Financial projection is a forecast of future revenues and expenses. Typically, the projection will account for internal or historical data and will include a prediction of external market factors. In general, you will need to develop both short- and mid-term financial projections.

Benefits of Financial Projections

• Perceive an unbiased view of your company’s economic status and the path it will likely take in the future.
• Prepare for expenses and revenue based on supply and demand patterns in the market.
• Establish goals by developing intentional commitments for long-term success.
• Set up points of achievement to ensure your business is growing as predicted.
• Compare the development of the market with the rate at which your business is flourishing.
• Reveal growth deviations from your projections early on to efficiently mitigate any concerns.
• Adequate financial planning is a key element in the success of any business venture.
• The financial plan translates your company’s goals into specific targets.
• The plan provides you with a vital feedback-and-control tool.
• The plan can anticipate problems.

What we do

• Create a budget congruent with the long-term objectives of your company, and be sure to stick to it despite successful or challenging periods.
• Evaluate and update your budget regularly, but know your predictions aren’t likely to unfold exactly as planned.
• Measure your budget against your goals to adjust your spending and seize opportunities for growth.
• Use short-term budgets for immediate plans, and extended projections to consider the overall goals of the company.
• Making sure to allocate spare funds to prepare for unexpected or larger costs.
• While making business projection we make the following statements and budgeted reports by considering generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) set forth by the Financial Accounting Standards Board.

Sales Forecast

As a startup business, you do not have past results to review, which can make forecasting sales difficult. It can be done, though, if you have a good understanding of the market you are entering and industry trends as a whole. In fact, sales forecasts based on a solid understanding of industry and market trends will show potential investors that you have done your homework
and your forecast is more than just guesswork.

In practical terms, your forecast should be broken down by monthly sales with entries showing which units are being sold, their price points, and how many you expect to sell. When getting into the second year of your business plan and beyond, its acceptable to reduce the forecast to quarterly sales. In fact, thats the case for most items in your business plan.

Expenses Budget

What youre selling has to cost something, and this budget is where you need to show your expenses. These include the cost to your business of the units being sold in addition to overhead. Its a good idea to break down your expenses by fixed costs and variable costs. For example, certain expenses will be the same or close to the same every month, including rent, insurance, and others. Some costs likely will vary month by month such as advertising or seasonal sales help.

Cash Flow Statement

As with your sales forecast, cash flow statements for a startup require doing some homework since you do not have historical data to use as a reference. This statement, in short, breaks down how much cash is coming into your business on a monthly basis vs. how much is going out. By using your sales forecasts and your expenses budget, you can estimate your cash flow intelligently.

Keep in mind that revenue often will trail sales, depending on the type of business you are operating. For example, if you have contracts with clients, they may not be paying for items they purchase until the month following delivery. Some clients may carry balances 60 or 90 days beyond delivery. You need to account for this lag when calculating exactly when you expect to see your revenue.

Profit and Loss Statement

Your P&L statement should take the information from your sales projections, expenses budget, and cash flow statement to project how much you expect in profits or losses through the three years included in your business plan. You should have a figure for each individual year as well as a figure for the full three-year period.

Balance Sheet

You provide a breakdown of all of your assets and liabilities in the balances sheet. Many of these assets and liabilities are items that go beyond monthly sales and expenses. For example,any property, equipment, or unsold inventory you own is an asset with a value that can be assigned to it. The same goes for outstanding invoices owed to you that have not been paid.Even though you dont have the cash in hand, you can count those invoices as assets. The amount you owe on a business loan or the amount you owe others on invoices you’ve not paid would count as liabilities.

The balance is the difference between the values of everything you own vs. the value of everything you owe.

Break-Even Projection

If you have done a good job projecting your sales and expenses and inputting the numbers into a spreadsheet, you should be able to identify a date when your business breaks even—in other words, the date when you become profitable, with more money coming in than going out. As a startup business, this is not expected to happen overnight, but potential investors want to see that you have a date in mind and that you can support that projection with the numbers you have supplied in the financial section of your business plan.