Professional Documents
Culture Documents
xlsx
Build a startup financial plan covering the first two years of operation of your small business
Save this file as "YourName Financial Forecast"
You may use information you have collected for you own business idea (the information will be held in
confidence by your instructor), or you may develop an imagined business idea.
Your assignment requires you to pull together information to complete all the sheets in this template. The
numbers you used do not have to be meticulously researched, but deductions may be made for information
that is unreasonable or obviously incomplete.
Follow the lead of the class example "Yes Chef". The example is a business in the food service
industry, so please choose for YOUR business something in a different industry!
Complete your proposed financing strategy and your proposed start up costs. Regardless of your true
intentions, you should assume you will get money from yourself, from Futurpreneur and one other source.
State the interest rate or dividend rate on the "other" financing.
Show how you will use the money from each financing source by balancing the cost with invested funds
Prepare two years of cash flows, estimating as best you can what your unit sales, selling prices, variable
and fixed costs will likely be. Make sure to define your selling unit: for a restaurant this could be customers
(average cheque), for a retail store this could be individual items (or cases, or other sale units)
The actual cash flow is irrelevant to your mark (I don't care if you force your cash flow to be positive
or if it's negative). Anyone can make up numbers to indicate what ever result they hope for. Question is:
Is that a realistic forecast? What is important is your analysis of what's going right and wrong with the cash
flow results. You need to make insightful comments about the cash flows. Particularly negative cash flow.
But what is causing the results to be the way they are??
When you prepare your income statement, prepare a vertical analysis of both years and make insightful
comments about what the income statement is telling you. Again, you can create any scenario you want,
but you should be able to explain how the income statement shows you the factors that are causing your
success or your lack of success (which might just be start up issues)
Review your financial ratios and comment on the business's year to year performance as well as discussing
any sucesses or challenges shown by the profitability, efficiency, leverage and liquidity ratios. QUESTION
the results! What is causing poor results? If results are fantastic, question your sales and cost assumptions
Marks
Marking Key Avble Examples of criteria
My Business - Background: Provide a description
Useful in understanding the nature of
of the business (no marketing superlatives about 5%
the business and its financial needs
you or your product, please)
Mix of exp and assets; realistic life; not
Past purchases 10%
operations costs
Complete; lifespans, loans allocated as
Step 1 Start up costs 15% intended, consistent with other
schedules. Reasonable startup funds
Assignment 4 Overview
MGMT4042 562618474.xlsx
Cash-flow Guidelines
You would like to take advantage of your business idea and raise cash from potential investors
The sheets are protected from alteration. This can be changed at any time if you need to make changes by using the Review
menu. Select "Unprotect Sheet"
The data in this cell comes from another sheet. You should not
Many cells are colour coded: change these cell unless absolutely sure. The cell is locked.
The cell is expecting input from you. If you do not have anything
to put in this cell, leave it blank
If you want to change the formula of a locked cell (e.g., if you find an error in the worksheets or you believe the cell is wrong,
you can use the Review Menu/Unprotect Sheet)
PAST PURCHASES
To test out some of your ideas, you will probably have paid for some goods and services that have been used (expenses) or
will have continuing value (assets). List the items here.
Lifespan of 1 year means an item's value has been realized. It can be expensed in year 1
For this assignment, you should create at least one "Other " source of funding in addition to the funds you will request from
BDC and Futurpreneur. Assume you will be borrowing some money from these three sources and chipping in some money
of your own. The amounts you are requesting can be any amount. if you don't need much, you don't need to borrow the
maximums.
The Balance Check ensures that all funding sources have been allocated to the various assets. If this column is not in
balance, then the assets and their funding are not properly matched.
Sales Assumptions - first estimate the unit sales you expect from all your lines of business. Define your unit of sales and
below, come up with the average price you will sell the items for. To make this manageable, if you have a wide range of
products, you could divide them up by selling price (category 1 is the items priced from $.25 to $1.99; category 2 is items
from $2 to $4.99 etc.) Break your offerings down into no more than four categories. Few businesses have a single product
with one selling price and one cost price. I expect at least 2 or three categories.
Cash from Sales - in this section, indicate the average price we will receive for each type of sale. If the low price items have
a price range from $.25 to $2, try to come up with the average price of a unit from this category. Do the same with the other
categories, if you need more than one category.
Funding Sources - cash flow comes from the previous sheet. All these amounts should be the same.
Note: the extra green areas are for you to use when you identify that there is a shortfall in cash and new money needs to
be raised. If you invest again, put it on the owner line. Otherwise use the new funding line. Explain any new funding in
the comments area below.
The total of the above sections gives the net total cash inflows by month. This amount is supposed to cover
all the expenses and provide profits. You will pay yourself in the owner's draw line of the general expenses section.
