Creating a budget is always a good idea, but it’s even more crucial when you run a business. Failure to properly budget can seriously impact your bottom line, and even jeopardize the success of your enterprise. By making and following a budget, you can better control costs, avoid overspending, and plan to meet financial goals.
Of course, you’ll also need to document and track your budget. Using business budgeting worksheets for this purpose can help you:
To help you get started, we’ve created a variety of business budget templates for Excel that you can use for any organization - from startup companies to established enterprises. Download the template that best fits your needs, and start planning for financial success.
Use this basic business budgeting template to track monthly income and expenses for companies of any size. This template has separate sheets to create budgets for either services- or goods-based businesses. Income and expenses are also broken down by category to provide a closer look at where company funds are made and spent.
For a more detailed view of your company’s financials over time, use this business budgeting spreadsheet. Enter your revenue and expense estimations for each month and the entire year. Then, add your actual income and expenditures month by month to see how closely you’re meeting your budget (the accuracy of your estimates). Income and expense categories are broken out, so you can clearly see where funds are going to and coming from.
To make sure your department is staying within its allotted budget, use this Excel business budget template. It allows you to plot yearly income and expenses for a company or academic department, and compare the percentage change year over year. View revenue and expense subtotals by category to see where you can make cuts, and identify any surpluses.
For larger, more complex businesses, you need more comprehensive business budget plans. This detailed spreadsheet tracks all the information you need to make important financial decisions — from startup costs to sales and operating expense forecasts. Estimate and track payroll costs, accounts payable and receivable, the cost of goods sold, lines of credit, and monthly fixed costs. You can also compare year-end totals against one another.
If you’re getting ready to launch a startup, a small business budget template can be a useful tool. This basic calculator can help you quickly gauge costs for your new venture and estimate your first-year business income. It also includes a column for plotting monthly personal expenses, along with available cash from savings and other sources. This way, you can estimate the amount you’ll need to get your new business off the ground.
Download Professional Business Budget Template
This comprehensive budget template is ideal for larger, more established businesses: it offers one sheet for estimated expenditures (labor costs, office expenses, marketing spending, travel fees, etc.), and another sheet to plot expenses that accrue. It also allows you to track expense variances and offers charts for analyzing how closely your business is adhering to its budget.
Need to create a specific, detailed budget for a particular job? This business budget worksheet can help you track income and expenses at the individual project level. Calculate labor, materials, and fixed costs for individual tasks across different categories, and compare estimated against actual expenses and revenues. Keep per-project spending under control with this business budget spreadsheet.
If you run a small business or are self-employed, use this small business budget template to track and manage your finances. This basic budget planner has one sheet for tracking income sources, one for expense types, and another for cash transactions. Easily track monthly income and expenses and calculate total profits.
Download Start-up Budget Template
Are you opening a new business? Using small business budgeting templates can help you manage finances properly from day one. If you plan effectively, you’ll lay a strong economic foundation for your company as it grows. This small business budget template allows you to track estimated versus actual funding sources and amounts, determine pre-opening costs, and calculate ongoing expenses so you’ll know how much income you need to come out ahead.
According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), a business budget should contain the following information:
You may also choose to include additional information in your budget, depending on your business size and the level of financial information you want to track. For example, if you run a startup, you may want to include data on the total cost of getting your business up and running, as well as the amounts and sources of investor funding. If you have a large enterprise with multiple branch offices, you may want to create separate sheets for each location, as well as for the company’s overall budget.
When creating your initial budget, you can use a business budget template to help calculate revenues, expenses, and profits. You may also choose to purchase business budget software to create a more detailed plan. Whatever method you choose, follow these basic steps when forming a budget:
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