
• Cash flow projections
• Break-even analysis

This Excel template is especially useful when you want to create a clear and visual financial section for your business plan document—an essential element for attracting investors and lenders. However, there might be a steep learning curve to using this template if you’re not familiar with business financial planning and using Excel.

Try a Free Business Plan Template in ClickUp

Launching and running a successful business requires a well-thought-out and carefully crafted business plan. However, the business planning process doesn’t have to be complicated, boring, or take up too much time. Use any of the above 10 free business plan formats to simplify and speed up the process.

ClickUp templates go beyond offering a solid foundation to build your business plans. They come with extensive project management features to turn your vision into reality. And that’s not all— ClickUp’s template library offers over 1,000 additional templates to help manage various aspects of your business, from decision-making to product development to resource management .

Sign up for ClickUp’s Free Forever Plan today to fast-track your business’s growth! 🏆

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Download Business Plan Template In Excel

• Budget , Business management , Excel Templates

Kickstart Your Business Success with Our Free Excel Business Plan Template

Charting a path to success for your business can be overwhelming, especially when it comes to organizing and managing the myriad elements that constitute a business plan. That’s why we’re thrilled to introduce our free, comprehensive Business Plan Excel template. With multiple, integrated sheets for every facet of your planning needs, this template streamlines your strategic process, saving you time and effort.

What Is Included in Our Sample Business Plan Template in Excel?

Our Excel business plan template is meticulously designed and includes the following components:

• Sales Planning / Forecasting Template : This template enables you to plan product-wise and year-wise sales. By analyzing trends over the previous two years, you can forecast sales for the coming year and make informed business decisions.
• Profit and Loss Template : This sheet will help you track your revenues, costs, and expenses to determine your business’s profitability over a period of time.
• Balance Sheet Template : It provides a snapshot of your company’s financial position at a particular moment, illustrating what the company owns (assets) and owes (liabilities), and the amount invested by shareholders (equity).
• Cash Flow Template : With this, you can manage your cash position by tracking the inflow and outflow of cash in your business. This template helps in monitoring your liquidity and understanding if you have enough cash to cover your expenses.
• Budget Template : This facilitates the allocation and tracking of financial resources, ensuring you don’t overspend and stay on the right financial track.
• Break-Even Analysis Template : This crucial template calculates the point where your total cost equals your total revenue. Understanding your break-even point can help guide pricing strategy, monitor efficiency, and make profitable business decisions.

How to Use the Excel Business Plan Template?

Using our comprehensive Excel business plan template is simple:

• Download the Template : Start by downloading our free Business Plan Excel template.
• Input Your Data : Enter your business data into each sheet. Each section comes with clear instructions on what information is needed.
• Analyze and Plan : Use the data you’ve entered to analyze your current business situation, make projections, and develop strategic plans.
• Update Regularly : As your business evolves, so should your business plan. Regularly update the data in the template to keep your plan relevant and responsive to your business’s changing circumstances.

Why Use the Excel Business Plan Template?

Our Excel business plan template offers a host of benefits:

• Comprehensive : It covers every aspect of your business plan, eliminating the need for multiple documents or programs.
• Easy to Use : The template is designed to be user-friendly, making it easy for anyone, regardless of their familiarity with Excel.
• Customizable : The template can be modified to suit the specific needs and nature of your business.
• Effective Visualization : The template includes graphs and charts, transforming your data into a visual format that’s easier to understand and present.
• Free : Our template is completely free, making it a cost-effective solution for business planning.

In conclusion, our Excel business plan template simplifies the planning process by consolidating all elements of a business plan into a single, comprehensive document. Whether you’re drafting your first business plan or refining an existing one, this template can be an invaluable tool. So, download our free Excel business plan template today and embark on a strategic journey to business success!

Users of This Free Business Plan Template

The Excel Business Plan Template is designed for a wide variety of users who need to develop a structured and strategic approach to their business planning. Here’s a list of individuals and entities who could greatly benefit from using this template:

• Entrepreneurs and Startups : If you’re in the initial stages of starting a business, this template can help you plan, analyze, and forecast various aspects of your business such as sales, finances, and cash flow.
• Small Business Owners : For existing small businesses, this template can help monitor performance, manage finances, and plan for future growth.
• Financial Analysts and Managers : These professionals can use this template to gain insights into the financial health of a business, plan budgets, and conduct break-even analysis.
• Freelancers and Solopreneurs : Even if you’re a one-person business, this template can help keep track of your finances, forecast your revenue, and manage your cash flow efficiently.
• Consultants and Business Advisors : These individuals can utilize the template to assist their clients in developing business plans, improving financial management, and setting strategic goals.
• Non-profit Organizations : Even though their goals might not be profit-oriented, non-profit organizations can also benefit from this template to manage their finances, plan budgets, and conduct break-even analysis for their fundraising events or projects.

Remember, the key to leveraging this tool effectively is to customize it to the unique needs and circumstances of your business or project. No matter your industry or the size of your business, our Excel Business Plan Template can be a valuable tool in your strategic planning toolkit.

Download this Business Plan template in Excel Format

Our easy to use editable Excel templates and save your significant amount of time and effort. Here’s how to download and use one of our templates:

Download this free Excel Template : Once you’ve browsed through our collection of templates and find the one that best fits your needs. Once you’ve found the template you want, click on the download button.

Replace sample data with your actual data: Once the template is downloaded, open it in Excel. You’ll see that it is already set up with sample data. To start analyzing your own data, simply replace the sample data with your actual data.

Customize the template: Our templates are completely editable, which means you can customize them to fit your specific needs. For example, you can change the formatting, add or remove columns, or create new charts and graphs.

Use the Excel template: Once you’ve fed in your data and customized the template, you’re ready to start using it for data analysis. Use the various tools and features of Excel to analyze and visualize your data, and make informed business decisions.

Save and share: Once you’ve finished working on the template, save it to your computer and share it with other members of your team or stakeholders as needed.

Click Download Button To Get Business Plan Excel Template

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Excel Financial Projection Templates

Looking for a specific industry.

Most Popular Templates

Here you'll find a business projection template for any of our most popular industries, including a two-sided marketplace, coffee shop and daycare facility. If you want an industry-specific financial projection template for your business plan, we've got you covered. You'll find our financial forecast worksheet easy to understand and use.

Universal Industry Templates

In this section you will find some of our most powerful templates that will help create financial projections for any industry. They are best for established businesses that have historical revenue and expense data to use as the basis for the financial projections. The existing business template features a built in valuation calculator to help provide business value estimates.

Restaurants, Food and Drink Templates

Find the restaurant projections template you need to properly present your financials. We offer restaurant financial templates for businesses ranging from food trucks to fine dining establishments. Our CPA-developed   restaurant sales projection templates empower you to create presentations that truly represent your operation. If you want easy-to-use restaurant business plan financial modeling spreadsheets , you want ProjectionHub's financial templates for restaurants.

Healthcare and Fitness Templates

Whether you're running a cannabis dispensary, home healthcare business or gym, we have the healthcare financial modeling template that you need. Our healthcare financial forecasting models and fitness financial projection templates will make your job easy. When you choose healthcare financial models from ProjectionHub, you get the full benefit of our extensive expertise. The easy-to-find tabs and highlighted cells in our healthcare financial projection templates will simplify the process for you.

Retail Templates

Our CPA-developed business financial model templates will give you all the tools you need to create financial projections for retail operations. Whatever your type of retail business, we have a retail store income statement template that's right for you. We even offer a dispensary financial projection template for CBD and cannabis outlets. Backed by our years of expertise, financial forecast worksheets from ProjectionHub deliver the retail store revenue projections you require to properly run your business.

Services Templates

We've developed an Excel financial model for service businesses that allows you to easily create financial forecasts for lenders, investors and internal planning. With ProjectionHub's industry-specific approach to service business financial projection templates , you can be sure to find a financial forecast worksheet that meets your business needs. Check out our service business projection templates now to find what you need.

Technology Templates

Leave the complexity and confusion behind with a CPA-developed financial forecast worksheet for your tech business. Ecommerce entrepreneurs appreciate the simplicity of our ecommerce business financial models . And our SaaS financial modeling templates are just as easy to use. You can accurately calculate and share your business projections with ProjectionHub's SaaS business financial model. See how financial modeling for a SaaS company has never been easier.

Real Estate Templates

Leave behind the complexity and confusion associated with financial forecasting for your real estate business with a CPA-developed worksheet. Our real estate business financial models offer a simple and straightforward approach for real estate entrepreneurs. Whether you manage properties or are involved in other aspects of the industry, our financial modeling templates are user-friendly and easy to use. With ProjectionHub, you can accurately calculate and share your business projections, making financial modeling for your real estate company a breeze.

Passive Income Templates

Say goodbye to the uncertainty and confusion of financial forecasting for your passive income business with a CPA-developed worksheet. Our financial models are designed to offer a simple and easy to understand approach for entrepreneurs looking to generate income through passive means. Whether you are invested in rental properties or other forms of passive income, our financial modeling templates are user-friendly and easy to use. With our templates, you can accurately calculate and share your business projections, making financial modeling for your passive income business a breeze.