CASH OUTFLOWS
Variable Costs
Indicate your cost of sales % for each product/service you offer. In the example, an estimate of 30% food cost for the meal
kits, 25% for the education, 20% for business groups, and 35% for cookware sales.
Note that this has just calculated the variable cost percentage - 28%.
Other variable costs should be included in this section. This is a change from the Futurpreneur model, which doesn't really
make a fixed/variable distinction, except with inventory. All you enter is the estimated % of sales represented by that
particular expense.
In this section, enter all your fixed expenses - the ones that don't change much from month to month or from one sales level
to another. You can enter an average amount in each month, e.g. as was done for 1st owner's draw or bank charges, or you
can try to predict them
If some of the captions aren't applicable to your business, you may have to rename some of them and/or group some
expenses together
Other Disbursements
This is where you will enter any cash you spend repaying the interest or principal on your loans. You can also use the extra
line to show when you are buying more assets, such as equipment. However, if you do buy more equipment, the
depreciation will not be calculated for you on the income statement.
The bottom section shows the change in cash for the month (inflows-outflows). The chane is added to your opening cash
balance and this becomes the ending balance for the month as well as the opening balance for the following month. The
ending balance is the Cumulative Cash Flow. It should be POSITIVE. A positive balance indicates you have cash to run your
business. A negative means that your business is running an overdraft. If this is acceptable to your bank, i.e., you have
negotiated an overdraft loan agreement and the amount is less than the overdraft limit, then you are OK (though you would
have additional interest expenses following the creation of any overdraft amount). The model does not handle overdrafts,
but you could add a formula or a line for this.
A negative amount without an overdraft means your business is in a negative cash position, which is usually going to be a big
problem. This could be handled in the short term by maybe delaying payments to suppliers but it indicates the need for
added investments by the owner.
At the bottom, enter your comments on the projected cashflow. There's no honour in simply bumping up the sales until
you get a positive cashflow. That's how people trick themselves into starting a doomed business because they wish it made
sense. Here, make comments on what to do about your cashflow, whether it is good or bad. What's causing the situation.
What does it indicate that you should do in the future?
This sheet is basically the same as the previous sheet, but it doesn't need the lines for the original financing or investment.
Another difference is that the Futurpreneur and BDC loans start to come due and interest becomes payable. These amounts
were calculated in the template and may not reflect current Futurpreneur or BDC rates.
Again, there is room at the bottom for your comments and analysis.
INCOME STATEMENT
This report will tell you more about the profitablity of your business. Losses aren't as urgent as cash shortages, but they
need to be corrected if the business is going to be viable. This statement only looks at the income and expense items - it
ignores asset purchases, loan principal repayment and borrowing. On the other hand, it does account for the use of the
assets through a depreciation charge and the interest on loans. If you are facing a loss currently, ask yourself if the problem
stems from low unit sales? Low selling price? High variable costs and therefore not enough contribution? High fixed
operating costs? High financing costs?
Each one suggests a different solution - make a suggestion as to what's going right and what's going wrong with your
forecasted operations
FINANCIAL REVIEW
This review takes amounts from some of the other worksheets and generates a summarized Balance Sheet and Income
Statement. It compares the first year forecasted amounts (Step 1) to the original plans and to next year's plans (Step 2).
Most of the amounts come from either the Cashflows (like Cash balance, borrowing amounts and fixed assets) or from the
income statement (revenues, expenses, depreciation).
You will need to input or amend several items (Receivables, Inventory, Current liabilities, for example) in order to generate
a realistic Balance Sheet, and therefore to help create a plausible analysis.
The initial year assumes all asset and liability accounts started with a zero balance for calculating ratios. From year 1 to 2,
the average balances are the forecasted actuals for Year 1 and the Year 2 plan.
The key issue with the forecast Balance Sheet is to determine if you need to raise even more capital than you have already
planned for. The Futurpreneur forms require some basic balance sheet information in the Financial Analysis tab.
The Financial Commentary section is where the "rubber hits the road". You should analyze your financial ratios and give a
reasonable explanation for what is good, what is bad, and what you might do to fix the problems.
MARKING KEY
Review this final sheet to understand the key focus areas of this assignment. Good luck!
The following information explains some of the underlying assumptions of the business that is modelled in the assignment
Briefly describe the basic product or service offered by the business
Does the business need a fixed place of operation (production, sales, office, storefront)? Briefly describe.
You need a retail store and a production facility. The first location will have a large
production facility to guarantee our daily products
A small office area with computer and office equipment is necessary
the production area will need 3D machines, sewing machines.
