AFFÄRSPLAN Essentials: Att skriva en Cash Flow Projection

Det är i slutet av din affärsplan, men planen sektionen finansiella är det avsnitt som avgör om din affärsidé är livskraftig, och är en viktig komponent för att avgöra om eller inte din plan kommer att kunna attrahera alla investeringar i din affärsidé.

I grund och botten planen avsnittet finansiella består av tre bokslut, resultaträkningen , den kassaflödesprognos och balansräkningen och en kort förklaring / analys av dessa tre uttalanden.

Denna artikel kommer att leda dig genom beredning av vart och ett av dessa tre finansiella rapporter. Men först måste du samla ihop några av de finansiella uppgifter du behöver genom att undersöka dina utgifter.

Tänk på ditt företags kostnader brutit sig in i två kategorier; dina uppstartskostnader och dina driftskostnader.

Samtliga kostnader för att få ditt företag igång gå in i uppstartskostnader kategori. Dessa kostnader kan omfatta:

• Business registreringsavgifter
• Business licenser och tillstånd
• Från och inventering
• Hyr insättningar
• Avbetalningar på egendom
• Avbetalningar på utrustning
• Utility inrätta avgifter

Detta är bara ett urval av uppstartskostnader; din egen lista kommer förmodligen att expandera så fort du börjar skriva ner dem.

Driftskostnaderna är kostnaderna för att hålla verksamheten igång. Tänk på dessa som de saker du kommer att behöva betala varje månad. Listan av rörelsekostnaderna kan vara:

• Löner (ditt och personalens löner)
• Hyra eller amorteringar
• telekommunikation
• verktyg
• Råmaterial
• Lagring
• Distribution
• Befordran
• lån betalningar
• Kontorsmaterial
• Underhåll

Återigen, detta är bara en ofullständig lista för att komma igång. När du har din driftskostnader listan klar kommer den totala visa dig vad det kommer att kosta dig att hålla verksamheten igång varje månad.

Multiplicera detta tal med sex, och du har en sex månaders uppskattning av dina driftskostnader. Tillsätt sedan detta till summan av din start upp kostnader listan och du har en ungefärlig siffra för din kompletta startkostnader.

Låt oss nu titta på att sätta vissa finansiella rapporter för din affärsplan tillsammans, med början i resultaträkningen.

Resultaträkningen

Resultaträkningen är en av de tre finansiella rapporter som du behöver ta med i finansieringsplanen delen av affärsplanen.

Resultaträkningen visar dina intäkter, kostnader och vinst under en viss period. Det är en ögonblicksbild av ditt företag som visar om din verksamhet är lönsam vid denna tidpunkt; Intäkter – Kostnader = Vinst / Förlust.

Även etablerade företag producerar normalt en resultaträkning varje räkenskapskvartal, eller ens en gång varje räkenskapsår, inom ramen för affärsplanen, bör en resultaträkning genereras oftare – månadsvis under det första året.

Här är en resultaträkning mall för det första kvartalet för en tjänstebaserad verksamhet. Det följs av en beskrivning av hur man anpassa denna resultaträkningen mall till en produkt-baserade företag.

Not all of the categories in this Income Statement will apply to your business. Leave out those that don’t apply and add categories where necessary to adapt this template to your business.

To use this template as part of the business plan, you’ll need to set it up as a table and fill in the appropriate figures for each month (as indicated by the line “row listing each month”).

If you have a product-based business, the Revenue section of the Income Statement will look different. Revenue will be called Sales, and the inventory needs to be accounted for. Here is an example showing how the cost of inventory is calculated in the Revenue section:

The Expense portion of the Income Statement, however, is very similar to the template I’ve provided above.

Ready to move on to the next financial statement that you need to include in the Financial Plan section of your business plan? The Cash Flow Projection is next.

The Cash Flow Projection

The Cash Flow Projection shows how cash is expected to flow in and out of your business. For you, it’s an important tool for cash flow management, letting you know when your expenditures are too high or when you might want to arrange short term investments to deal with a cash flow surplus. As part of your business plan, a Cash Flow Projection will give you a much better idea of how much capital investment your business idea needs.

For a bank loans officer, the Cash Flow Projection offers evidence that your business is a good credit risk and that there will be enough cash on hand to make your business a good candidate for a line of credit or short term loan.