Other Templates

Led by our industry-specific philosophy, ProjectionHub offers Excel financial projection templates for a wide range of businesses. Our library includes a growery sales projection template, logistics financial modeling, predictive financial models for manufacturing and an Airbnb business financial model . Learn more about our financial forecast worksheets to see how ProjectionHub's manufacturing and logistics financial projection templates are right for your business. Whether you run a church or a realty firm, we have a template that will simplify your financial projections.

Selecting a Financial Projection Template

The ProjectionHub team has developed more than 80 financial projection templates to give you a head start on your own financial modeling project. The business projection templates are Excel based and each comes with a 5 year profit and loss, balance sheet, and cash flow projection along with a number of graphs and tables to visualize your projections. If you purchase a template our team is ready to answer any questions you might have. Check out our library of templates below. Need any help choosing a template?  Get a recommendation from our team! Are you a consultant or advisor that often works on projections for your clients? Checkout our ProjectionHub+ subscription for an all inclusive, time saving, hub of solutions.

Financial Projection Template FAQs

How many years of financial projections can i create with a projectionhub template.

All of our financial projection templates are 5 year financial models.  If you only need a 3 year financial projection, you can simply hide the last two years of the model.  The templates will provide you with annual and monthly projections for up to 60 months. 

How to create a profit and loss projection?

In order to create a profit and loss projection you will need to forecast both revenue and expenses.  If you are forecasting for an existing business with historical financial data, the easiest way to forecast is to use your historical data as a baseline to forecast off of.  This is the approach we take with our Existing Business Forecast Template .  

If you are looking to create a profit and loss projection for a startup you will need to develop a set of assumptions and build your projections from the ground up.  You will need both revenue and expense assumptions in order to produce a pro forma P&L.  You can see an example from one of our templates below. 

Example Pro Forma Profit and Loss

How to forecast cash flow for a business.

In order to forecast cash flow for a business you will need to create projected revenue and expenses, but you will also need to know other items that impact cash flow like loan repayments, depreciation expense, and new loans or investments received. A cash flow forecast gets a bit more complicated than a simple P&L projection.  All of ProjectionHub’s premium business projection spreadsheets provide up to a 5 year cash flow forecast.  Below is an example of a 5 year cash flow forecast from our food truck template . 

Example 5 Year Cash Flow Projection

How to forecast a balance sheet?

In order to forecast a balance sheet you will need to first create an income statement projection and cash flow forecast.  Additionally, you will need to know all of the company’s current assets and liabilities and be able to forecast future assets and liabilities.  

Forecasting a balance sheet is the most complicated of the three financial statements.  It is not uncommon for a balance sheet projection to have an error that is causing it not to balance which can be incredibly frustrating.  We recommend using a balance sheet projection template when trying to forecast your balance sheet because of the complexity of the process.  All of ProjectionHub’s financial models include a 5 year balance sheet projection as well.  

To learn more about balance sheet forecasts you can read - The Ultimate Balance Sheet Forecast Guide . 

Will ProjectionHub projection templates work with Excel and Google Sheets?

Yes.  All of our business projection templates are compatible with both Excel and Google Sheets.   

How to forecast revenue for a startup?

Forecasting revenue for a startup should be a process of creating a series of assumptions that will ultimately lead you to a projected revenue number.  All of our pro forma templates will include an input revenue tab with a set of assumptions for you to fill out.  There are two ways that we like to approach creating sales projections:

• The Capacity Based Sales Projection Approach
• The Customer Funnel Based Sales Projection Approach

I describe in detail and provide examples of each sales forecasting approach in - The 2 Approaches for Creating Sales Projections for Startups.  

You can see a few sales projection model examples from our templates below:

Food Truck Sales Projection Assumption Example

Below is an example of how we might project sales for a food truck.  This is an example of a capacity based approach because the food truck will have a certain capacity and your sales will be dependent on what % of your capacity is filled. 

Ecommerce Sales Projection Example Assumptions

In the ecommerce sales forecasting example below you can see how we have assumptions built in to acquire visitors to the website, conversion rates for visitors into customers, and average order value per customer as an example. 

If you have any other questions about our financial projection spreadsheets please don’t hesitate to reach out! 

Build Your Business on a Better Foundation With a Financial Plan Template

Whether you're trying to launch your new business or create a plan for growth for your established business, a financial projections template can help you organize your financial plan and better understand your cash flows. At Projection Hub, our Excel-based financial plan templates allow you to create an effective plan for informing your business decisions. To be effective at raising capital or just building an informed self-sustaining company, you can utilize a financial plan template as a general guide to help you reach financial objectives. Rather than hiring expensive financial consultants, a revenue and cash flow projection template in Excel is more accessible and less costly for teams to begin strategic planning. In business, strategy and planning can make all the difference in the world. Get started with a financial forecast template from Projection Hub today. We offer pre-outlined financial and sales projection templates specific to your industry that were hand crafted by our CPA financial modeller.

What Can I Track with Excel Financial Templates?

Within Projection Hub's financial plan templates, you'll be able to track and calculate everything you need to know to better understand your general financial standing. Including when break even may occur, your projected revenues, and understanding all of the expenses that will influence your profitability. Some of these expenses include:

• Administrative Costs
• Permits & Licenses
• Utility Fees
• Property Fees

With a financial projections template, the heavy lifting is done for you. All you have to do is fill in the necessary areas based on your business, and you'll have an accessible and easy way to see areas on which you need to focus or cut down.

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Home > Financial Projections Template Excel

Financial Projections Template Excel

This free 4 page Excel business plan financial projections template produces annual income statements, balance sheets and cash flow projections for a five year period for any business.

Financial Projections Template Download

What’s included in the financial projection template, 1. income statements.

The first page of the financial projection template shows income statements for the business for 5 years.

2. Balance Sheets

3. Cash Flow Statements

The third page provides the cash flow statements for 5 years.

4. Ratios and Graphs

The final page of the financial projections template contains a selection of useful financial ratios for comparison purposes. In addition it shows revenue, net income, cash balance, and cumulative free cash flow by year in graph form for easy reference.

How to use the Financial Projections Template

If you want to know how to use the financial projections template, then we recommend reading our How to Make Financial Projections post, which explains each step in detail.

More Financial Projections Templates and Calculators

Select a category from the menu to the right or chose one of the templates or calculators below.

Popular Revenue Projection Templates

• Retail Store Revenue Projection
• Drop Shipping Business Revenue Projection
• Sandwich Shop Revenue Projection
• Salon Business Plan Revenue Projection
• Microbrewery Business Plan Revenue Projection

Popular Calculators

• Days Sales Outstanding Calculator
• Return on Investment Calculator
• Sales Forecast Spreadsheet
• Gross Margin Calculator
• Business Operating Expenses Template

Financial projections are critical to the success of your business plan, particularly if the purpose is to raise finance.  Accordingly we have designed our financial projection for startup template to help you test your business idea and create a five year business plan financial projection.

The financial projection template will help you to carry out your own financial projections and test your business idea. Therefore simply amend the highlighted input elements to suit your purposes, and the financial projection template does the rest.

Alternatively, you can use our online calculator to provide a quick and easy way to test the feasibility of your business idea.

About the Author

Chartered accountant Michael Brown is the founder and CEO of Plan Projections. He has worked as an accountant and consultant for more than 25 years and has built financial models for all types of industries. Michael has been the CFO or controller of both small and medium sized companies and has run small businesses of his own. He has been a manager and an auditor with Deloitte, a big 4 accountancy firm, and holds a BSc from Loughborough University.

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Financial Plan Guides

Learn how to build a solid financial plan for your business by consulting our detailed financial planning guides by industry. If you want a quicker solution, download an automatic pre-made financial plan in Excel you can easily customize.

How to Build a Solid Financial Plan for your Project

Welcome to our rich repository of Financial Plan Guides by industry, an invaluable resource for entrepreneurs, business owners, and visionaries seeking to build investor-grade business plans and launch financially sound ventures. In this section, you’ll find a diverse collection of guides meticulously crafted to provide practical insights and actionable steps for developing a robust financial plan tailored to your project and business goals.

Each guide is crafted by financial experts, offering real-world insights and practical tips to help you develop a winning business plan. Whether you’re a novice entrepreneur or an experienced business leader, these resources are designed to elevate your financial acumen and empower you to make strategic decisions.

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Home » business plan template » Free Excel Financial Plan Template (for small business and startup)

Free Excel Financial Plan Template (for small business and startup)

Updated 09/26/2019

How does one create a financial plan or business plan? WikiCrea offers you the best solution with this Excel financial plan template to download for free. This business template is ideal for your business project. The Excel template can be downloaded at the bottom of this page.

Definition : The financial plan – business plan or financial business plan – presents financial data that show the general balance expected for your activity (viability, profitability) and the relevance of the commercial and financial assumptions retained.

Any business project involves a financial plan. The financial forecast plan is part of the complete business plan.

The financial plan is particularly important when seeking funding, as it will be analyzed by potential funders and especially bankers.

Making a financial plan is a major step towards launching your business!

The content of the financial plan

The financial plan usually shows :

• A financing plan (presenting the investments and sources of financing)
• A 3-year income statement (distinguishing between variable and fixed expenses)
• A forecast balance sheet
• Cash flow and net self-financing
• the calculation of the break-even point
• the details of depreciation
• the details of wages and social charges
• the calculation of the working capital requirement
• the estimated cash budget, over one year or over 3 years.

