cash flow Vs Profit Loss

[ian]

I am preparing a business plan and have a very acurate profit loss spreasheet but I am aware I also need a cash flow sheet. Does anyone have any good advice on the best way of doing this using XL.
Many Thanks
Ian

[carolb]

Hi Ian and welcome to the forum

If you have prepared a monthly P&L using XL this should be relatively straight forward.


SALES: lag the sales credit by how long it will take for you to receive this info (if it's cash - no lag)

COSTS: exclude depreciation (not a cash item) and tax (usually payable in 18 months)

Then mosts costs are paid a month after they have been incurred

I believe Peter's business plan express has a good P&L/ cashflow/ balance sheet spreadsheet in it

[peterjhale]

Carol is right - it should be fairly straight foward


Strip out those non cash items and just delay a) when you are going to receive the sales money in your bank and b) when you are going to pay people

[carolb]

Thanks Peter

[inbakumar]

If you need Excel templates then visit our site at [address removed].you can find a We have a 'tips and tricks' section business plan guide, excel templates for P&L, casflow etc.

One other advice I would give you is to write your business plan first and then finalise the financial statements. It is easy to produce fancy excel spreadsheets but 'execution of strategy' is far more difficult. Therefore you should allow more time to develop your business plan than the financials, which are only a small part of the overall business plan. I hope our business plan guide and excel templates help in a small way.

Regards

Joel

Joel - don;t mind ads - but not on your first post

[james]

Peter

Do you have an example P&L online at all ?

[inbakumar]

James,

Have you tried searching on the web? If you try "profit and loss excel templates" then you will find some. It is a free resource on our site but does not want to get into trouble with Peter by giving you our url .

If you need any free advice on P&L then feel free to contact me. In my former life I was an accountant in the City.

Regards

Joel