Business Budget Template

Creating and maintaining a business budget is essential if you want to figure out whether you can give yourself a raise, expand your business, purchase large assets, or (gasp) avoid bankruptcy. In the past, I granted some businesses permission to modify the free personal budget spreadsheets for their small business budgeting. However, if you are using and creating financial statements, it is probably better to create your business budget to parallel your income statement. So given the number of requests, I've created a business budget spreadsheet that compliments Income Statement Template. If you're just getting your business started, you might want to try the free Business Start Up Costs template.

Business Budget Template

Screenshot (Services) Screenshot (Goods)	This spreadsheet contains two sample business budgets designed for companies providing services or selling products. Service Providers: The Services worksheet is a simple business budget that separates income and business expenses into categories that closely match those used in an income statement. The categories are fairly comprehensive, but it is also easy to add, remove, and modify the categories. Retailers, Manufacturers, Publishers: The Goods worksheet includes the categories in the Services worksheet, but also has a Cost of Goods Sold section for recording inventory and purchases and calculating Gross Profit.   Play the Video Demo "No Installation, No Macros - Just a simple spreadsheet" 60-Day Money-Back Guarantee	BUY Now Cost: $14.95 Download Free Trial License: Company Use (not for resale or distribution) File Type: .xls Size: ~55 KB Version: 1.0 Required: Microsoft Excel® 2002(XP), 2003, or 2007
Screenshot	Bonus Spreadsheet #1: 12-Month Business Budget When you purchase the above business budget template through Vertex42.com, you'll also get this bonus spreadsheet. It is a variant of the business budget, with sales and business expenses broken down by month. This is helpful for budgeting quarterly expenses and other business expenses that occur at specific times of the year. The Goods worksheet lets you record sales and cost of goods sold for multiple products.
Screenshot	Bonus Spreadsheet #2: Business Budget for Multiple Products This version allows you to perform a detailed analysis of your business expenses and cost of goods sold (COGS) if you are selling multiple products. Columns are also included for calculating the Percentage of Total Sales for each product and the various expenses.

Using the Business Budget Spreadsheet

The Business Budget Template is pretty simple to modify and customize. However, here are some things you should know and keep in mind as you use these templates:

Double-Check the Formulas: If you add or move categories around, make sure to double-check the calculations, especially the SUM() formulas that calculate the totals and subtotals, to make sure that the right cells are summed.

Conditional Formatting for red Values: The Difference is calculated as Actual - Budget. Conditional formatting is used to highlight the Difference red if income is less than the budget amount or if business expenses are more than the budget. In other words, a red value means you ought to take a closer look at it.

Analyzing Cost of Goods Sold: The costs associated with producing and purchasing goods are variable costs that increase or decrease with the volume of production and sales, such as wages for direct labor required to produce the goods, packaging, inventory purchases, shipping, and commissions. These costs are usually compared to the total sales. A careful study of these costs can help you determine pricing for your products, which products are more profitable, etc.

Multiple Products: The Goods spreadsheet is set up initially to record total net sales for each quarter. If you want to perform a more detailed analysis for multiple products, you can insert additional rows and separate the sales and costs according to product, or you can use the bonus spreadsheet that is designed for performing a detailed analysis for multiple products.

Income Taxes: A separate section under business expenses calculates the Net Income Before Taxes by subtracting the Total Expenses from Total Income. This helps you make a simple estimate of the income taxes, assuming all the Expenses are tax deductible. If you have any taxable expenses make sure to subtract those values from the Net Income Before Taxes before estimating your income tax budget.

Budgeting Large Non-Recurring Expenses: One of the reasons for budgeting is of course to help you determine whether you will be able to afford upgrades, new construction, asset purchases, etc. However, this budget spreadsheet is mainly for comparing your operating income and expenses to make sure that in your normal business activities you are earning more than you are spending. You would typically look at your Net Income to determine whether you will be able to expand your business, make large asset purchases, etc.