An Excel financial plan, free to download

The most efficient and downloaded financial plan on the web.

Click to download our 3-year financial plan template: Business plan template Excel free

This model is suitable for all types of traditional activities: commerce, crafts, liberal professions…

Estimated completion time: 15 to 25 minutes.

Read before using this Excel Simple Automated Financial Plan Template:

This automated financial plan template has been designed for use by everybody:

• a single sheet is to be completed (fill in the green boxes only), in which you have to enter the basic data of your business project: easy!
• some cells must be filled in (see mentions in red ),
• read the explanations next to the boxes,
• once the entry is complete, the final financial plan appears in the following sheet (do not change inside this tab).

It’s your turn!

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It is very useful for us.

You will have to pay to edit the file and enter your content so it’s NOT free.

yes but it is functional without modification

this is good for helping new bussiness

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Simplifying Your Office Tasks

Ready-To-Use Startup Financial Model Excel Template

Download the Startup Financial Model Template in Microsoft Excel, OpenOffice Calc, and Google Sheets to prepare financial projections for 3 years for your startup.

Just insert data for the first year. The template will automatically prepare the remaining 2 years of Income Projections, Sales Projections, Cash Flow Statements, Balance Sheets, and Break-even Analysis for your startup.

This template can be useful if you plan to get a business loan from banks or raise capital for your startup from private investors.

Table of Contents

Download Startup Financial Model Template (Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets & OpenOffice Calc)

We have created a ready-to-use 3-year Financial Projection Model For Startups to help you easily prepare Income Projections, Sales Projections, Cash Flow Statements, Balance Sheets, and Break-even Analysis for your startup.

This extremely useful Startup Financial Model Excel Template was voluntarily contributed by Kirti Tiwari, MBA Finance, Gold Medalist.

She has prepared this Startup Financial Model and also provided related explanations. Highly Appreciated.

Click on the link below to download your desired format.

Microsoft Excel   OpenOffice Calc   Google Sheet

Additionally, you can download the Income Statement Projection Template , Balance Sheet Template With Analysis , Cash Flow Statement Template , and Break-even Analysis Template depending on your requirements.

In case, you want to customize any of the above templates feel free to contact us. You can hire us for our services on Fiverr or contact us at [email protected].

How To Use Startup Financial Model Excel Template?

INTRO Sheet: Enter the preparer name, Company name, Starting Month, and Starting year. The Company name will be reflected in all the sheets ahead.

Startup Expenses

Startup Expenses (Year 1): Insert applicable data in the white cells. Orange cells contain formulas, hence do not enter or delete the cells.

Payroll Expenses

Payroll Expenses (Year 1): Insert applicable data in the white cells. Orange cells contain formulas, hence do not enter or delete the cells.

Payroll Expenses (Year 2 and Year 3): Insert the growth rate percentage to populate the cells automatically.

Sales Forecast

Sales Forecast (Year 1): Insert product names, Units, Sales Price per unit for each product, and COGS per unit. It calculates the Margin per unit for each product automatically.

Additionally, insert sales of units for each product in each month and it will calculate the rest.

Sales Forecast (Year 2 and Year 3): Insert Sales Growth Rate at the top for year 2 and year 3 and it auto-populates the sheet for you.

Other Expenses

Additional Information: Insert other startup-related costs such as schedules for Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Amortization, Income Tax, and Depreciation.

Operational Expenses

Operational Expenses (OPEX Year 1): Insert applicable data in the white cells. Orange cells contain formulas, hence do not enter or delete the cells.

Operational Expenses (OPEX Year 2 and Year 3): Insert the growth rate percentage to populate the cells automatically.

Cashflow Forecast

Cash Flow (Year 1): Based on the entries in the previous sheets, the sheet auto-populates the data. Insert data in white cells if applicable to your business.

Cash Flow (Year 2 and Year 3): No need to enter any data in this sheet because it auto-populates the data based on previous entries.

Amortization & Depreciation Schedule

Amortization and Depreciation: This sheet consists of monthly amortization and depreciation schedules for 3 years for all the different heads. No need to enter any data in this sheet because it auto-populates the data based on previous entries.

COGS: Insert applicable data in the white cells. Orange cells contain formulas, hence do not enter or delete the cells.

Income Statement Projections

Projection Income Statement (Year 1): No need to enter any data in this sheet because it auto-populates the data based on previous entries.

Projection Income Statement (Year 2 and Year 3): No need to enter any data in this sheet because it auto-populates the data based on previous entries.

Balance Sheet

Balance Sheet: This sheet auto-populates the Balance Sheet for all three years. Hence, there is no need to enter any data.

Breakeven Analysis

Breakeven Analysis: This sheet auto-populates the Balance Sheet for all three years. Therefore, there is no need to enter any data in this sheet.

Financial Ratios

Financial Ratio: This sheet auto-populates the Balance Sheet for all three years. Therefore, there is no need to enter any data in this sheet.

That’s it and your Financial Projection for Startup is ready.

The template is self-explanatory. If you want more information on what things and figures you need to input in the sheet we have made a comprehensive guide for you below.

Startup Balance Sheet

A startup balance sheet is a snapshot of your company’s financial health at a specific point in time. It shows what you own (assets), what you owe (liabilities), and the value of your owners’ equity. It’s crucial for both internal decision-making and external communication, especially when seeking funding or partnerships.

In the whirlwind of building your dream startup, understanding your financial landscape is crucial. That’s where the startup balance sheet comes in, your financial snapshot at a specific time. Like a map guiding your next steps, it reveals what you own (assets), what you owe (liabilities), and the value of your ownership (equity).

Importance of Startup Balance Sheet

• Track your progress: Monitor your financial journey, celebrating milestones and identifying areas for improvement.
• Stay ahead of curves: Early detection of potential cash flow shortfalls or overly burdensome debt empowers you to make proactive decisions.
• Unlock new avenues: Investors heavily rely on balance sheets to evaluate the financial health of the business and make informed investment decisions.
• Guide your growth: These data-driven insights inform strategic choices about resource allocation, investments, and financing.

Fixed Assets

Fixed assets are the long-term, tangible property or equipment a company owns and uses to generate income or run its operations. They are expected to last for more than one year and are not easily converted into cash.

Key Characteristics of Fixed Assets

• Durability: They are expected to have a useful life of more than one year.
• Not for resale: They are not intended to be sold in the ordinary course of business.
• Used for production or operations: They are used to generate revenue or support business activities.
• Depreciated over time: To reflect their wear and tear and loss of value, fixed assets are depreciated over their useful lives, except for land.

Importance of Fixed Assets

Essential for operations: Fixed assets are often crucial for a company’s ability to produce goods, provide services, and generate revenue.

Significant investment: They can represent a significant portion of a company’s total assets and investment.

Impact on financial statements: Their value and depreciation affect a company’s financial statements, including its balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement.

Startup Operating Capital

Operating capital, the lifeblood of your startup, is the short-term financial resources needed to keep your business humming day-to-day. Think of it as the oil that lubricates your gears, ensuring smooth sailing through daily operations.

Components of Operating Capital

Operating capital covers a range of essential expenses, including:

Inventory: Raw materials, finished goods, and anything awaiting sale.

Payroll: Salaries and benefits for your amazing team.

Marketing and Sales: Reaching your target audience and converting leads.

Rent and Utilities: Keeping the lights on and doors open.

Administrative Costs: Paperclips, office supplies, and other essentials.

Importance Of Operating Capital

Sufficient operating capital ensures your startup can thrive in the fast-paced world of business.

It helps you:

Meet immediate obligations: Avoid late payments and maintain supplier relationships.

Seize opportunities: Grab limited-time deals or invest in quick-win marketing campaigns.

Weather unforeseen challenges: Handle unexpected expenses without breaking a sweat.

Maintain flexibility: Adapt to changing market conditions and pivot if needed.

How To Estimate Your Needs For Operating Captial?

Determining your operational capital needs takes careful planning. Consider factors like:

Industry standards: Research average operating capital requirements for your industry.

Business model: Analyze your projected sales and expenses to understand cash flow patterns.

Growth plans: Factor in upcoming milestones and potential scaling needs.

Securing operational capital can be achieved through various means:

Bootstrapping: Using personal savings or funds from friends and family.

Bank loans: Seeking traditional or short-term business loans.

Investor funding: Attracting venture capitalists or angel investors.

Line of credit: Accessing a flexible source of credit for ongoing needs.

Startup Funding Sources

Kickstarting your entrepreneurial journey requires securing initial capital which fuels your venture dream into reality. Funding sources are the sources from where your capital needs are met.

Thankfully, a diverse landscape of funding sources awaits, each with its advantages and considerations.

Key Funding Sources

Bootstrapping: A true test of grit and self-reliance, bootstrapping involves leveraging personal savings, family loans, or even credit cards to fund your initial operations. This approach offers autonomy and avoids external pressures, but comes with limited capital and potential personal financial strain.

Angel Investors: These wealthy individuals with a penchant for promising ventures can inject crucial capital in exchange for equity or convertible debt. The process often involves pitching your vision and demonstrating traction, making it crucial to have a well-honed narrative and compelling business plan.

