Original Article on INC.

How to Start a Business Budget.  Every successful business needs a budget, and here are some tips on how to make one that works for you.

 

It’s a basic tenet of business – before you can make money you have to figure out how to spend it. Drafting a budget is a key way to help you turn your dreams for business success into reality. Using this vital tool, you can track cash on hand, business expenses, and now much revenue you need to keep your business growing — or at least afloat. By committing these numbers to paper, your chances of succeeding with your business are helped by anticipating future needs, spending, profits and cash flow. It also may let you spot problems before they mushroom, so that you can switch gears.

“It’s like a roadmap for your company,” says Victor Butcher, of Butcher Financial Services in Memphis, Tenn., a former president of the Tennessee Society of Certified Public Accountants’ Memphis Chapter who advises small businesses. “You need the roadmap to understand where you’re going with your business.”

Conversely, if you don’t have the discipline to sit down and assemble a business budget, you may not have insight into how your business is performing from year to year, whether there are cuts you can make to improve performance and whether you have the needed funds to purchase new equipment — be it computers, trucks, machinery, or a new factory. “It’s like being in a car without a map or GPS system,” Butcher says. “You hope going in the right direction, but you don’t know.”

The following pages will detail why your business needs a budget, what components you should include in a budget, and how to get started drafting a budget, and how to use the budget to better your business performance.

Why Your Business Needs a Budget

The bottom line on why to draft a budget for your business is that it will help you figure our how much money you have, how much you need to spend, and how much you need to bring in to meet business goals. But there are other reasons, too. Bankers and other financiers may want to see a budget when you ask for a loan. Employees should also be privy to the budget so that they understand where the business is going and are motivated to work harder. “It would be stupid not to share this with employees. Everybody should know what the goal of the company is. It’s a group goal,” Butcher says. “Don’t expect your staff to meet your goals if they don’t know what they are.”

Budgets can also help you minimize risk to your business. A budget should be created before you sign a new lease or invest in new machinery or equipment. It’s better to find out that you can’t afford new office space before you commit to spending a certain amount of money every month. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, a budget can be used to indicate some of the following:

• The funds needed for labor and/or materials.

• For a new business, total start-up costs.

• Your costs of operations.

• The revenues necessary to support the business.

• A realistic estimate of expected profits.

You can use this information to adjust your plans or expectations going forward. A 12-month budget can be updated with actual expenditures and revenues each month so that you know you’re on target. If you’re missing the targets set out in your budget, you can use the budget to troubleshoot by figuring out how you can reduce expenses like labor or new computers, increase sales by more aggressive marketing, or lowering your profit expectations.

Components of a Budget

A budget should include your revenues, your costs, and — most importantly – your profits or cash flow so that you can figure out whether you have any money left over for capital improvements or capital expenses. A budget should be tabulated at least yearly. Most yearly budgets are also divided up into 12 months, with blank columns next to your estimates to fill in with your actual results as the year progresses. You may want to consult an accountant in preparing a budget, but it also may be something you can do yourself with small business financial software and/or some of the free budget worksheets and templates available online (see Recommended Resources below.)

Here is how the SBA defines the basic budgeting components:

Sales and other revenues – These figures are a budget’s “cornerstone.” Try to make these estimates as accurate as possible, but err on the side of being conservative if you have to. “Everyone would like to see sales double each year but the odds of that happening are very unlikely,” Butcher says. The best basis for your projected sales revenues are last year’s actual sales figures. If you’re just starting out, hopefully you have done your research by asking other business people in the same field as you, using knowledge of the field you had at a previous job, and/or doing market research.

Total costs and expenses – Now that you have your sales estimates done, you can come up with figures for how much it will cost your business to earn those revenues. These can be tricky because sometimes they will vary because of inflation, price increases, and other factors. Costs can be divided into categories: fixed, variable, and semi-variable.

• Fixed costs are those expenses that remain the same, whether or not your sales rise or fall. Some examples include rent, leased furniture, and insurance.

• Variable costs correlate with sales volumes. These include the cost of raw materials you need to make products, inventory, and freight.

• Semi-variable costs are fixed costs that can be variable when influenced by volume of business. These can include salaries, telecommunications, and advertising.

Profits – Let’s face it: you’re in business to make a profit on your investment and work. You estimate this figure by subtracting your costs from your revenues. The SBA advises to check with trade associations, accountants, or bankers to make sure that you’re getting an appropriate profit from your business. Once you have profit estimates, you can also start to plan for whether you can purchase new equipment, move to a bigger location, add staff, or give your employees bonuses or raises. You can also troubleshoot your projected costs and see where you can cut if your profit projections aren’t up to snuff.

The budget should operate according to basic mathematical equations — either “sales = total cost + profit” or “sales – total cost = profit.”

How to Draft a Business Budget

Drafting a budget is easiest if you wrote one the previous year. Those projections, coupled with the actual income and expense figures you realized, would form the basis of your estimates for the coming year. But if you’re reading this article, the odds are that you’ve never written a budget for your business before. In that case, read on.