Has significant work already been done to develop the idea and has cash been spent on this? Describe briefly.
Who are the main funding sources (assignment requires you to have personal investment, Futurpreneur, BDC and one other
source)? If you don't need other sources, complete the case as if you would raise money from these sources.
personal invenst $
Briefly explain the important pieces (assets, skills, locations, etc.) of the business that will be needed to make it viable.
In addition to the facilities mentioned above, the sales and marketing necessary to increase our presence and for the client to
better locate us.
Are there estimates of how much it will cost to provide the products/services to customers?
(rules of thumb -e.g. no more than 30% of sales in restaurant should be food cost - note this is an EXAMPLE only)
How many employees do you expect to have working for you? Provide an estimate of monthly hours and rates.
What is the minimum amount of monthly profit you need to earn from this enterprise for it to be worthwhile?
How long do you think it will take for your business to become profitable?
5 years
My Business - Background
562618474.xlsx
* Lifespan notes:
Expenses are goods and services used immediately. They should have a lifespan of 1, meaning they will be expensed in year 1.
Assets should have a lifespan that matchs its useful life. A lifespan of 2 indicates the asset will be used up 1/2 in year 1; the rest in year 2
Assets that will not be expensed in the foreseeable future (e.g., Land or Rent deposits) have a lifespan of 0 - they won’t e expensed at all
Past Purchases
562618474.xlsx
(F) NET CASH-FLOW (A-E) $ 31,562 $ (3,564) $ (2,924) $ (2,774) $ (1,442) $ (487) $ (140) $ (536) $ 627 $ 948 $ 1,155 $ 1,555 $23,981 26% negative cash flow indicates you spent more in the month than your received
(G) CASH FROM PREVIOUS PERIOD $ - $ 31,562 $ 27,999 $ 25,075 $ 22,300 $ 20,859 $ 20,372 $ 20,231 $ 19,696 $ 20,323 $ 21,270 $ 22,426 $0 openng cash balance
(H) CUMULATIVE CASH-FLOW (F+G) $31,562 $27,999 $25,075 $22,300 $20,859 $20,372 $20,231 $19,696 $20,323 $21,270 $22,426 $23,981 $23,981 26% This ending balance for cash should never be zero or less. It means you have run out of money.
(F) Net cash flow is composed of: You may need new investments or overdraft agreement (for small, occasional negatives)
Operating Cash Flow - from Sales and Expenses $ (2,181) $ (2,107) $ (1,468) $ (1,318) $ 15 $ 970 $ 1,317 $ 921 $ 2,084 $ 2,405 $ 2,612 $ 3,012 $6,261 7%
Financing and Investing Cash Flows $ 33,743 $ (1,457) $ (1,457) $ (1,457) $ (1,457) $ (1,457) $ (1,457) $ (1,457) $ (1,457) $ (1,457) $ (1,457) $ (1,457) $17,720 19%
Commentary:
Explain what you have learned from this exercise What insights do you have from preparing this report?
Does your cash flow dip into negatives? Yes / No If Yes, how are you going to solve it? If no, to what do you attribute your success?
Does your cash flow meet your expectations? Yes / No Explain:
Are there any issues that need to be addressed?
(F) NET CASH-FLOW (A-E) $ 3,201 $ 11,115 $ 5,294 $ 6,315 $ 7,564 $ 9,592 $ 8,803 $ 9,181 $ 8,697 $ 10,425 $ 16,864 $ 19,005 $116,057 37%
(G) CASH FROM PREVIOUS PERIOD $ 23,981 $ 27,182 $ 38,297 $ 43,592 $ 49,907 $ 57,471 $ 67,063 $ 75,866 $ 85,047 $ 93,744 $ 104,169 $ 121,033 $23,981
(H) CUMULATIVE CASH-FLOW (F+G) $ 27,182 $ 38,297 $ 43,592 $ 49,907 $ 57,471 $ 67,063 $ 75,866 $ 85,047 $ 93,744 $ 104,169 $ 121,033 $ 140,038 $140,038 44%
Commentary:
Explain what you have learned from this exercise What insights do you have from preparing this report?
Does your cash flow dip into negatives? Yes / No If Yes, how are you going to solve it?
Does your cash flow meet your expectations? Yes / No Explain:
Are there any issues that need to be addressed?
* should match Step 2 and 3 - the amounts appear in the total column
** should match Step 1 Year 1 and Year 2 Accounting Expense (table at right)
Comment: What does the income statement & vertical analysis tell you about your profitability? What are the positives &
negatives? What does this statement tell you?
Enter your comments here, and add lines as needed
Financial Review
Summarize your financial performance in
Integrate your findings into your projection for next year's financial plan.
comparison to your original plan.