Venture Capitalists (VCs): Geared towards high-growth potential startups, VCs invest larger sums for significant equity stakes. Expect rigorous due diligence and intense scrutiny, but also gain access to expertise, mentorship, and valuable networks.

Business Loans: Traditional bank loans or lines of credit offer secured funding based on business potential and personal creditworthiness. While less dilutive than equity options, they come with stricter repayment terms and interest rates.

Government Grants and Programs: Specific initiatives supporting innovation and entrepreneurship may offer grants or subsidized loans, often focused on sectors like technology or social impact. Research relevant programs and tailor your application to their criteria.

Crowdfunding: Platforms like “ ZestMoney ”, “ Fueladream ”, “Crowdfund India” etc. allow you to raise capital from a large pool of individual investors in exchange for rewards or pre-orders. This approach can be effective for building community and generating early buzz but requires a compelling campaign and marketing strategy.

Startup Payroll Expenses

Payroll, in essence, is the lifeblood of your startup. It’s the system for calculating and distributing compensation to your team – the talented individuals who breathe life into your vision. It encompasses wages, salaries, bonuses, taxes, deductions, and all the intricate details that ensure your people get paid correctly and on time.

Why You Need to Get This Right from the Start?

Attract and Retain Top Talent: Competitive and accurate payroll sets the tone for your company culture. It demonstrates respect for your team’s contributions and fosters trust, attracting and retaining the best minds who can accelerate your growth.

Compliance is Key: Navigating the intricacies of labor laws, tax regulations, and social security contributions can be tricky, especially for early-stage businesses. Proper payroll management mitigates risks, avoiding legal woes and fines that can derail your trajectory.

Efficiency Matters: Manual payroll calculations are time-consuming and prone to errors. Investing in reliable payroll software or outsourcing to a skilled payroll provider frees up your valuable time and resources for more strategic endeavors.

Transparency Builds Trust: Clear and transparent pay structures with accurate paystubs go a long way in fostering trust and motivation within your team. It empowers your employees to track their earnings and understand their compensation package.

Data-Driven Insights: Properly structured payroll data becomes a valuable asset. You can analyze trends, identify cost-saving opportunities, and make informed decisions about employee compensation and benefits to optimize your workforce investments.

Startup Sales Forecast

A sales forecast is an estimate of how much revenue a company expects to generate from its products or services during a specific period, typically a quarter, a year, or several years.

It’s a crucial tool for business planning, as it helps companies:

Understand future demand: Forecasting future sales helps businesses allocate resources efficiently, plan production schedules, and set realistic sales targets.

Make informed decisions: Sales forecasts inform budget decisions, marketing campaigns, inventory management, and even hiring plans.

Monitor performance: Comparing actual sales to the forecast helps track progress and identify areas for improvement.

Techniques for Sales Forecasting

There are several methods for forecasting sales, each with its strengths and weaknesses. Some common techniques include:

Historical data analysis: Analyzing past sales trends and seasonality can provide valuable insights for future projections.

Causal models: These models consider external factors like competitor activity, economic conditions, and marketing campaigns to estimate their impact on sales.

Expert judgment: Consulting with experienced salespeople or industry experts can provide valuable qualitative insights.

Statistical methods: Advanced statistical techniques like regression analysis can identify complex relationships between various factors and sales.

Benefits of Accurate Sales Forecasts

Having accurate sales forecasts offers several benefits, including:

Improved financial planning: Businesses can allocate resources more effectively, manage cash flow, and secure funding with greater confidence.

Enhanced decision-making: Accurate forecasts help companies make informed decisions about production, pricing, inventory, and marketing strategies.

Boosting operational efficiency: Businesses can optimize production schedules, workforce planning, and logistics to meet future demand efficiently.

Increased profitability: By anticipating market trends and customer needs, companies can make strategic decisions that maximize revenue and profitability.

Formula for Sales Forecast

While there’s no single formula universally applicable to all sales forecasts, a common starting point is:

Projected Sales = (Average Unit Price) x (Estimated Units Sold)

This formula requires estimates for both the average price per unit and the number of units to be sold. The accuracy of the forecast depends on the reliability of these estimates, which can be derived from historical data, market research, and expert judgment.

Additional factors to consider Sales Forecasting

Besides the techniques and formula mentioned above, several other factors can impact the accuracy of your sales forecast:

Market size and trends: Understanding the overall market size and growth potential for your product or service is crucial.

Competitor activity: Analyzing your competitors’ strategies and offerings can help you anticipate their impact on your sales.

Marketing and sales efforts: Planned marketing campaigns and sales initiatives can significantly influence sales volume.

Unforeseen events: Be prepared to adjust your forecast based on unexpected events like economic downturns, natural disasters, or technological disruptions.

Sales forecasts are not crystal balls; they are based on estimates and assumptions. Use multiple forecasting methods to gain a more comprehensive view.

Accounts Receivable (A/R) Days Sales Outstanding (DSO)

The average number of days it takes a company to collect cash from its customers after goods or services are sold on credit.

It’s calculated as DSO = (Average Accounts Receivable / Credit Sales) × Number of Days in Period .

Interpretation:

• A lower DSO (e.g., 30 days) indicates efficient collection practices and strong cash flow.
• A higher DSO (e.g., 60 days) suggests potential cash flow concerns, slower collections, or lenient credit terms.

Impact on Financial Performance:

• A high DSO can tie up funds, limit growth opportunities, and increase financing costs.
• Strategies to improve DSO include offering early payment discounts, tightening credit policies, and implementing efficient collection processes.

Accounts Payable (A/P)

The amount a company owes to its suppliers for goods or services purchased on credit. It’s listed as a current liability on the balance sheet.

• A higher A/P balance can indicate strong purchasing power and good relationships with suppliers.
• A lower A/P balance might suggest limited supplier relationships or missed potential discounts.
• Managing A/P effectively can optimize cash flow and leverage supplier relationships.
• Stretching payables too long can damage supplier relationships and harm creditworthiness.

Line of Credit Assumptions

A pre-approved borrowing limit that allows a company to draw funds as needed, up to a certain maximum, usually with interest charged on the used amount.

• Lines of credit provide flexibility for unexpected expenses or short-term funding needs.
• Assumptions about interest rates, borrowing limits, and repayment terms are crucial for financial modeling and planning.
• Access to a line of credit can enhance financial resilience and support growth.
• Overreliance on lines of credit can lead to excessive debt and interest costs.

Income Tax Assumptions for 1 to 3 Years

Estimates of the income taxes a company will pay based on projected earnings, tax rates, and deductions.

• Accurate tax assumptions are crucial for financial modeling, budgeting, and planning.
• Factors to consider include current tax legislation, industry norms, and potential changes in tax laws.
• Taxes directly affect available cash and profitability.
• Overly optimistic tax assumptions can lead to inaccurate financial projections and potential misrepresentation of earnings.

Amortization of start-up costs

Amortization of start-up costs refers to the process of gradually writing off the cost of certain start-up expenses over a set period, instead of expensing them all in the year they are incurred. This is done for accounting and tax purposes, as it provides a more accurate picture of the company’s financial performance over time.

Startup Operating Expenses

Operating expenses (OpEx) are the lifeblood of any business, representing the costs directly associated with running your core operations and generating revenue. They are crucial for understanding your efficiency and profitability.

Calculating OpEx

There are two main ways to calculate OpEx:

• Using the Income Statement(mainly for existing business): Locate the “Operating Expenses” section on your income statement. This section often lists subcategories, allowing you to analyze specific expense areas. Add up all listed expenses to get the total OpEx.
• Using a Formula: 

Formula 1: OpEx = Revenue – Operating Income – Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) Formula 2: OpEx = SG&A Expenses + COGS + Depreciation + Amortization

These formulas might vary depending on your accounting practices and industry standards. OpEx excludes non-operating expenses like interest, taxes, and gains/losses from investments.

Analyzing OpEx alone isn’t enough. Consider metrics like the OpEx ratio (OpEx / Net Sales) and EBITDA margin (EBITDA / Net Sales) * 100% to assess how efficiently you convert sales into profit.

Importance of Forecasting Startup Operation Expenses For 3 years

There are several compelling reasons why calculating operating expenses (OpEx) for 3 years is crucial for projection calculations in a startup:

Accurate Financial Planning and Forecasting

A 3-year projection allows you to anticipate future expenses associated with growth, hiring, marketing, and other vital business functions. This helps in:

Securing funding: Investors heavily rely on realistic projections to assess financial viability and potential return on investment.

Making informed decisions: A clear understanding of future expenses enables strategic planning for resource allocation, budgeting, and potential cost-saving measures.

Identifying potential risks: Proactive insights into rising costs or operational inefficiencies allow you to mitigate risks and adapt your business model.

Demonstrating Business Maturity and Credibility

Projecting OpEx for 3 years shows investors and stakeholders a long-term perspective and commitment to sustainable growth. This commitment translates to:

Increased confidence: A well-defined plan instills confidence in your ability to manage future expenses and achieve profitability.

Competitive edge: It differentiates you from startups lacking long-term planning, potentially attracting better funding opportunities.

