Starting to do FINANCIALS for BP

[Juliann Castell]

Ok - Am I crazy...do I need an accountant? I just spoke with one who scared the begeezies out of me... I've never put together a balance sheet or cash flows but can use excel and do have an estimate of costs e.g., lease info; salary; vendor estimates; est. of bank loan payment etc.

Any guidance on assumptions that are useful?

 

[freetodream]

I think you can do your beginning financials without an accountant. We did ours without one, and our banker helped us out with the format he wanted - there are so many things to consider - cost of goods sold, etc., but an excel program should do the trick - just plug in your formulas and it is pretty easy. Good luck to you.

 

[nimbuscafe]

Financials are pretty important. They can't be learned overnight, but you can use other people's basic spreadsheets to get you rolling.

They're important both for your own benefit, and for getting financing (banks, SBA, investors, etc). I'd put together a bunch of different scenerios (best case, most likely, worst case, etc) to help you with planning. Be realistic. If it does come out to worst case, what will you do? How will you change things? Etc, etc...

The SBA has a lot of info on their site including links to sample biz plans, which include financials I believe.

http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/pl ... gplan.html

The P&L is pretty straight-forward, but try to copy the basic format. Sales, Cost of Goods Sold, then expense, then finally the bottom line.

Things like taxes and depreciation get a little trickier. And your cash flow is a little different than your P&L, but very similar. Your balance sheet must balance (assets equal liabilities).



-nimbus

 

[thegreenbean]

Juliann,

I would be happy to help you put together some financials for your business plan. While I have never created financials for a coffee shop, I have created at least a half a dozen for other businesses that I have worked with (and a few that I was just helping with). Email me if you would like some help.

Cheers,

 

[Juliann Castell]

Could you please send your e-mail to me? J

 

[thegreenbean]

Just in case you didn't notice, I sent you a private message with my email.

Cheers,