Business Planning Templates for Excel Users
You can get two different business planning workbooks for producing financial forecasts, or pro forma financial statements, at this page: The first business planning workbook, which costs $9.95, works when you need to show your pro forma financial statements to outsiders like the bank, venture capitalists, or angel investors. The second business planning workbook, which is free, works when you don't need to show your pro forma financial statements to outsiders. But let me explain...
$9.95 Do-it-yourself Business Planning Workbook
To produce pro forma financial statements for a bank loan or for an outside investor, you should use the Do-it-yourself Business Planning workbook, which costs $9.95. The Do-it-yourself Business Planning workbook collects inputs using color-coded worksheets and then produces thirty-six months of monthly financial statements and three years of annual financial statements. You can click the links below to see portions of the workbook:
Fragment of do-it-yourself business planning workbook inputs table
First eight months of monthly balance sheet for business planning workbook
First eight months of monthly statement of cash flows for business planning workbook
Three-year annual profit and loss statement for business planning workbook
Note that the $9.95 premium version includes two features that the free version doesn't. First, the premium version includes both the old-style cash flows statement and the current "generally accepted accounting principles"-style cash flow statement. You want to use the "generally accepted accounting principles" cash flow statement if you'll show the business plan financial statements to a bank or outside investors.
The premium version of the workbook also includes a second feature: The premium version of the workbook includes a ten-page set of do-it-yourself instructions for filling in the business planning workbook's inputs and for making a handful of easy customizations. The instructions, for example, tell how to expand the three-year business plan into a five-year business plan.
Ready to buy? Just click button below:
Tip: The final payment window provides you with a clickable link you use to retrieve the zip file with the Do-it-yourself Business Planning workbook and the instructions for using and customizing the workbook.
Money Back Guarantee
Worried about getting the wrong tool? Don't stress! If you don't get a workbook and instructions you can successfully use, just email me within 60 days at steve.nelson@stephenlnelson.com to request your refund. Your $9.95 payment will be returned without hassle or delay.
Free Business Planning Workbook for Financial Statements
If you don't show your business plan's financial information to outside parties, you can download a free earlier version of the business planning workbook. This workbook was part of two books I wrote: "Business Planning and Forecasting with Microsoft Excel" (Microsoft Press 1988) and the "MBA's Guide to Microsoft Excel 2002" (Redmond Technology Press 2001). The free template works just fine... The only minor problem with the free workbook is that the workbook doesn't use the newest, GAAP compliant cash flow statement but rather the old-style cash flow statement that was current when the first book mentioned above was written.
More Free Business Plan Templates
One related point: At the Write Your Own Business Plan web site, I'm also giving away about another dozen free business planning templates (Excel workbooks, in other words) from the MBA's Guide to Microsoft Excel. The free business planning workbooks include several debt amortization templates, a couple of investment analysis templates, some future value compounding schedules, a sales forecasting schedule, and a break-even analysis workbook.