Adapting to Market Dynamics and Growth

The business landscape is ever-changing, and a 3-year projection allows you to:

Factor in potential cost changes: This could include fluctuations in raw materials, labor costs, or regulatory shifts.

Plan for scaling: As your business grows, operational needs and expenses will evolve. Having a 3-year plan helps you anticipate and prepare for these changes.

Remain agile: The projection serves as a flexible framework, allowing you to adjust based on actual performance and emerging trends.

Assessing Financial Sustainability

By projecting OpEx over 3 years, you can:

Identify potential cash flow issues: You can assess if your projected revenue will adequately cover operational costs, highlighting potential financing needs.

Optimize pricing strategies: Understanding future expense trends allows you to set sustainable pricing that covers costs and ensures profitability.

Monitor profitability: Projecting how OpEx impacts gross and net margins over time helps you optimize operations for long-term financial health.

Startup Cashflow Projections

Cash flow refers to the net movement of cash into and out of a business during a specific period. It reflects the company’s ability to generate cash from its operations and meet its financial obligations.

Analyzing cash flow is crucial for understanding a business’s financial health, making informed decisions, and ensuring long-term success.

Cash Flow Components

1. Cash Inflow:

Money received by the business.

• Sales revenue
• Loan proceeds
• Investment Income
• Grant funding

Example: A customer paying for a product or service.

2. Cash Outflow:

Money paid by the business.

• Operating expenses (rent, salaries, supplies)
• Loan repayments
• Capital expenditures (equipment, property)
• Dividend payments

Example: Paying rent for office space.

Calculating Net Cash Flow:

You can’t directly apply a single formula to calculate cash flow.

However, the basic principle is:

Net Cash Flow = Cash Inflow – Cash Outflow

3. Operating cash balance (OCB)

Operating cash balance (OCB) is the amount of cash a company has on hand after accounting for all its operating expenses. It represents the cash readily available to fund day-to-day operations, pay bills, and seize short-term opportunities.

OCB = Beginning Cash Balance + Net Cash Flow from Operating Activities – Ending Cash Balance

Analysts and investors often use OCB to assess a company’s financial health and short-term liquidity. A high OCB indicates that a company is generating sufficient cash from its operations to meet its obligations and potentially invest in growth. Conversely, a low or negative OCB could signal potential financial difficulties.

4. Line of Credit Drawdown

A line of credit drawdown is the act of borrowing money from a pre-approved and revolving credit line established with a financial institution (e.g., a bank, or credit union).

Similar to a credit card, you only pay interest on the amount you borrow, offering flexibility and avoiding unnecessary interest charges on unused funds.

Startup Income Statement Projections

The income statement shows the flow of income and expenses during a specific period. It starts with the total revenue earned from selling goods or services and then subtracts all the expenses incurred to generate that revenue.

The resulting figure is the net income (profit) or net loss, indicating the company’s overall financial performance for the period.

While the income statement doesn’t have a single formula, it follows a specific structure:

Net Income = Revenue – Expenses

Revenue: All the income generated from the company’s core operations, such as sales of goods or services.

Expenses: All the costs incurred to generate that revenue, categorized into:

Cost of Goods Sold (COGS): Direct costs associated with producing or acquiring the goods or services sold.

Operating Expenses: Indirect costs related to running the business, such as rent, salaries, marketing, and depreciation.

Other Expenses: Non-operating expenses like interest and taxes.

Analysis of the Income Statement

Gross Profit: Revenue minus COGS measures the profit earned after direct production costs.

Operating Profit: Gross profit minus operating expenses indicates the profit from core business operations before financing activities.

Net Income: Operating profit minus other expenses and taxes reflects the company’s overall profitability for the period.

Ratios: Various ratios like gross profit margin, operating profit margin, and net profit margin can be calculated to compare profitability across companies or over time.

Startup Projected Balance Sheet

The balance sheet, also known as the statement of financial position, is another fundamental financial statement alongside the income statement. It provides a snapshot of a company’s financial health at a specific point in time, typically the end of a reporting period like a quarter or year.

The balance sheet presents a company’s assets, liabilities, and shareholders’ equity at a specific date. It adheres to the fundamental accounting equation:

Assets = Liabilities + Shareholders’ Equity

This equation ensures every dollar on the company’s books is accounted for, representing a financial equilibrium.

Components Of Balance Sheet

Assets: Resources owned by the company that have future economic value, categorized as:

Current Assets: Cash, inventory, accounts receivable, etc., readily convertible to cash within a year.

Non-current Assets: Long-term assets like property, plant, and equipment, are not readily convertible to cash within a year.

Liabilities: Debts and obligations the company owes to others, categorized as:

Current Liabilities: Short-term debts due within a year, such as accounts payable and accrued expenses.

Non-current Liabilities: Long-term debts like loans and mortgages, due beyond a year.

Shareholders’ Equity: The company’s net worth, representing the claims of owners (shareholders) on the company’s assets after accounting for liabilities.

Breakeven Analysis of Startups

Break-even analysis is a financial tool used to determine the point at which a company’s total revenue equals its total cost, resulting in neither profit nor loss. It helps businesses understand how much they need to sell to cover their expenses and start making a profit.

FORMULA: = TOTAL FIXED EXPENSES/(GROSS MARGIN/SALES*100)

Financial Ratios for Startups

Financial ratios are powerful tools used to analyze a company’s financial health, performance, and efficiency.

Here’s a list of commonly used ratios, categorized by their purpose, along with their formulas.

Liquidity Ratios

These ratios measure a company’s ability to meet its short-term obligations.

Current Ratio: Current Assets / Current Liabilities

Quick Ratio: (Current Assets – Inventory) / Current Liabilities

Safety Ratios

Assess a company’s ability to meet its long-term debt obligations.

Debt-to-Equity Ratio: Total Liabilities / Shareholders’ Equity

DSCR = Net Operating Income / Debt Service

Profitability Ratios

Evaluate a company’s ability to generate profits.

Sales Growth: ((Current Period Sales – Previous Period Sales) / Previous Period Sales) * 100%

COGS to Sales: Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) / Sales

Gross Profit Margin: (Sales – COGS) / Sales * 100%

SG&A to Sales: Sales General & Administrative Expenses (SG&A) / Sales

Net Profit Margin: Net Income / Sales * 100%

Return on Equity (ROE): Net Income / Average Shareholders’ Equity

Return on Assets (ROA): Net Income / Average Total Assets

Owner’s Compensation to Sales: Owner’s Compensation / Sales

Efficiency Ratios: Analyze how effectively a company uses its resources.

Days in Receivables: (Average Accounts Receivable / Revenue) * Number of Days in Period

Accounts Receivable Turnover: Revenue / Average Accounts Receivable

Days Inventory: (Average Inventory / Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)) * Number of Days in Period

Inventory Turnover: Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) / Average Inventory

Sales to Total Assets: Net Sales / Average Total Assets

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Creating a Financial Plan Sample in Excel

When it comes to financial planning, having a solid plan in place can make all the difference. Did you know that only 39% of Americans have enough savings to cover a $1,000 emergency expense? Having a financial plan sample can help individuals and families navigate their financial goals and secure their future.

A financial plan sample serves as a roadmap for individuals and families to achieve their financial objectives. By assessing one’s financial situation, setting goals, and implementing strategies, a financial plan sample helps individuals make informed decisions about their money. With a well-thought-out plan, individuals can manage their cash flow effectively, save for retirement, investments, and emergencies, and minimize debt. The statistics show that individuals with a financial plan sample are more likely to feel confident and in control of their financial well-being.

Creating a Strong Financial Plan

A financial plan is a roadmap that outlines an individual or organization’s financial goals and the steps needed to achieve them. It is essential for building wealth, managing expenses, and meeting long-term financial objectives. To create an effective financial plan, it is important to take into account various aspects such as income, expenses, investments, and savings. By understanding these elements and developing a comprehensive plan, individuals and organizations can better navigate their financial journeys and achieve financial security.

Below, we will explore the key components of a financial plan and provide a sample outline to help you get started on your own financial planning journey.

1. Establishing Financial Goals

The first step in creating a financial plan is to establish clear and specific financial goals. These goals can include short-term objectives such as paying off debt or saving for a vacation, as well as long-term goals like retirement planning or purchasing a home. It is important to prioritize these goals and assign a timeline to each one. This will help you allocate resources accordingly and stay focused on achieving each milestone.

When setting financial goals, it is crucial to ensure they are SMART goals: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. For example, instead of setting a goal to “save money,” a better-defined goal would be “save $10,000 for a down payment on a house within the next two years.” This allows for better tracking and evaluation of progress.

Once your goals are identified and prioritized, you can move on to the next step of your financial plan.

2. Assessing Current Financial Situation

Before creating a financial plan, it is important to develop a clear understanding of your current financial situation. This includes assessing your income, expenses, assets, and liabilities. Review your income sources, such as your salary, investments, or rental income, and calculate your monthly or annual income. Then, analyze your expenses, including fixed expenses (rent/mortgage, utilities, insurance) and variable expenses (entertainment, dining out, travel).

Additionally, calculate your net worth by subtracting your liabilities (debts) from your assets (savings, investments, property). Understanding your current financial situation will help you make informed decisions when developing a financial plan.