As at: Current year's (Yr1) Next year's (Yr2) Year to Year Chg
Forecasted Next year to
Jun-17 Actual (end) Plan Plan Variance Plan Current Act
Balance sheet
Cash $ 23,981 $ 1 $ 23,980 $ 140,038 484.0%
Income statement
Sales Revenue $ 92,600 $ 92,600 $ 315,615 240.8%
Variable Costs 31,564 (31,564) 118,536 275.5%
Contribution Margin 61,036 61,036 197,080 222.9%
Operating Expenses
Op Expenses excl. Depreciation 66,775 (66,775) 77,510 16.1%
Depreciation 27,000 (27,000) 17,200 -36.3%
Operating Income (EBIT) (32,739) - (32,739) 102,370 412.7%
Interest/financing fees 5,480 (5,480) 4,762 -13.1%
Income Before Tax (EBT) (38,219) - (38,219) 97,607 355.4%
Income Taxes (15% of positive EBT) - - - 14,641 N/A
Net income $ (38,219) $ - $ (38,219) $ 82,966 317.1%
Net cash flow from operations (see notes) $ (38,575) $ - $ (38,575) $ 11,465 129.7%
Financial ratios Forecast Act Plan Potential Questions Next Year Plan
Average Days in Inventory (use Avg Inv) 44.21 N/A - Is the turnover too high or low? N/A Efficiency
- Does your business have
Current Ratio 9.48 enough liquidity to cover your Liquidity
short term liabilities?
- Does your business have
enough cash to meet any short
Quick ratio 8.22 term liabilities that may be due Liquidity
soon?
Notes: -the current year is the first year of operations, so all asset, liability and equity accounts began the year at a zero balance.
- Net Cash Flow is Net Income plus Depreciation plus a decrease in working capital during the year. A decrease in working capital occurs when Current Assests minus
Current Liabilities is less than at the beginning of the period. (If working capital increased in the year, deduct the amount of the change).
Cash-flow Guidelines
This template is based on and mostly adapted from, but not identical to, the Futurpreneur cash flow forecast model.
Figures you input are based on your experience, research and business activity estimates.
The cash-flow template is divided into several parts to simplify the cash-flow creation. You can revisit and adjust your figures as you adjust your plan, but it is best to start working in order
from start-up, to year one then year two cash-flow projections. The sheets are protected so you can only add information into the green cells. Yellow cells show data you entered on a
previous sheet.
If you have already incurred business expenses add these to the Past Purchase form. If you have not made any purchases yet skip the past purchases step.
If you have prepared this cash-flow using the Futurpreneur Canada online business plan writer, there are a few items you will want to review and edit as you finalize your cash-flow.
When using the Interactive business plan writer, Start-up - Inventory / Stock / Products costs will be grouped together as a single cost and not separated by inventory type or product price
ranges. You may need to organize these costs by inventory type or price ranges to better demonstrate your initial Inventory / Stock / Products costs. We recommend you limit the categories
to 3 - 4 at a maximum.
Sales Assumptions, Cash Sales and Inventory Costs on the Year One & Two Cash-Flows will not be broken down by inventory items, costing or services. You may need to separate the prices
shown in the cash-flow by organizing them into inventory types, price ranges or service categories. This will show your sales and expenses assumptions more clearly. We suggest you start by
organizing the Sales Assumptions first and do not use more than 3 or 4 different categories for cash-flows on year one and year two.
In the income statement and financial analysis tabs, you may need to ensure that you are capturing all your expenses, especially if you added new lines to any of the models. In the income
statement you will find that the start up costs are being added based on their lifespans.
Resources:
See the Glossary - Business Terms and Definitions for basic descriptions of terms and concepts.
Futurpreneur Financing guidelines and loan details can be found on the Financing Guidelines tab and the Futurpreneur Canada website.
The Projected Income Statement is filled in automatically when you complete the year 1 and 2 cash-flows. The Income Statement will give you insight into the overall progress of the business.
Visit our resource website for assistance with financial planning at:
http://www.futurpreneur.ca/en/resources/operational-and-financial-planning/
My Business - Background 0
Does the description indicate the student understands what the assignment requires? 2
Does the description indicate the student understands the keys to successfully operating this business? 2
Are the above areas completed in a reasonable manner? 1 Total - 5
Past Purchases
Reasonable number of items (at least 5) with dollar amounts 3
Evidence of business-specific items added by student 3
All allocated to Assets or Expense appropriately? Lifespan for all items (Exp =1) and reasonable? 2
Does the plan provide for adequate cashflow? 2 - 10
Evidence of business-specific items added by student, that are truly "startup" costs 3
Start up costs have reasonable lifespans 3
Total - 100