Do not confuse a Cash Flow Projection with a Cash Flow Statement. The Cash Flow Statement shows how cash has flowed in and out of your business. In other words, it describes the cash flow that has occurred in the past. The Cash Flow Projection shows the cash that is anticipated to be generated or expended over a chosen period of time in the future.

While both types of Cash Flow reports are important business decision-making tools for businesses, we’re only concerned with the Cash Flow Projection in the business plan. You will want to show Cash Flow Projections for each month over a one year period as part of the Financial Plan portion of your business plan.

There are three parts to the Cash Flow Projection. The first part details your Cash Revenues. Enter your estimated sales figures for each month. Remember that these are Cash Revenues; you will only enter the sales that are collectible in cash during the specific month you are dealing with.

The second part is your Cash Disbursements. Take the various expense categories from your ledger and list the cash expenditures you actually expect to pay that month for each month.

The third part of the Cash Flow Projection is the Reconciliation of Cash Revenues to Cash Disbursements. As the word “reconciliation” suggests, this section starts with an opening balance which is the carryover from the previous month’s operations. The current month’s Revenues are added to this balance; the current month’s Disbursements are subtracted, and the adjusted cash flow balance is carried over to the next month.

Here is a template for a Cash Flow Projection that you can use for your business plan (or later on when your business is up and running):

Where:

CASH FLOW = TOTAL CASH REVENUES – TOTAL CASH DISBURSEMENTS

OPENING CASH BALANCE = CLOSING CASH BALANCE from the previous month

CLOSING CASH BALANCE = OPENING CASH BALANCE + CASH FLOW

Once again, to use this template for your own business, you will need to delete and add the appropriate Revenue and Disbursement categories that apply to your own business.

The main danger when putting together a Cash Flow Projection is being over optimistic about your projected sales. Terry Elliott’s article, 3 Methods of Sales Forecasting, will help you avoid this and provides a detailed explanation of how to do accurate sales forecasting for your Cash Flow Projections.

Once you have your Cash Flow Projections completed, it’s time to move on to the Balance Sheet.

The Balance Sheet

The Balance Sheet is the last of the financial statements that you need to include in the Financial Plan section of the business plan. The Balance Sheet presents a picture of your business’ net worth at a particular point in time. It summarizes all the financial data about your business, breaking that data into 3 categories; assets, liabilities, and equity.

Some definitions first:

Assets are tangible objects of financial value that are owned by the company.

A liability is a debt owed to a creditor of the company.

Equity is the net difference when the total liabilities are subtracted from the total assets.

Retained earnings are earnings kept by the company for expansion, i.e. not paid out as dividends.

Current earnings are earnings for the fiscal year up to the balance sheet date (income – cost of sales and expenses).

All accounts in your General Ledger are categorized as an asset, a liability or equity. The relationship between them is expressed in this equation: Assets = Liabilities + Equity.

For the purposes of your business plan, you’ll be creating a pro forma Balance Sheet intended to summarize the information in the Income Statement and Cash Flow Projections. Normally a business prepares a Balance Sheet once a year.

Here is a template for a Balance Sheet that you can use for your business plan (or later on when your business is up and running):

Once again, this template is an example of the different categories of assets and liabilities that may apply to your business. The Balance Sheet will reproduce the accounts you have set up in your General Ledger. You may need to modify the categories in the Balance Sheet template above to suit your own business.

Once you have your Balance Sheet completed, you’re ready to write a brief analysis of each of the three financial statements. When you’re writing these analysis paragraphs, you want to keep them short and cover the highlights, rather than writing an in-depth analysis. The financial statements themselves (the Income Statement, Cash Flow Projections, and Balance Sheet) will be placed in your business plan’s Appendices.

Ahmad Faishal

Ahmad Faishal is now a full-time writer and former Analyst of BPD DIY Bank. He’s Risk Management Certified. Specializing in writing about financial literacy, Faishal acknowledges the need for a world filled with education and understanding of various financial areas including topics related to managing personal finance, money and investing and considers investoguru as the best place for his knowledge and experience to come together.

Author: Ahmad Faishal

Ahmad Faishal is now a full-time writer and former Analyst of BPD DIY Bank. He's Risk Management Certified. Specializing in writing about financial literacy, Faishal acknowledges the need for a world filled with education and understanding of various financial areas including topics related to managing personal finance, money and investing and considers investoguru as the best place for his knowledge and experience to come together. View all posts by Ahmad Faishal