3. Budgeting and Expense Management

One of the key components of an effective financial plan is budgeting and expense management. A budget allows you to allocate your income towards various expenses and savings goals. Start by categorizing your expenses into different categories such as housing, transportation, groceries, entertainment, and savings. Determine how much you can comfortably allocate to each category based on your income and financial goals.

Creating a budget helps you identify areas where you can cut back on unnecessary expenses and allocate more towards savings or debt repayment. It also provides you with a clear overview of your financial situation and enables you to make informed decisions about your spending habits.

4. Investment and Savings Strategy

An integral part of any financial plan is developing an investment and savings strategy. This involves determining how much you can save or invest and where you should allocate these funds for maximum growth. Consider different investment options such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, or real estate, and assess their potential risks and returns.

It is important to diversify your investment portfolio to spread out risk. For example, you may allocate a certain portion of your savings towards low-risk investments such as government bonds and another portion towards higher-risk investments such as stocks. This combination ensures potential growth while minimizing the impact of market fluctuations.

In addition to investments, your financial plan should also include savings goals such as creating an emergency fund, saving for retirement, or saving for a specific purchase. Determine how much you want to save for each goal and develop a systematic savings plan.

5. Regular Monitoring and Adjustments

A financial plan is not a one-time document but an ongoing process that requires regular monitoring and adjustments. Review your financial plan periodically to ensure you are staying on track with your goals. As circumstances change, such as an increase in income or unexpected expenses, make necessary adjustments to your plan.

Monitoring your progress allows you to identify any potential gaps or areas of improvement, ensuring that you are continuously working towards your financial goals. Regularly evaluate your investment performance, adjust your budget as needed, and make strategic decisions to optimize your financial plan.

Financial Plan Sample:

Key Takeaways

• Creating a financial plan is crucial for achieving financial goals.
• A financial plan should include budgeting, saving, investing, and managing debt.
• It’s important to set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals in your financial plan.
• Regularly reviewing and adjusting your financial plan is necessary to stay on track.
• Seeking professional advice can help you create a comprehensive and effective financial plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are you looking for a financial plan sample? Here are some commonly asked questions and answers related to financial planning to help you get started.

1. Can you provide an example of a financial plan?

Sure! A financial plan is a comprehensive document that outlines an individual’s or a company’s financial goals and outlines the steps required to achieve those goals. One example of a financial plan could include setting objectives such as saving for retirement, paying off debt, and investing in real estate. The plan would then outline how much money needs to be allocated to each goal, the time frame for achieving them, and the strategies to be implemented. It would also include a budget, cash flow projections, and an investment portfolio.

Additionally, a financial plan would consider factors such as risk management, insurance coverage, tax planning, and estate planning. The plan should be tailored to the individual or company’s specific financial situation and goals. It’s important to review and update the financial plan regularly to ensure it aligns with changing circumstances and objectives.

2. How do I create a financial plan?

To create a financial plan, follow these steps:

1. Set your goals: Determine your short-term and long-term financial objectives, such as buying a house, saving for retirement, or starting a business.

2. Assess your current financial situation: Gather all your financial information, including income, expenses, assets, and debts. Calculate your net worth and evaluate your cash flow. This will give you a clear picture of your current financial standing.

3. Develop a budget: Create a budget that outlines your income and expenses. This will help you manage your cash flow and allocate funds towards your financial goals.

4. Create a savings plan: Determine how much money you need to save to achieve your goals. This could include setting aside a portion of your income each month or automating your savings contributions.

5. Invest wisely: Develop an investment strategy based on your risk tolerance and goals. This could involve diversifying your investments, seeking professional advice, and regularly reviewing and adjusting your investment portfolio.

6. Consider risk management and insurance: Evaluate your insurance needs and ensure you have coverage for unforeseen events such as illness, disability, or natural disasters.

7. Review and update regularly: Regularly review your financial plan to ensure it remains aligned with your changing circumstances and objectives.

3. What are the benefits of having a financial plan?

Having a financial plan offers several benefits:

1. Goal clarity: A financial plan helps you define your financial goals and provides a roadmap to achieve them. It gives you a clear understanding of what you need to do to reach your objectives.

2. Financial security: By creating a plan, you can better manage your finances and reduce the risk of financial hardships. It allows you to build a safety net, manage debt, and protect yourself from unexpected expenses.

3. Decision-making: A financial plan helps you make informed decisions regarding your money. It provides a framework for evaluating opportunities, such as investments or major purchases, and allows you to assess their impact on your overall financial picture.

4. Peace of mind: Knowing you have a plan in place gives you peace of mind. It reduces stress and anxiety related to financial uncertainty and allows you to focus on other important aspects of your life.

4. How often should I update my financial plan?

It is recommended to review and update your financial plan at least once a year. However, certain life events may require more frequent updates. These events include changes in income, job status, marital status, the birth of a child, or a significant change in your financial goals. Regularly monitoring and adjusting your financial plan ensures it remains relevant and aligned with your current circumstances and objectives.

Keep in mind that financial planning is an ongoing process, and your plan should evolve as your life situation changes. Consulting with a financial advisor can also help you identify when updates to your plan are necessary.

5. Can I create a financial plan on my own, or do I need professional help?

While it is possible to create a financial plan on your own, seeking professional help can provide numerous benefits. Financial advisors have expertise in financial planning, and they can help you navigate complex financial situations, provide valuable insights, and offer objective advice.

A financial advisor can assist you in setting realistic goals, developing a comprehensive plan, and implementing strategies to achieve those goals. They can also monitor your progress, provide guidance during challenging times, and recommend adjustments to your plan as needed.

Having a financial plan is an important step towards achieving financial security. It helps individuals or families set financial goals, create a budget, and make informed decisions about spending, saving, and investing.

A financial plan should include a clear list of financial goals, a breakdown of income and expenses, a savings plan, an emergency fund, and a plan for investing. It is important to regularly review and update the financial plan to ensure it aligns with changing life circumstances and goals.

By following a well-developed financial plan, individuals can establish a strong foundation for their financial future and work towards achieving their goals.

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Excel Tutorial: How To Make A Financial Plan On Excel

Introduction.

Creating a financial plan is crucial for achieving your long-term financial goals. Whether you're saving for a house, planning for retirement, or simply managing your day-to-day expenses, having a solid financial plan is essential for financial stability and peace of mind. When it comes to organizing and analyzing your finances, Excel is a powerful tool that can simplify the process and provide valuable insights.

By utilizing Excel for financial planning, you can efficiently track expenses, create budgets, and visualize your financial data in a way that is clear and easy to understand. In this tutorial, we'll explore how to leverage the capabilities of Excel to create a comprehensive financial plan that aligns with your financial goals.

Key Takeaways

• Creating a financial plan is essential for achieving long-term financial goals.
• Using Excel for financial planning can simplify the process and provide valuable insights.
• Formulas and functions in Excel can help efficiently track expenses, create budgets, and visualize financial data.
• Visualizing financial data with graphs can provide a clear understanding of the financial plan.
• Regularly tracking and updating the financial plan is crucial for financial stability and success.

Setting Up Your Workbook

When creating a financial plan in Excel, it's important to start by setting up your workbook in an organized and efficient manner. Here are the steps to follow:

A. Open a new workbook in Excel

To begin, open a new workbook in Excel. This will provide you with a clean slate to work with and allow you to start building your financial plan from scratch.

B. Name the tabs for each section of the financial plan

In order to keep your financial plan organized, it's crucial to name the tabs for each section of the plan, such as income, expenses, savings, and so on. This will make it easier to navigate through the different components of your plan and ensure that everything is clearly labeled.

C. Insert basic information such as your income sources and expenses

Once you have named your tabs, it's time to start populating them with the basic information that will form the foundation of your financial plan. Begin by inserting details about your income sources and expenses, as this will provide a starting point for further analysis and planning.

Creating Formulas

Excel is a powerful tool for creating and managing financial plans. One of the most important aspects of using Excel for financial planning is the ability to create formulas that calculate totals, averages, and percentages. In this chapter, we will explore how to use basic formulas and Excel functions to make a comprehensive financial plan.

A. Use basic formulas to calculate totals for income and expenses

When creating a financial plan in Excel, it is essential to calculate the total income and expenses. To do this, you can use basic formulas such as addition and subtraction. For example, to calculate the total income, you can use the formula =SUM(B2:B10), where B2:B10 are the cells containing the individual income amounts. Similarly, you can calculate the total expenses using the formula =SUM(C2:C10), where C2:C10 are the cells containing the individual expense amounts.

B. Utilize Excel functions such as SUM, AVERAGE, and IF statements

Excel offers a wide range of functions that can be used to streamline financial calculations. The SUM function, for example, can be used to quickly add up a range of cells. The AVERAGE function can be used to find the average of a range of values. Additionally, the IF statement can be used to create conditional calculations based on certain criteria, such as calculating expenses only if they exceed a certain threshold.

C. Calculate percentages for savings and expenses relative to income

Calculating percentages for savings and expenses relative to income is crucial for creating a comprehensive financial plan. In Excel, you can easily calculate percentages using simple formulas. For example, to calculate the percentage of income spent on expenses, you can use the formula = (Total Expenses / Total Income) * 100. This will give you the percentage of income that is being spent on expenses. Similarly, you can calculate the percentage of income saved using the formula = (Total Savings / Total Income) * 100.

