How to Create Realistic Financial Projections

 

There are many components that need to be included in your business plan to ensure the success of your company. Financial projections are one aspect that is often overlooked by entrepreneurs because they don’t think it matters. 

Unfortunately, without financial projections, there is no way for you to know how much money you will make or how much money you might lose over time. These projections will help inform your decisions about cash flow and give investors insight into the effectiveness of your business model. 

Creating accurate financial projections is important for any entrepreneur. So read on for tips from Dividend & Whisky to learn how you can benefit from them and how to create them.

The Importance of Financial Projections

Financial projections are a summary of the company’s projected financial performance over a specific period of time. These projections are typically done in the form of a spreadsheet, and they include financial information about the company, such as revenue, expenses, cash flows, capital structure, and net income. 

Financial projections also aid you in monitoring your cash flow. You can use these figures as a way to determine whether you need funding in various parts of your company. Moreover, with accurate projections, you can more closely determine how much taxes you will have to pay at the end of the year.

Most states require you to provide annual reports to ensure your compliance. If you fail to provide your state with the proper data, you could owe fees and be penalized. At worst, you could lose your right to do business in your state.

Of course, you can avoid such concerns by planning ahead with financial projections. This will allow you to stay on top of your company’s financial status throughout the year.

How to Create Financial Projections

If you’re an entrepreneur or have a business, then chances are that you are working on creating your first set of financial projections. These financial statements provide the essential information for investors to make decisions; they let you monitor cash flow, determine where you need additional finances, and more.

At its core, the purpose of financial projections is to forecast and measure the performance of your business over time. The basic structure for financial projections is:

• Projected Income (from sales, interest, and other sources) 
• Projected Expenses (from operating costs, depreciation, and more) 
• Projected Cash Flow 
• Projected Net Income

You can create a financial projection by following these steps:

• First, you need to find your financial statements for the past one to three years. A financial statement is a document that summarizes the financial performance of a business across different categories. These statements often include annual reports or tax returns.
• Second, you need to fill in all the necessary information on an income statement template. You can find many different sources online that host templates. The information you will provide includes dates, revenue sources, expenses, and net income. 
• Third, you’ll need to calculate the average monthly balance of cash on hand over the last one to three years.
• Fourth, apply the appropriate numbers to your template.

If you want to make things easier on yourself, consider using software like Prophix or Adaptive Planning. 

With accurate financial projections, you can see critical figures that tell investors how much money you have available each month to make investments, pay off loans, and use capital towards other essential areas of your company.

Image via Pexels