Target your sales and profits. Start out by developing a target for your sales revenues, advises SCORE, a non-profit group with 370 chapters that is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs and small businesses form, grow and succeed. For a startup business, begin by estimating what type of realistic profit you’d like to see in the coming year. If you have been in business for a while, take your company’s most recent financial statements — be they generated by a ledger or a computer software program — and use those as the basis for developing your sales and profit targets. The reason you start with sales and/or profits is because this information will drive the rest of your estimates for costs, expenses, and capital expenditures. Take into considering factors that might affect your sales numbers — such as the economy or the loss of a major customer – but don’t worry too much because the basic tenet of budgeting is that the figures will never turn out to be exactly right.

Calculate operating expenses. A good place to start, once again, is those financial statements. These statements should include an itemized list of the fixed and variable expenses you incurred during the year, including salaries and wages, rent, postage, research, travel, utilities, taxes, etc. If you’re just starting out, you’re going to have to brainstorm to make sure you factor in all the costs you will incur.

Figure out gross profit margin. Again, this is much easier if you’ve been in business for a while. In that case, estimate the cost of your goods sold (beginning inventory, goods purchased or manufactured, shipping charges, etc.) and subtract that from your overall sales revenue, SCORE advises.

Take time to readjust figures. Given the estimations for sales and expenses, you most likely will want to go back and readjust your estimates to reach your profit targets. This may mean you purchase fewer new supplies in the coming year or you need to add two new employees. Factor in these adjusted costs and or savings and run the numbers again. You may need to bite the bullet and go to an accountant or business consultant for help with your budget figures. Either way, remember that it’s important to use realistic figures so that your budget can help you guide your business. Remember that budgeting is not an exact science. “A budget works on common sense,” Butcher says. “If you made $100,000 last year in revenue, common sense indicates you won’t make a million next year. Your best off estimating in the range of $80,000 to $120,000.” But be prepared to make adjustments to your budget as the year progresses. You may have set your sales figures too high when the economic slump hits your business. Or, conversely, you may land a client that doubles your business.

Although highly competent, most new entrepreneurs are not experienced accountants or bookkeepers. They worry about managing their finances, as all business ventures require the need to stay on top of numbers.

Although the lack of proper numerical experiences can be forgivable, it’s important to look for ways to properly track and manage all financial transactions. It’s one of the most critical hats business owners need to wear, especially since you’ll likely be running on limited resources.

Failure to keep up with records and transactions can quickly lead to a failed business. To ensure business success, keep these accounting tips in mind:

Continuously research laws and regulations that apply to business

Knowing the law is a crucial step towards proper financial management, especially when it comes to startup businesses. You’ll want to ensure that you are fully equipped with extensive knowledge on what should be done, and why it’s significant. Doing so will also keep you up to date during the tax season, avoiding any conflict that may arise.

Make sure you know how to answer the following fundamental questions:

Taxes: When and how should my taxes be filed?
Records: What should be written down under revenue and expenses?
Invoices: What receipts should I be keeping? How long should I save them?

Track your expenses carefully

Running a startup fills you with excitement and exhilaration, so it can be easy to get carried away. As an entrepreneur running a startup, you must carefully keep track of your expenses. You will be tempted to constantly go out for team lunches and purchase office supplies, only to realize that you’ve used up your budget.

Operating with a carefree attitude will leave your business scrambling to find clients, desperate to keep the cash flow going. It’s also possible to end up in debt, so make sure to track your expenses accordingly. Consider getting a business credit card for any expenses, as well as a designated notebook to store your receipts.

 
 

Never forget to save

Listening to old adages may seem rather cliche, but the term “it’s better safe than sorry” holds true for the business world. Most startup businesses fail due to improper cash flow management, especially since resources are low.

Problems with cash flow usually happen due to late payments or low seasons, but all those can affect your business growth and development. To ensure that your business survives through challenging times, have enough savings to get you back on track. You must have enough cash flow reserve for at least three months—the more, the better.

The Bottom Line

A startup venture can be an exciting experience, especially if your product or service is promising. A huge chunk of your success relies on a thorough business plan, but the other bigger chunk will rely on your operations, as well as your capability of long-term profitability.

Ensuring steady business growth is never easy, as you will be compelled to constantly innovate, learn, and above all, keep your transactions in check. As you get ready for your launch, keep these quick and easy accounting tips in mind. With more experience and learning, you’ll set your small business up for success.

 

 

And join us on the evening of WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24th at 7:00pm via Zoom, with Expert Guest Speaker Bolanle Williams-Olley CFO of Mancini Duffy, Founder of SheBuildsMoney for an engaging conversation! At: https://bizofwe-virtual.eventbrite.com  We look forward to connecting with you there!

At The Business of WE community, we host events on a weekly basis, EVERY WEDNESDAY at 7:00pm (est), via Zoom to connect our sisterhood of supportive women.  What we have noticed is that the ones who “Show Up”, are the ones that are actually experiencing results in their business. Consequently, they are also a group of women whom we engage with the most.  To learn more about how you can be a part of this unique group of phenomenal women, check out an upcoming event HERE!

 

If have any questions and to learn more about being part of the sisterhood, head on over to the Business of WE community page.