Visualization with Graphs

Creating visual representations of your financial plan data can provide a clearer understanding of your financial situation and help in making informed decisions. Here's how you can use graphs to visualize your financial plan in Excel:

A. Select the data to visualize

• Identify the key financial data: Before creating a graph, identify the specific financial data that you want to visualize. This could include income, expenses, savings, investments, and other relevant financial metrics.
• Organize the data: Arrange the selected data in a clear and organized manner within your Excel spreadsheet. This will make it easier to create a graph later on.

B. Insert a graph or chart to represent the data

• Select the data range: Highlight the data range that you want to visualize in the graph. This will typically include the relevant columns and rows containing your financial data.
• Insert a graph: Navigate to the "Insert" tab in Excel, and select the type of graph or chart that best represents your financial data. Common options include bar graphs, line graphs, pie charts, and scatter plots.
• Customize the graph type: Choose a suitable graph type based on the nature of your financial data. For example, a line graph may be ideal for showing trends over time, while a pie chart can effectively display the composition of expenses or income categories.

C. Customize the graph to better understand the financial plan

• Adjust the graph appearance: Modify the visual aspects of the graph such as colors, fonts, and labels to enhance clarity and aesthetics. This can help in better understanding the financial data at a glance.
• Add relevant details: Include titles, axis labels, and legends to provide context and explanation for the graph. This will make it easier for you and others to interpret the financial information presented.
• Utilize additional features: Explore Excel's additional features such as trendlines, data labels, and annotations to further illustrate the insights derived from the financial data.

Tracking Progress

Tracking progress is a crucial aspect of financial planning, and Excel provides the perfect tool for monitoring changes in income and expenses over time.

Use Excel to track changes in income and expenses over time

One of the key features of Excel is its ability to create dynamic spreadsheets that can automatically update and calculate changes in income and expenses. By inputting your financial data into Excel, you can easily create graphs and charts that visually represent the fluctuations in your finances over time.

Create a system to update the financial plan regularly

To ensure that your financial plan remains accurate and relevant, it's essential to develop a system for regularly updating the data in your Excel spreadsheet. This could involve setting aside time each week or month to input any new income or expenses, or to review and adjust existing entries.

Set reminders to review and adjust the plan as needed

Excel allows you to set reminders and notifications to prompt you to review and adjust your financial plan as needed. By scheduling regular check-ins with your spreadsheet, you can ensure that your financial plan remains up-to-date and reflective of your current financial situation.

Utilizing Templates

When it comes to creating a financial plan on Excel, utilizing pre-made templates can save you time and ensure accuracy. There are a variety of templates available for financial planning, ranging from simple budgeting tools to more comprehensive financial forecasting spreadsheets.

• Begin by opening Excel and navigating to the "File" tab.
• Click on "New" to access the template gallery.
• Use the search bar to look for financial planning templates or browse through the available options.
• Select a template that aligns with your financial goals and needs.
• Once you have chosen a template, take the time to review and understand the various sections and features it offers.
• Input your financial data, including income, expenses, savings, and investments, into the designated fields.
• Modify the template to reflect your unique financial situation, such as adding or removing categories, adjusting formulas, and incorporating specific financial goals.
• After customizing the template to fit your needs, it's essential to save it for future use.
• Click on the "File" tab and select "Save As."
• Choose a location on your computer or cloud storage to save the template.
• Consider creating a dedicated folder for financial planning templates to keep them organized and easily accessible.
• You can also give the template a descriptive name to quickly identify it in your template library.

Creating a financial plan on Excel is a valuable skill that can help individuals and businesses organize and track their finances. To summarize, the key steps include outlining financial goals, gathering financial data, creating a budget, projecting future cash flows, and analyzing the results. Excel offers numerous benefits for financial planning, such as its user-friendly interface, powerful calculation capabilities, and customizable templates. I encourage readers to take the initiative and start their financial plan using the tips provided in this tutorial. By leveraging the tools and features of Excel , you can gain better control over your finances and make informed decisions for the future.

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How to create a budget in Excel (with free templates)

Learn how to create a spreadsheet budget that’s customized to your goals..

Maintaining a budget is crucial for a strong financial plan. As you set goals for your spending, saving, investing, and other financial objectives, your budget makes it possible for you to put your plans into action.

There are several different ways you can create a budget, and many budgeting apps have built-in tools to make the process easier. But if you have privacy concerns or you want the ability to customize your budget in a way that works for you, an Excel spreadsheet — or Numbers if you own a MacBook — can be a great choice.

Here's what you need to know about how to create a budget in Excel and some of the alternatives to consider.

How to create a budget in Excel in 5 steps

Excel can be a great option for new budgeters trying to find an approach that works for them, as well as experienced budgeters who want full control over the process. Here are some steps you can take to get started.

1. Choose your approach

Depending on your budgeting experience and what you want to do, you may decide to build your budget spreadsheet on your own or use an existing Excel budget template.

If you're new to budgeting, a template can give you a framework to get an idea of what works for you and what doesn't. It can also provide crucial features, including formulas, that can be helpful for people who don't have a lot of experience using Excel. We’ve included a template below, but you can always search online for other options.

However, if you've been doing this for a while or you know your way around an Excel spreadsheet, you may opt to build your spreadsheet on your own.

2. Review income and expenses

Take a look at your income and expenses over the last few months to get an idea of how much money you take home and where it goes.

Regardless of how complex you want your budget to be, it may be a good idea to categorize all of your expenses as you begin to help you determine how much money you want to allocate toward your financial goals versus your lifestyle.

3. Construct your budget

If you're not using a template, you'll want to create your Excel budget based on your preferred approach. If you want a simple approach, for instance, you can create more general budget categories, such as:

Necessary expenses

Debt payments

Savings and investments

Charitable contributions

Discretionary spending

Alternatively, if you want a more detailed view of your spending with a zero-based budgeting approach , you could break those down into further categories. For example, under necessary expenses, you could list out your rent or mortgage payment, insurance premiums, groceries, utilities, childcare, clothing, and medical expenses.

For discretionary spending, you could include streaming subscriptions, other entertainment, dining out, and other lifestyle-related expenses.

Read more: 7 ways to save money on a tight budget

4. Set your spending goals

Each month, you'll want to evaluate your upcoming expenses and decide how much you want to spend in each category of your budget.

Fixed expenses such as rent, internet, phone bills, and debt payments typically won't change over time, so you don't have to update them every month. For other variable expenses, however, you can make adjustments based on planned activities and your financial goals.

As you go through this process each month, don't forget recurring expenses that don't get charged every month. For example, you may have an auto insurance premium every six months, and if you forget to account for it in your budget, you may end up overspending. A sinking fund for one-off or infrequent expenses can help you plan for them.

Read more: Fixed vs. variable expenses: Key differences and how to budget for each

5. Determine how strictly you want to stick to your budget

If you're in a relatively good financial situation, you may have the freedom to give yourself some flexibility with your budgeting goals.

However, if you're struggling to get by or you have important financial obligations or objectives to satisfy, you may be more willing to align your spending with your monthly goals.

You'll also need to determine how often you want to update your budget. Because this requires you to log in to your financial accounts to track your expenses, daily updates can be onerous.

However, updating your transactions only once a month can make it hard to evaluate how well you're sticking to your budget. As a result, once a week is often a good cadence.

Read more: Struggle with budgeting? Following the 50/30/20 rule could be your solution.

6. Reassess your approach

It can take several months for you to find the right balance with your budget, especially if you're creating one for the first time.

As you track your spending each month, evaluate how effective you are at working toward your goals. If you notice that some of your goals are too rigid or relaxed, make adjustments as you go.

While you'll be bombarded by specific advice about how you should manage your money, you'll find that creating a budget is personalized to your needs and priorities can help you minimize unnecessary stress.

Excel budget templates

If you're thinking about using a template to help you design your budget, here are a few options you can try, including budget templates for specific savings goals:

Free personal budget template

This is a basic template for tracking your personal income and expenses.

Free family/household budget

If you have a large family or multiple members of your household, this budget template can help you budget as a unit.

Free wedding budget template

If you're saving money for a wedding , this budget template can help you plan for the big day.

Free holiday shopping budget template

The holidays can easily derail your budget if you aren't careful. Use this budget template to plan for the upcoming holiday season and keep your spending in check.

Read more: What is a holiday savings account?

Excel budget alternatives

If you're not sold on using Excel to manage your budget, or you simply want other options to compare, here are some to consider:

Google Sheets: One of the downsides of using Excel is that it lives strictly on your hard drive — cloud access requires a subscription. If you want the flexibility to manage your budget wherever you are, you could consider Google Sheets instead. Google Sheets is also free to use.

Budgeting apps: Budgeting apps make it easy to manage your money by providing a template, usually with customization options to personalize your budget. Many of them also allow you to import transactions from multiple financial accounts into one place, making it easier to track your spending with little effort. That said, many budgeting apps also charge monthly or annual subscription fees.

The bottom line

Creating an Excel budget can help you better manage your money and accomplish your financial goals. But depending on your experience with the spreadsheet program and your preferences, you may want to consider using a template to help you get a framework to build on.

If you're not familiar with Excel at all or you simply want to save time, consider a budgeting app that can help by doing some of the legwork associated with budgeting. Regardless of what you decide to do, it's crucial that you find the best approach for you.

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Free Financial Projection and Forecasting Templates

By Andy Marker | January 3, 2024

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We’ve collected the top free financial projection and forecasting templates. These templates enable business owners, CFOs, accountants, and financial analysts to plan future growth, manage cash flow, attract investors, and make informed decisions.  On this page, you'll find many helpful, free, customizable financial projection and forecasting templates, including a  1 2-month financial projection template , a  startup financial projection template , a  3-year financial projection template , and a  small business financial forecast template , among others. You’ll also find details on the  elements in a financial projection template ,  types of financial projection and forecasting templates , and  related financial templates .

Simple Financial Projection Template

Download a Sample Simple Financial Projection Template for 

Excel | Google Sheets  

Download a Blank Simple Financial Projection Template for 

Excel | Google Sheets    

Small business owners and new entrepreneurs are the ideal users for this simple financial projection template. Just input your expected revenues and expenses. This template stands out due to its ease of use and focus on basic, straightforward financial planning, making it perfect for small-scale or early-stage businesses. Available with or without sample text, this tool offers clear financial oversight, better budget management, and informed decision-making regarding future business growth. 

Looking for help with your business plan? Check out these  free financial templates for a business plan to streamline the process of organizing your business's financial information and presenting it effectively to stakeholders.

Financial Forecast Template

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Download a Blank Financial Forecast Template for 

This template is perfect for businesses that require a detailed and all-encompassing forecast. Users can input various financial data, such as projected revenues, costs, and market trends, to generate a complete financial outlook. Available with or without example text, this template gives you a deeper understanding of your business's financial trajectory, aiding in strategic decision-making and long-term financial stability. 

These  free cash-flow forecast templates help you predict your business’s future cash inflows and outflows, allowing you to manage liquidity and optimize financial planning.

12-Month Financial Projection Template

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Download a Blank 12-Month Financial Projection Template for 

Use this 12-month financial projection template for better cash-flow management, more accurate budgeting, and enhanced readiness for short-term financial challenges and opportunities. Input estimated monthly revenues and expenses, tracking financial performance over the course of a year. Available with or without sample text, this template is ideal for business owners who need to focus on short-term financial planning. This tool allows you to respond quickly to market shifts and plan effectively for the business's crucial first year. 

Download  free sales forecasting templates to help your business predict future sales, enabling better inventory management, resource planning, and decision-making.

Startup Financial Projection Template

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This dynamic startup financial projection template is ideal for startup founders and entrepreneurs, as it's designed specifically for the unique needs of startups. Available with or without example text, this template focuses on clearly outlining a startup's initial financial trajectory, an essential component for attracting investors. Users can input projected revenues, startup costs, and funding sources to create a comprehensive financial forecast.

3-Year Financial Projection Template

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This three-year financial projection template is particularly useful for business strategists and financial planners who are looking for a medium-term financial planning tool. Input data such as projected revenues, expenses, and growth rates for the next three years. Available with or without sample text, this template lets you anticipate financial challenges and opportunities in the medium term, aiding in strategic decision-making and ensuring sustained business growth.

5-Year Financial Forecasting Template

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CFOs and long-term business planners can use this five-year financial forecasting template to get a clear, long-range financial vision. Available with or without example text, this template allows you to plan strategically and invest wisely, preparing your business for future market developments and opportunities. This unique tool offers an extensive outlook for your business’s financial strategy. Simply input detailed financial data spanning five years, including revenue projections, investment plans, and expected market growth. Visually engaging bar charts of key metrics help turn data into engaging narratives.

Small Business Financial Forecast Template

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Download a Blank Small Business Financial Forecast Template for 

Excel | Google Sheets 

The small business financial forecast template is tailored specifically for the scale and specific requirements of small enterprises. Business owners and financial managers can simply input data such as projected sales or expenses. Available with or without sample text, this tool offers the ability to do the following: envision straightforward financial planning; anticipate future financial needs and challenges; make informed decisions; and steer the business toward steady growth.

Elements in a Financial Projection Template

The elements in a financial projection template include future sales, costs, profits, and cash flow. This template illustrates expected receivables, payables, and break-even dates. This tool helps you plan for your business's financial future and growth.   

Here are the standard elements in a financial projection template:   

• Revenue Projection: This estimates future income from various sources over a specific period.
• Expense Forecast: This predicts future costs, including both fixed and variable expenses.
• Profit and Loss Forecast:  This projects the profit or loss by subtracting projected expenses from projected revenues.
• Cash-Flow Projection: This assesses the inflows and outflows of cash, indicating liquidity over time.
• Balance Sheet Projection: This predicts the future financial position, showing assets, liabilities, and equity.
• Break-Even Analysis: This calculates the point at which total revenues equal total costs.
• Capital Expenditure Forecast: This estimates future spending on fixed assets such as equipment or property.
• Debt Repayment Plan: This outlines the schedule for paying back any borrowed funds.
• Sales Forecast:  This predicts future sales volume, often broken down by product or service.
• Gross Margin Analysis:  This looks at the difference between revenue and cost of goods sold.

Types of Financial Projection and Forecasting Templates

There are many types of financial projection and forecasting templates: basic templates for small businesses; detailed ones for big companies; special ones for startup businesses; and others. There are also sales forecasts, cash-flow estimates, and profit and loss projections. 

In addition, financial projection and forecasting templates include long-term planning templates, break-even analyses, budget forecasts, and templates made for specific industries such as retail or manufacturing. 

Each template serves different financial planning needs. Determine which one best suits your requirements based on the scale of your business, the complexity of its financial structure, and the specific department that you want to analyze.

Here's a list of the top types of financial projection and forecasting templates:  

• Basic Financial Projection Template: Ideal for small businesses or startups, this template provides a straightforward approach to forecasting revenue, expenses, and cash flow.
• Detailed Financial Projection Template: Best for larger businesses or those with complex financial structures, this template offers in-depth projections, including balance sheets, income statements, and cash-flow statements.
• Startup Financial Projection Template: Tailored for startups, this template focuses on funding requirements and early-stage revenue forecasts, both crucial for attracting investors and planning initial operations. 
• Sales Forecasting Template:  Used by sales and marketing teams to predict future sales, this template helps you set targets and plan marketing strategies. 
• Cash-Flow Forecast Template: Essential for financial managers who need to monitor the liquidity of the business, this template projects cash inflows and outflows over a period. 
• Profit and Loss Forecast Template (P&L):  Useful for business owners and financial officers who need to anticipate profit margins, this template enables you to forecast revenues and expenses.  
• Three-Year / Five-Year Financial Projection Template: Suitable for long-term business planning, these templates provide a broader view of your company’s financial future, improving your development strategy and investor presentations. 
• Break-Even Analysis Template:  Used by business strategists and financial analysts, this template helps you determine when your business will become profitable. 
• Budget Forecasting Template:  Designed for budget managers, this template uses historical financial data to help you plan your future spending. 
• Sector-Specific Financial Projection Template:  Designed for specific industries (such as retail or manufacturing), these templates take into account industry-specific factors and benchmarks.

Related Financial Templates

Check out this list of free financial templates related to financial projections and forecasting. You'll find templates for budgeting, tracking profits and losses, planning your finances, and more. These tools help keep your company’s money matters organized and clear.

Free Project Budget Templates

Use one of these  project budget templates to maintain control over project finances, ensuring costs stay aligned with the allocated budget and improving overall financial management.

Free Monthly Budget Templates

Use one of these  monthly budget templates to effectively track and manage your business’s income and expenses, helping you plan financially and save money.

Free Expense Report Templates

Use one of these  expense report templates to systematically track and document all business-related expenditures, ensuring accurate reimbursement and efficient financial record-keeping.

Free Balance Sheet Templates

Use one of these  balance sheet templates to summarize your company's financial position at a given time.

Free Cash-Flow Forecast Templates

Use one of these  cash-flow forecast templates to predict future cash inflows and outflows, helping you manage liquidity and make informed financial decisions.

Free Cash-Flow Statement Templates

Use one of these  cash-flow statement templates to track the movement of cash in and out of your business, so you can assess your company’s level of liquidity and financial stability.

Free Discounted Cash-Flow (DCF) Templates

Use one of these  discounted cash-flow (DCF) templates to evaluate the profitability of investments or projects by calculating their present value based on future cash flows.

Free Financial Dashboard Templates

Use one of these  financial dashboard templates to get an at-a-glance view of key financial metrics, so you can make decisions quickly and manage finances effectively.

Related Customer Stories

Free financial planning templates.

Use one of these  financial planning templates to strategically organize and forecast future finances, helping you set realistic financial goals and ensure long-term business growth.

Free Profit and Loss (P&L) Templates

Use one of these  profit and loss (P&L) templates to systematically track income and expenses, giving you a clear picture of your company's profitability over a specific period.

Free Billing and Invoice Templates

Use one of these  billing and invoice templates to streamline the invoicing process and ensure that you bill clients accurately and professionally for services or products.

Plan and Manage Your Company’s Financial Future with Financial Projection and Forecasting Templates from Smartsheet

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